My Top Jobsworth Nomination of 2018

Sometimes it's like walking on eggshells!  Copyright Janet Cameron

It happened just a year ago, May 2018. Tidying up my computer I just found the letter I wrote to my local Boots pharmacy. I  received an apology from the manager but not from the perpetrator. So on the anniversary of  the pharmacist's unwarranted aggression, well, Boots, your Let's Feel Good slogan does nothing for me!

Here's the letter, which is self-explanatory:

  

Hello,

On Friday morning I queued at the Sales counter with what I thought was a reasonable request for blood pressure tablets that did not need a prescription, to tide me over until my Doctor’s appointment on 14 June, the earliest I could get to deal with my BP.

The problem is ongoing from 11 April, but I know the surgery is under enormous pressure. However, a reading of 180 over 98 at the surgery last week concerned me.

To my surprise instead of helping me to locate the right product, or simply inform me if you did not have them in stock, the sales lady rushed off to call the pharmacist. The pharmacist was annoyed and asked me who had told me I could get blood pressure tablets without a prescription. I tried to explain that I was “asking” if you had any blood pressure tablets I could take without a prescription, and that I had seen them advertised on the internet, and also on Holland and Barrett’s website.

I could not make myself heard or understood. The pharmacist talked over me and told me what I already knew, that she couldn’t give me blood pressure tablets without a doctor’s prescription. She also said that it was nothing to do with Boots (even though the non-prescription tablets are part of your range!) and I had to take it up with my GP  (another suggestion that was equally unhelpful.)

I left and went to get the tablets from Holland and Barrett. I called back just to prove to the pharmacist that I was not, in fact, asking her to carry out an illegal transaction. As I couldn’t see her, I spoke to the sales lady who said these tablets weren’t “medicine,” which, of course, I knew.

The point is I wasn’t queuing at the pharmacy counter for medicine. I was queuing at the sales counter for non-prescription blood pressure tablets, which, as mentioned, are itemized in your own range of products for sale, see attached sheets.

Crossed wires, of course, but all the same, there is no excuse for the way I was treated,  it made me feel low for the rest of the morning.

Janet Cameron

It's not just about being right. It's about aggression and a poor attitude. I don't mind she made a mistake, but I do mind being shouted at in a shopful of people!  

Wouldn't you?