I overheard a lady once asking if bleach would heal ringworm, then proceeded to show the Walgreens employee her ringworm.
He directed her to the Lotrimin aisle. I have no clue how he gracefully held his composure. Weird shit like that clearly happens a lot.
Thanks for sharing this OP.
Bleach actually is an old-timey cure for ringworm, but there’s reasons why improvements have been made on that …
When I was a grocery store pharmacist, I was asked more than once to diagnose skin rashes over the phone! :o I can’t diagnose anyway, and especially not over the phone!
:smack:
One of the better moments was when I got a call on a weekend afternoon from a man who asked for the pharmacist, and when I, the friendly female voice, said that was me, he grumbled a bit and said, “Oh, OK.” He then proceeded to have some difficulty telling me what his problem was, so I interjected, “You’re uncircumcised, and have a rash under your foreskin?” He replied that I was correct, and then asked me what to use on it.
He wasn’t very happy when I told him to keep the area clean, use no OTC products on it, and see a doctor. I’m pretty sure he was the man who came in on Monday morning with an RX for two tubes of cream or ointment. What was remarkable is that both were SMALL tubes. 
As for the OP, more than once, people have complained to me that the people at the health food store only say things like “We do have people who use this product” or “What you’re looking for is over here.” I replied that advising patients on what to use is practicing medicine without a license, and people have been arrested in stings for doing exactly this.
More than once, I took a phone call from a person whose symptoms prompted me to say, “Get off the phone with me immediately, and call 911.”
Jay Leno’s “Headlines” had an old ad featuring a woman who “restored harmony to my marriage” by using…
LYSOL
That was indeed a treatment for vaginal infections (generally a tablespoon or two in a couple liters/quarts of the hottest water she could stand); men with gonorrhea got their urethras flushed with the straight stuff. :eek:
My concern - and it is a real concern - is when it moves from “what flavor of cough drop do you like?” or “Have you actually tasted this diet bar? Is it any good?” to “diagnose my problem and give me medical advice.”
As I said, I am not a doctor or pharmacist. I can not diagnose your fungus, infected cut, determine what is upsetting your stomach, recommend a course of treatment for whatever disease or condition you think you have but may or may not have, or tell you if it’s safe to cut a particular pill or tablet in half (some it’s OK, some it’s not).
I also get concerned when a customer starts loudly proclaiming that a homeopathic remedy is effective (we carry them because people buy them), or that our vitamin C is “poison” because it’s ascorbic acid rather than some fruit extract (true - that lady was two days ago), or otherwise promotes woo. Basically, when a customer gives medical advice to someone else, or spreads disinformation. If you have a weird, funky mole you need to go to a doctor, not ask random strangers in the aisle of a big box store what herbs will cure skin cancer (which you may or may not have, because you haven’t been diagnosed by a medical professional).
I don’t care if they’re comparing OTC hemorrhoid treatments or some young guys are debating the choices in the condom section. If you don’t want aluminum in your deodorant or fluoride in your toothpaste I am more than happy to help. Don’t care if you’re debating the scent of a hand soap, or the merits of this facial cleanser over another. Want essential oils because you make your own laundry soap or potpourri or annoit yourself with it and dance under the moolight naked? Go for it.
But please, please don’t ask me to be a doctor or pharmacist. I’m not qualified, and you should go to a real professional if you need that sort of advice.
No - they need to ask the pharmacist pharmacy questions: “can I cut this pill in half?” or “what is the generic name for this?” or “can you you read the chicken-scratching on this prescription?” or some other actual pharmacist question.
Once the pharmacist tells you what you need, THEN you call me over to help you find it.
Don’t ask the stocking clerk to be a pharmacist. Don’t ask the pharmacist to be a stocking clerk.
In the late 1990s, there was a big advertising promotion for “Hemorid, specially formulated for today’s woman.” I was working in retail pharmacy (although not at the grocery store) and an old guy who smelled bad and had about 5 teeth asked me about it. I replied, “That’s probably because it’s in a pink box” and he replied, “Them things ain’t gonna look at the box!” and bought it.
I say that to the folks crossing over to the “wrong” deodorant aisle - men using women’s deodorant, using buying men’s. The stuff in the bottle/can doesn’t know what your gender is, use whatever you like.
