Friday, October 24, 2008

On the less than stellar service at the pharmacy

I am pissed off, incandescent with rage, speechless ...

I went to the pharmacy to get a prescription filled. As I handed the paper over to the chemist he said, "You keep an eye on those kids, would you". And not in a nice way. Weird, and I shrugged it off. The girls wandered about touching and looking but never opening, never breaking and never running, and I stood beside them, making sure they didn't oh, you know, drink poison or eat soap.

Then this guy came out from behind his counter grabbed Nell and speaking to girls, with his back to me said to them, 'You go sit over there [in a seat next to a pile of cardboard boxes, at the very back of the shop]. It's not place to wander about unsupervised". And not in a nice way.

Well, I was brought up all WASP-y and the cold shoulder, the dirty look are my weapons of choice in times of crisis. But I lost it. I whirled about (and how often do we get to whirl in a chemist?) and went at him: "hands off my kids; how dare you!; how rude!; never once were they unsupervised!; they have opened nothing, broken nothing!; just who on earth do you think you are?; never in all my life ... ". And then I demanded back my prescription and stormed out in such a blaze of righteous fury, I melted the organic honey and beeswax lip balm, with Lucy saying her clear and carrying voice, "He was such a very rude man, Mummy"; my but she does enunciate well when I want her to.

Am still furious.

Really, can I be the very first woman with kids in the shop? Surely women are the key market, what with our taking responsibility for our families' health and loving all that lavender scented crap that lies around these stores. Or has every other woman allowed their children to systematically strip the place down, so that he only now, with me, finally learned his lesson?

Here's another couple of lessons: if you don't want kids touching stuff, don't leave illustrated boxes of chocolate and mint (!!!) face masks lying in a basket on the floor, and don't leave shiny lipstick tubes at kid eye-height, and offer somewhere to chain up the children (preferably with a bowl of water nearby). Stop worrying so much about finger marks on your marked down $5 crap, and stop acting like my kids' fingers are somehow nastier than all those people who walk around using the testers and never buying a thing.

And don't piss off a woman who comes in for birth control pills. Because if I don't get them, I'll have more rugrats and I'll bring them back to your store and let them run amok. And I'll hiss at you as you cower amongst your pills and cheap perfume, "You brought this on yourself, you angry fuck".

And to anyone who reads this and even thinks, "But some children are poorly behaved", let me say this: well, who isn't, sometimes? And also, shove it up your arse.

So, have a nice day, everybody.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so proud of you for letting rip!

Naughty toddler-ish pharmacists need to be taught consequences.

mimbles said...

Ooo, I'm all steam-coming-out-the-ears" for you reading that! Good on you for letting him have it.

Jo said...

I'm yelling, 'Go Kris,' here, and I'm loving your label for this post. Mothering. Today it's not about baking cookies and kissing booboos. Today it's about being a great role model for assertiveness when snarky men manhandle your children. You go girl.

Suse said...

Good on you. I would have whirled and raged too.

And what a great role model you were for your children, standing up for them like that.

(Well, without the "you angry fuck" bit, which I am assuming you didn't say out loud this time. Don't want them repeating that one at childcare next week).

Go, Kris!

Jenny said...

Perhaps he's been reading your blog and knowing your girls are great climbers he was worried they were about to launch themselves up his shop fixtures and stand on the top shelf mocking him.

Anonymous said...

GO, Kris! Get him!!

I hereby proclaim that man my arch-enemy forever!!! And you, my hero!

And I am not even kidding.

D said...

hi,
I'm hearing that ... and well done for overcoming the WASP-y response (after my non-yogic vibe last week you can probably feeeel how well I'm hearing you).

Great post: funny, real and furious.

Bloody hell.

Don't ge ME started on how people relate to children ... I'm not very yogic about that either.

Kris said...

d, maybe I was channeling your family, but without the attitude hip-jut, sadly.

In all, I'm pleased with how I handled it. No swearing in front of the kids - I was too peeved to need that; there's nothing like anger to get my vocab flowing like lava.

Apparently the guy is rude to other people, especially those who come for methodone. I guess he's trying to run a high class establishment and kids and recovering drug addicts don't fit the vibe. He got into prescription filling for the glamour and so far has been sadly disappointed.

Anyway, I'm not going back and I am pleased I showed the girls what it means to stand up for oneself. Very empowering.

traceyleigh said...

Unbelievable! You must tell me which store so I can black ban it. Either that or send Tara in there right after eating a large sticky bun with dirty bare feet and tell her to go for it! :-D

blue milk said...

Oh Kris you rock, you have such composure when you lose it. Loved this post!!

D said...

hi again,
i'm in the office, wondering how it actually feels to be 38 today and, amongst other things, wondering where la farmacia terribile is. i love a commercial black-ban. and, secretly, i'm enjoying the world going broke. commerce shits me. gardening doesn't.

blog-on!

Rachael said...

You handled that brilliantly. I would have either sworn or cried (still a bit emotional at the moment).

We have planted a garden at our new house. We are so excited! But the bloody snails - the are avoiding my (Becks) beer trap. I should have used VB...

Michelle said...

Great post! Loved reading it. Good for you for standing up to that chump. I'm from the glare and cold shoulder school too, which is pretty useless most of the time.