AIBU - Tesco and the sale of Hedrin

[WideWebWitch]

I went to Tesco for a newspaper and as the pharmacy is on the way out thought "oh, we've just had a head lice letter from school, I'd better check hair and buy some Hedrin just in case."

The conversation went like this:

Me: Can I have 2 bottles of 1 hour Hedrin please?
Asst: Have you seen live lice?
Me: No
Asst: Then I can't sell it to you
Me: Why?
Asst: Because you need to see live lice
Me: Well, I haven't checked their hair yet but have had a letter home from school
Asst: Well I can't sell it to you then
Me: OK, I've seen live lice
Asst: But you just told me you haven't
Me: Are you seriously not going to sell it to me? It's hardly a controlled drug!
Manager: (who comes over, having heard this) Sell it to her. What she's trying to say is that if you use this all the time they get resistant. Combing through with conditioner works well.
Me: Yes, I am fully aware of that, my son is 13. I have combed through many times over the years. I doubt my children have live lice but we have had a letter home from school so I need to check them and if there are live lice I will need to treat them.

The assistant handed over the Hedrin with a heavy sigh and a stroppy look and demeanour. I handed over £23.

Fucking fuck right fucking OFF was what I was thinking. So:

AIBU? Was she BU?

Interested if this is general Tesco policy - shall I email them to complain? Not that I go in there often but it's Boots for me in future

Do people really mainline Hedrin? I've probably used it 3 times in ten years ish.

All views welcome. Thanks.

[GrimmaTheNome]

The assistant was wrong, she should have said what the manager did, which was perfectly sensible.

[XboxWidow30]

Hmmmm, very strange. Not really sure what to say! Which is of no help to you. Its best ot change what you use every once in a while as they do become resistant, however you hadn't specified to the pharmacist that you always use it, hence why he was telling you you couldn't have it.

What did he think you were going to do with it, sell it on the street to 'users', lol!

I will confess now 'my name is XboxWidow30 and I am a Hedrin user', lol! (Not me personally, the dc's!, those pesky lice!)

[HowsTheSerenity]

Power trip methinks by the assistant. It is not as though she will be fined for selling it to you. But I got asked the same thing about worm tablets. I am not investigating the arses of 16, 14 and 11 year olds.

Once again tesco is trying it's world domination thing.

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

Hedrin isn't a chemical treatment, so lice can't build up a resistance too it anyway. It works by coating the lice and smothering them.

[CrazyPlateLady]

YANBU. Its not up to a shop assistant to question you IMO.

Don't let him anywhere near flames (not saying that you would). My cousin had that awful stuff on his head and (was very stupidly) flicking a lighter and his head caught on fire. It happened to an old couple who were seeing to their fire with Hedrin on their heads and a few other children too. That stuff is lethal IMO. I saw the test that the firemen done after my cousins accident. It went up so quickly.

[HowsTheSerenity]

and my apologies for the ' in its.

[wideratthehips]

i was away from my children for a few days when my dh discovered lice in the childrens hair. i went to boots to buy some as i knew i would have it though i had no symptoms...the assistant wouldn't sell it to me. not in a nooooooooooo your not having it sniffy type way but said the product dehydrates the lice so you don't treat until you have them crawling basically. i wanted to buy it there and then so i didn't have to make another trip out but she was very nice so i wasn't bothered. but when you get arsey staff you do think god i just want it in the cupboard just in case i'm not going to do something peculiar with it. i hate arsey staff

of course i had crawlers a week later!

[changeforthebetter]

I thought the point about Hedrin was that they don't become resistant because the dimeticone (??) suffocates the little bastards. It's not an insecticide and that's what the gits (can you tell I hate headlice ) become resitant to? At least that is my understanding. There is nothing I can see on the leaflet recommending you limit its use. I have done lots of wet combing (thanks to lazy parents who repeatedly send infected kids to DCs' school) but it takes an age and I find Hedrin easier.

[WideWebWitch]

Thank you for these responses so far.

According to these links:

\link{http://www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=35330\here}

and \link{http://www.hedrin.co.uk/index.html\here} Hedrin doesn't cause resistance anyway so they are wrong.

But what ON EARTH makes Tesco think it can question a 44 yo woman on her use of anti lice treatment?

She was rude and stroppy and it's just not their place to question me imo. It's not a controlled drug fgs!

[IntergalacticHussy]

when you say you've had a letter home - are you talking about a one size fits all 'there have been some cases' type letter?

because i've had 2 of those since september and assumed they were being sent out to everyone, not because dd has lice. but she doesn't; she has some paint in her hair which is taking an age to wash out! Just thought i'd check as i hope my dd isn't being labelled someone with headlice by school staff when she actually doesn't have them at the moment!

[WideWebWitch]

No it's a generic 'please check your child's hair and treat if necessary' letter. So I realise I ought to check them.

Doubt v much your dd is being labelled, ime they send them out in bulk to everyone!

