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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have given pharmacist short shrift?

151 replies

itsgettingwierd · 27/08/2021 18:50

Enter pharmacy

Me: Good evening, I have a prescription to collect.

Pharmacist: name please

Me: first name surname

Pharmacist: was it sent today

Me: last week.

Comes back with it, checks address and I have my card ready to pay.

As I'm walking towards till she asks

"Does he pay for his prescriptions"

Me Confused for a second. "It's mine and yes I do"

Pharmacist: "well I just read the name" with a very defensive tone.

Me: shame you didn't also read the word before that says Miss.

Now I have a name that's unisex that isn't particularly unusual in this day and age (less so than when I grew up!) and people have made presumptions before and it doesn't bother me.

But I was actually annoyed she'd taken the effort to read the name and assume it belonged to someone else - rather than the person actually asking for it - and when I said it was mine act as though I was wrong to say that and retort the way she did as if annoyed at me saying that.

I'm having a rough time at the minute and can be over sensitive so I need the collective honesty on MN to tell me I'm right to have been annoyed or hand me a grip (but kindly Grin)

OP posts:
MichelleScarn · 27/08/2021 22:18

@Bogofftosomewherehot

You need to get over it and stop over thinking it.
This exactly for so much these days! It's fucking exhausting dealing with people looking for drama.
HalzTangz · 27/08/2021 22:19

But that doesn't mean she's not having a hard time out of work does it?

FourEyesGood · 27/08/2021 22:24

Do you think the pharmacist has spent so many minutes/hours thinking over this exchange? Move on, OP. You’re obsessing over something completely insignificant.

HalzTangz · 27/08/2021 22:26

Maybe they have been instructed to not read the word Miss, Ms, Mrs or R for fear of upsetting those that change their gender identity on what seems like a weekly basis.

If people are mistaking your name take it up with your parents who gave you the name (and signed you up to a life time of this happening) instead of being narky over a simple mistake

ChateauxNeufDePoop · 27/08/2021 22:39

But this thread has just confirmed that. That it's not ok for me to speak up for myself and expect people to make some kind of effort to respect me or how I feel

Sorry but thats overly dramatic. YABVU.

GreyhoundG1rl · 27/08/2021 22:42

God, you're really over invested in being perceived to be in the right here, op.
Might I suggest that all your 🤣🤣🤣 posts suggest you're hardly traumatised by this ridiculous little exchange?

HeartvsBrain · 27/08/2021 22:47

I think it was probably her whole attitude that made you slightly sensitive. You gave her a pleasant greeting, and she didn't even reply with a hi or hello, she just went into a quick (rather rude in my mind as she wasn't busy) request for the name on the prescrition. She then went straight into asking when it was sent in, in a way that made me think that she wants you to say yes, so that she can smugly tell you that you need to leave 48 hour working days between the prescription request and picking it up - but she was thwarted by your reply.
However, I have also just had a very frustrating time, so maybe I am not judging this correctly either, but I really don't think that you were wrong to act like that.

WorraLiberty · 27/08/2021 22:47

I honestly couldn't work up a shit about this.

Me:shame you didn't also read the word before that says Miss.

That ^^ was rude of you though.

GreyhoundG1rl · 27/08/2021 22:49

She then went straight into asking when it was sent in, in a way that made me think that she wants you to say yes, so that she can smugly tell you that you need to leave 48 hour working days between the prescription request and picking it up - but she was thwarted by your reply.
Oh, give over.

CovidCorvid · 27/08/2021 22:50

Me: shame you didn't also read the word before that says Miss. Rude and unnecessary.

Instead she got annoyed at ME for her making an incorrect assumption. Was she annoyed? Because I’d have read her response as just being slightly defensive.

I don’t think an incorrect assumption on her part over a name is worthy of an apology. It’s such a non issue. You’ve obviously come home stewing about it so yes…..politely get a grip.

PurpleCloak · 27/08/2021 23:27

Op; AIBU to give the pharmacist short shift
Majority; yes you are
Op; no I’m not! & multiple posts arguing back

So frustrating and totally pointless.

Op - you have a unisex name. You must be used to people wondering if you are male or female. It had Miss in the front - these days, we can’t rely on Miss, Ms, Mrs or Mr….better to just call by forename. She made a mistake by not reading title. You were rude; as you admit, gave her “short shrift”. It’s just a name - please, for your own sake, move on.

Posts like these at least remind me why I left working with the general public!

HeartvsBrain · 27/08/2021 23:40

OP, I think that a lot of the replys you have had here are far ruder than anything said by either you or the pharmacist! You have my utmost sympathy, and I am glad to see that you seem to be feeling a little better now, and can laugh at at least some of the silly posters views.

k1233 · 27/08/2021 23:59

@itsgettingwierd I don't think you were rude. Sometimes you're up to your back teeth with idiocy and a small thing does you in. Her reaction would have ticked me off too.

