To think Boots shouldn't charge me.

[Lagoonablue]

Shopping after school and my 5 yr old falls heavily on his knees. He is crying and knees are bleeding and dirty. We are 15 min walk from home. I am next to Boots. I go in with my hysterical 5 yr old and ask if they can help. A pharmacist hands me a pack of antiseptic wipes and some wound dressing. I clean him up and then she says £4.99 please.

I pay for the wipes but not the dressing as I haven't used it. Left feeling a bit miffed. Surely they had the odd wipe knocking about and do wouldn't use the opportunity to sell me a product! I went there as it was the nearest place and kind of made . sense. However I bet if I went in any other shop they might have helped out by using their own first aid kit or something,

It's not about the money but feel it wasn't very sympathetic

Well, when I fell over (slipped on an icy road), I went to the local chemists for something to stop the bleeding on my palm. They did not charge me for the paper towels supplied. They did not do very much, but advised me to go the local walk-in health centre.

Probably if they helped further, then they would be 'responsible' for any thing that could have gone wrong, so were cautious. I wouldn't have been amused if they charged me for their first-aid stuff. So I can emphasis with the OP.

Yanbu they should have used their fa kit

Kali110 - actually most stores don't have trained first aiders, I worked in retail for 20 years for quite a few big high street names and never worked in a shop that had a trained first aider. Shop assistants are there to sell stuff, nothing else.

Most shops don't have a ready supply of paper towels to wipe bloody knees and most first aid kits are off the shop floor - in a store like boots this could have been some distance away.

Opening stock and then marking it as damaged/faulty is a sackable offence in most shops

I think they should have helped. And for everyone going on about who should pay, it's pretty obvious that this would come out of their own first aid kit not off the shelf.

Bottom line - bleeding child - you help them. This is a really sad thread.

Yes I'll remember not to do a Daily Mail article....... Jesus.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that if you'd walked into Waitrose with your son then we would have helped you with plasters / tissues / a bandage from our shelves or first aid kit FREE OF CHARGE. I'd have been happy to get him a drink as well. Off our shelf. Free.

I'm a partner there and it's just what we would do. You're a potential customer if you've come into our shop and we'd like to either keep you as one or welcome you as a new one. Boots missed a trick here if anything and yes, uncharitable.

But they did help - op asked for wipes and she got them, nobody said they wouldn't help they just couldn't give away stuff that is not theirs for free

Yabvu

I wouldn't have dreamt of expecting a freebie, plus I'd have been very grateful for their help.

I suppose it's like getting a flat tyre outside a garage, they aren't going to give you a new tyre for free
Or losing a button outside a sewing shop
Breaking a pen outside a stationary shop

I dunno I worked for boots whilst studying and we would've sorted this out. There should be a first aid box for staff and customers alike but even so you can write off stock for this sort of thing

Christ on a bike! Are you people all mad? A stressed mum, a crying, bleeding child and she only asked for a tissue not the full contents of the shop. Please God tell me none of you people are doctors or nurses, not a bit of bloody compassion between you! Op I hope your son is over the shock.

I think they should have helped. And for everyone going on about who should pay, it's pretty obvious that this would come out of their own first aid kit not off the shelf.

Bottom line - bleeding child - you help them. This is a really sad thread.

Should coffee shops give out a free cookie to any diabetics that come in with low blood sugar?

Well Waitrose for me next time then. Hopefully Ds will stop falling over! Worst thing was he knocked off an existing scab as he had done the same thing previously at school. Made the bleeding worse.

Well that puts a whole different light on it brokenhearted55! Using it as an opportunity for a sale!

Depressing thread. Most people I know would just help.

Be grateful you were by boots not a random shop!

if all you wanted was a tissue why didn't you buy a pocket pack of tissues?

God, It is coming to something when out of human kindness we cant give a child a free plaster for fear of losing profits!

OP YABU, but only in so much as you should have gone to Waitrose, or John Lewis or Sainsbury's where they realise that treating people like people instead of potential scroungers is actually good for business.

Boots has totally lost the plot anyway, I asked for some citric acid recently to make elderflower cordial and got told they couldn't sell it to me in case I used it to' cut heroin'. Hmm, nothing to do with the fact that it is cheap and they don't make much profit on it then?

YANB at ALL U.

So sad that people are just saying "Well they're a business" etc.

Where's the humanity?

And in any case, a company like that should know that it needs to have the goodwill of it's customers. It would make good business sense to have shown a bit of compassion. Rather than seeing an opportunity to take |£4.99 off you FFS.

I bet if Boots' PR people were reading this they'd be horrified.

Spintastic - well said, and of course this is absolutely what should have happened.

Whatever happened to ordinary kindness ?

I think a random shop may have been better tbh. They could have handed me a tissue and not looked to charge me £4.99.

If he falls over that frequently, maybe you could carry your own tissues.

Yabu. Business, not an NHS clinic.

Did you really just post that? Hilarious.