[GrimmaTheNome]

Lady Glencora is right hedrin -we have Full Marks, another smotherer, I just assumed the manager had a clue and Hedrin was insecticidal.

In that case, YANBU, both the assistant and the manager were wrong.

Quite ridiculous not to sell a headlice product till you've got live ones. If you discover them you need to treat them ASAP, not after the next time you can get to the shop . My DD only had live lice once, found them in the evening and so she couldn't go to school next morning till after we'd bought the stuff and she'd been treated (school rule). The pharmacist had no issue at all with me buying two bottles at that point because I told her I didn't want to be caught out like that again.

[badfairy]

This is yet another example of poor staff training in supermarkets ( especially at the pharmacy counter) I think they are sooo scared of getting it wrong that the err on the side of caution in the extreme. Personally I don't think it's the assistants fault just piss poor management in the fact that those senior to her should make sure she understands what she is doing and giving out the right information.....not just interpreting it as she/he sees fit!

[Dracschick]

This is what happens when you let some people wear a white overall and give them a badge they become farkin experts....now perhaps she had been on a 'live lice' course perhaps she thought she was well informed about the use of treatments......obviously her information was misguided and her attitude stank....this is what happens when people get badges lol!!!

Ive been questioned whilst buyind rinstead pastilled lol

[theagedparent]

You can get it on prescription, much better than Tesco

[DamselInDisgrace]

In future just pick some off the shelves (where they keep it in my local sainsbos) and take it to the check out yourself.

It's good when the pharmacy assistant and manager gives you incorrect advice, isn't it? Go to a different pharmacy if you actually need advice or medicine. I wouldn't be entirely confident in one where I'd been given incorrect information about anything.

[WideWebWitch]

ha ha at white overall and badge

Right, I've emailed Tesco so we'll see what they say.

[FindingMyMojo]

there are lots of these posts on MN re supermarkets - I had same situation re trying to buy some decongestant from Boots recently (though apparently that is regulated for under 6's now) & the MN'er earlier this week, who was told she couldn't buy alcohol from M&S as she didn't look 25!!!!!! Supermarkets are the new enforcers! Feel their mighty power.

[FindingMyMojo]

good luck with that email WW - from my experience with Tesco customer 'service' they won't give a toss.

[watercress]

As a pharmacist and someone who is heavily involved in training for pharmacy staff, it sounds as though the assistant was adhering to the rule book a bit too closely. Maybe he/she was relatively newly trained and afraid to make a mistake. In any case, assistants have to be supervised by a pharmacist so they can intervene if needed - which is exactly what happened in this case.

Pharmacy assistants are not shop assistants. They have to undergo some pretty rigorous training to work on the pharmacy counter and handle medicines (whether selling OTC stuff, or handing over prescriptions that have been dispnsed). They don't just ask to work in the pharmacy and get handed a badge, there's a hell of a lot more to it than that.

Hedrin is not a product that is abused, but there are plenty of products sold from pharmacies that can be. Cut the poor assistant some slack, and accept that he or she was just trying to do their job, as chemical headlice treatments (like Lyclear) should only be sold if live lice have been seen.

[DamselInDisgrace]

Thing is though, watercress, that Tesco should be ensuring that their pharmacy assistants are properly trained. If they don't know the difference between different types of headlice treatment, I'd be wondering what else they don't know about. Also, I'd expecting an assistant to ask her supervisor about anything if she wasn't sure rather than give wrong advice. If customers get annoyed about that, then they're just being unreasonable.

It isn't the assistant's fault; it's Tesco's fault for not providing adequate training and support. I'd go to another pharmacy in future where I felt confident that the staff were adequately trained and supervised.

[WideWebWitch]

Oh come off it watercress, she was rude and stroppy.

There are ways of saying these things, even if you do have to say them.

So:

"are you aware madam that it's usually recommended to use this on live lice? We are asked to give this advice before selling the product" - said with a smile, would have been much better.

And I'd have said (had I been armed with full facts) "actually, Hedrin doesn't cause resistance, a recent randomised, controlled, blind trial blah blah"

And (I might have gone on, had I been armed with more information) "Hedrin is a silicone-based lotion that effectively kills lice by smothering the insects, and thus disrupting their ability to manage water. Hedrin has a physical rather than chemical mode of action and so has benefits over conventional chemical insecticides, as resistance towards it cannot be built up"

BUT I SHOULDN'T NEED TO!

She was surly and rude and WRONG! And I am a grown woman who is perfectly capable of making the decision to buy a non pesticide head lice treatment.

[GrimmaTheNome]

And even the manager, though willing to sell it, gave incorrect information.

I've quite often found that if a pharmacy assistant isn't sure they do have the nous to read the box .

[WideWebWitch]

And I don't usually shop in Tesco and this has made me determined to continue not doing so. I only went in for a newspaper and I won't even get that there again.