Pharmacy will not allow one parent and two children in

[Lardlizard]

Does this seem like madness to you ?

@KarmaNoMore

Honestly... there are not so many single parents, mostly people trying to bend the rules, get their way and therefore making life miserable for those of us who are really single parents.

In what way karma? A two parent family with children not at nursery or school could be in exactly the sand position while one partner was out at work all day and medicines needing collection.

Was it there were already too many in the shop for a family of 3 so she needed to wait outside until others were finished perhaps?

That would skid far more sense to me.

Skid??? That would make far more sense is what I was, somewhat ironically, trying to type.

Parents and carers aren't a protected characteristic as mentioned by a pp.

I suppose there might conceivably be a case for indirect discrimination but in any case the person who felt they had been discriminated against would have to pursue it. I think going down the customer service route would be far more productive.

You're correct that parent/carer status is not a protected class, and yes going to customer service is probably the most productive thing to do especially for the OP who was not directly affected.

It is similar to the letting agency/benefits case and I wanted to draw attention to the fact that this is very likely not legal. Indirect discrimination trips up a lot of people. IANAL but have had to go through a lot of management training recently that covers how to avoid, identify, and rectify this sort of situation.

@Wilbedon

This happened to me. I had to leave two children outside, one of whom has SN. I had to pick up the medication as it is vital and life saving. DS1 was stimming so much that he was getting in people's way outside. It was horrible.

This is crazy. if the world wasn't so crazy, I wouldn't believe this.

Well yes she could have been there for any number of reasons :(

I didn't know that pharmacist's were a safe haven now which makes it worse.

@KarmaNoMore

Honestly... there are not so many single parents, mostly people trying to bend the rules, get their way and therefore making life miserable for those of us who are really single parents.

14.9% of uk families in 2019: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2019 I'm also a single parent and I manage to have empathy for other people who are struggling

Our (independent) local pharmacy has a 2 person limit. So same household or not, you can’t go in with 2 children.

They will come to the door and ‘serve’ you from the doorway.

I just assumed someone who worked there was vulnerable.

What teamwork is available though when your husband/wife is in the night shift ir on a business trip or not stuck in a jam on the m6 should they wait two or three days to get the medication so not to take the kids out?

I just popped back down there before it shut as I couldn’t let it lie, as it’s really upset me
Anyway Didn’t go to great, I asked to speak to the Pharmacist, he seems lovely but hen pecked by her, I started trying to tell him about what had happened and she just started jumping in saying really rudely there’s a sign on the door saying two only, I said I’m not talking to you
She still carried on, going into some sort of rant about coronavirus etc etc
He didn’t tell her to stop or to basically go away
So just turned into a bit of a confrontation really
So now I’m all wound up as well as feeling guilty
I get the impressing she bosses him about

I certainly hadn’t heard about pharmacy’s being reccomended places for women to go for Dv or I would have mentioned that when I went down

I really hope it’s not that or the map

But I think I’m going to need to take this further somehow as it’s not the first time
And she’s could be harming a lot of people

@KarmaNoMore What about people whose partners work away? It's not always black and white.

pp thanks for the link, I will report it officially because I do believe this is very harmful
And because I do believe this is unprofessional

Complain to the GPhC... I work in a pharmacy and this is not how we should treat people.

Would complain to the owner. In writing. This has to be dealt with.

I work in an independent pharmacy. It is difficult. We have a one customer at a time rule... unless you are "together" which works most of the time. (Not just parent/child, but also husband/wife or person/carer). But if there are more than 2 people we tend to serve at the door - our safety matters too - or, if privacy is needed, then the "group" can come in and stand in the corner of the shop, away from the counter. ( our pharmacy is only 3m x 4m)

That's ridiculous, good for you OP for speaking to them.

I would be glad if someone could recommend a non shit pharmacy, as they are all terrible around here. (Midlands)
I don’t go in for fun but to get medication I need to survive but have been shouted at several times during lockdown.
I am going to get it delivered and I suppose the pharmacies will all be moaning about that when they lose all of their trade.

You need to make a formal complaint

The whole world has gone mad, what do you expect? Two of my children in different year groups were not allowed a shared photo at school due to social distancing of course.