My funny pharmacy story. I put a script in for Samson Williams (canine). Person taking the script goes oh, is canine his nickname? Rather stunned I look at her and say quite flatly canine means dog. I'd literally just told her, as I handed over the script, that it was for my dog. The script was from a vet, on vet stationery.

Before people go on about animal medicine from pharmacies, that can be done in Australia. I never knew until my dog needed a particular medication.

ashmts · 28/08/2021 00:35

@itsgettingwierd I never get why when they've asked for his surname and that's exactly what I've given

OP I thought you said you'd worked with the public? If you ask for surname people give you all sorts, e.g their full name, first name, address, starsign. You can literally shout 'prescription for Smith' and someone will say yes, only for it to turn out he's Mr Jones but decided to say yes anyway.

@k1233 you can do vet scripts in the UK too. My favourite was a dog from a family whose surname was Bones Grin so he was registered as Rex Bones. Give the counter assistant a break though eh? They're on not much more than minimum wage and vet scripts are unusual. I take it you've never said anything daft

Meraas · 28/08/2021 00:39

YABU, I think you were unnecessarily rude and superior to her. Why is that? Do you see her lesser in some way?

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 28/08/2021 00:44

Well I posted because I needed perspective. I was clear I'm having a rough time at the moment and just needed to chat to people about it. I'm a LP with a disabled ds so my options for venting at home are fairly limited

Oh well, that's Ok then - here's your free pass to be obnoxious to others 🙄

Maybe the pharmacist is also a LP with a difficult family situation?

OnTheBoardwalk · 28/08/2021 00:46

Ah sorry you’ve been going through a hard time OP. I think you and possibly the pharmacist have a lot going on

Try not to keep replaying it in your mind it’s not the first and won’t be the last time someone will mix up your name

LakieLady · 28/08/2021 01:07

I think you may have been a bit rude, tbh. Pharmacists need to check this stuff and it's easy to not notice the title on a prescription.

I have an old-fashioned unisex name, but male and female versions are spelt differently.

Imagine my surprise when I turned up on a hospital ward for my tonsillectomy, and found all the patients were male ...

alexdgr8 · 28/08/2021 01:13

@NewIdeasToday

I honestly can’t see why you’ve made such a big deal here about a simple mistake. I expected to read that you’d been given the wrong prescription or something. Given all the things a pharmacist has to check to do their job correctly, I’d rather they focused on what’s important than whether or not I’m a Miss.
i agree. i think you sounded quite rude, or at least curt. unnecessary. you could have just said can we check the date of birth, then, yes, that's me. they do a difficult job. and an important one. try to be a little more gracious.
alexdgr8 · 28/08/2021 01:23

k1233, why assume that a shop asst will be familiar with latinate forms of common words.
if it had said, dog, rather than canine, i'm sure she would have understood.
some dogs have elaborate kennel or official names, but informal everyday, or nicknames.
don't look down on people. it's not an attractive trait.

gofg · 28/08/2021 03:11

I think you were rude and there was no need for your comment. However, the whole thing is a non event.

shenanigans5 · 28/08/2021 04:03

She made a mistake. You were rude.

Having worked in pharmacy for a lot of my career as a pharmacist I can vouch for the fact that Fridays before bank holidays can be horrendous.

Also, don’t piss off a decent pharmacy who go out of their way to help you. There aren’t as many of these as there should be and its usually goodwill rather than obligation as responsibility for missing prescriptions etc is a tricky area (often the ‘fault’ of the GP surgery or a miscommunication).

Sceptre86 · 28/08/2021 04:51

I'd have said something along the lines of oops and sorry so you were both rude. Let it go.

ShingleBeach · 28/08/2021 08:41

She was wrong and should have said ‘oh yes, sorry!’

You were a bit sharp.

I hope the prescription is effective, that’s the main thing.

sammylady37 · 28/08/2021 09:40

But this thread has just confirmed that. That it's not ok for me to speak up for myself and expect people to make some kind of effort to respect me or how I feel

Oh give over. No need for this drama and martyrdom. Nobody has said you shouldn’t speak up for yourself, what people are focussed on is the manner in which you did so, which you admit was ‘snappy’ and ‘short shrift’. You could have made your point while being polite, irrespective of how you perceived the other person to have been.

I think a particularly good indicator of someone’s character is how they treat staff in restaurants, shops etc and you’re not coming across very well here. Going through a tough time yourself doesn’t give you carts blanche to be snappy and rude to others.

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