Ditto for shampoo, hair dye, soap, moisturizers… lots of things, really, where the main difference is what’s printed on the box. (There are some exceptions, at which point either I ask the pharmacist about it or suggest they do)
I learned some time ago not to wear my animal ER logo emblazoned scrub top in public. It went from innocuous stuff I could brush off to a dude cornering me in Walgreens (I just wanted some ibuprofen, dammit!) and interrogating me about his right now whelping dog. Dude, I’m a tech, not a doctor, I can’t give medical advice (nor could a doctor!), and I’ll damned sure not give any sort of advice at all when I’m not at work but wearing the company logo. That was the last time I wore that top in public.
Then there was that guy I saw another time in Osco who asked me, a random customer who happened into the same aisle, which aspirin he should take for the chest pain he was having. I hope his friend really did take him straight to the ER when I told them to go immediately.
I’ve done the retail thing. You have to really be a people person to enjoy it. I am not one of those!
Not what you said first time round:
[QUOTE=Broomstick]
I am limited to basically helping people find what they’re already looking for on the shelf.
<snip>
I can not make recommendations as to which item to buy. First of all, I’m not you, I don’t know what you need/like/whatever. Second, you can make your own decisions. Third, liability.
[/QUOTE]
Which one is it?
These statements don’t conflict. Customer asks for the deodorant without aluminum or toothpaste without fluoride, she can point them to the section with those items on the shelf. There are likely more than one. She points to the area and customer then decides which one of the selection they want.
What the OP won’t (can’t) do is tell the customer which choice of the selection is better, or that they should consider the alternative deodorant or toothpaste. Which is what she said.
She can even help the customer find which of the toothpastes don’t have fluoride, or which deodorants don’t have aluminum. “Here’s the three deodorants that meet your requirements; you decide which one to buy.” “Here’s the only shampoo we carry that contains ingredient X.”
What she can’t do is say, “You need to treat your problem with Brand ABC” or “Product Z will cure your issue” or “You mustn’t ever buy toothpaste with fluoride.”
Tonight at dinner I asked the waitress whether the burger or the torta was better. Little did she know I was setting her up to be sued if she was wrong. The fool actually made a recommendation. Lucky for her she was right.
So, how are the craft beers? Any good ones? How hoppy is this IPA?
First of all, I’m not you, I don’t know what you need/like/whatever. Second, you can make your own decisions. Third, liability.
In many jobs there are certain questions one can/should answer for their customers/client and some that one absolutely can’t/should not. If you are unable to see the difference, that says more about you than Broomstick.
That’s different. I expect servers to have eaten all of their store’s menu items at some point in order to be able to give a recommendation. (Although there is the issue of the server’s taste being different from the customer’s.) The better restaurants explicitly have their servers try the food for this purpose, so they can speak knowledgably about it to customers.
I do NOT expect a retail store clerk to have tried every product they carry. That’s crazy simply because of the range of products, let alone the variety of brands they carry and all the other issues.
Your attitude on this (not meaning to be offensive, just a bit blunt) reminds me of the time I was working at Wendy’s fast food while in college. A guy came through the drive thru and as he was paying for his food, asked me where the best, cheap motel was in town. I was taken aback. Did he really expect me, a young teen girl to have tried out all the local motels? Judging by his face, he didn’t appreciate my “… I dunno” response.
^ This.
^ And this.
Oh, I see. You have advanced kidney disease, right, so you needed to know which one would be on your medically prescribed diet?
Oh, no? Well, then it’s not the same damn thing at all. :dubious:
I used to work sporting goods retail, and while about 90% of our customers were normal, everyday people, about 7% were just assholes, and 3% were some combination of deeply stupid, ignorant, criminally insane and/or mentally ill.
That 3% was NEVER satisfied with anything, regardless of however insane their question or request might be, and regardless of whatever extraordinary lengths and explanations you gave them about why something wasn’t safe, wouldn’t work, or why they their gun wasn’t defective because THEY couldn’t hit the paper with it. I literally had to argue with a guy for 10 minutes about why the sale ammo wouldn’t fit some other gun, and why wouldn’t I sell it to him anyway? Because, you fucking moron, if you blow your own face off, they’re going to come back to the store and wonder why we sold you the wrong ammunition for the gun you just bought!
I’m sure that 3% used to go into Radio Shack and ask the clerks and managers to essentially be Bell Labs-grade electrical engineers, and then get pissed when they didn’t know how to rig up some insanely complicated gizmo out of the usual oddments that a Radio Shack might have in stock at any particular time.
She might even be able to read the labels better than the customer can.