To have laughed out loud at this retail worker

[Shmee1988]

Today I went to a highstreet branch for some painkillers. I asked the lady behind the counter if they had some cocodomol. She said 'yes, we have our normal cocodomol and our max strength'. I asked if I was allowed to come and read the box and she said no (behind the counter so fair enough) I then asked if she could please explain the difference between the 2, I obviously meant the difference in strength in the active ingredient. Her honest to God, genuine response was 'yes of course, this one is our max strength version...... and this one ....is not'😂I was so taken aback by the utter ridiculousness of her explanation that I had no idea to respond, I just laughed. Anyone had anything similar or did I just encounter a particularly unknowlegable retail worker ?

😂

You're so fucking offensive and ignorant that there's not any point.

You were rude, and unkind .

to quote my 11-year-old

Well, that escalated quickly

Do they let you compare pain medicine boxes in the uk bc not in ny.

And I think it's ridiculous that someone selling medication to the public was not able to answer what the difference is between two products. And no, if someone shows a lack of knowledge in their role I don't think it's unreasonable to question that.

Imagine laughing at a retail worker. I'm guessing that you've never made a mistake or said something a bit silly?
Treat people with decency, it's not hard.

yanbu OP..

Some people here are being deliberately obtuse, it was obvious what you meant, most people would know when being asked the difference between 2 medications you meant the strength/ingredients, the worker was obviously having a moment.

How so? Because her response made me laugh? Such a pointed, blunt response to what i assumed (rightly or wrongly) was a simple question? I laughed, she laughed. I do not understand how I was rude at all.

I was so taken aback by the utter ridiculousness of her explanation that I had no idea to respond, I just laughed

It wasn't 'utterly ridiculous' though, was it? It wasn't really worthy of being laughed out loud at, either. She just wasn't exactly sure what you meant. Perhaps you asking her if you could go behind the counter unnerved her a bit.

Why laugh at her?
Why not just say, what's the strength per mcg please?

Offensive for thinking that someone working in a pharmacy should have understood that when asked "what's the difference between the normal one and the max strength one" that they weren't talking about the word max?! Christ alive.

Being honest, I think it was a bit of a silly question… isn’t it obvious what the difference is?

Yes, I definitely have. I work in customer services on the phones and I often say silly things or get my words muddled or misunderstand what someone means. Generally, if I've said something funny I'd expect my clients to chuckle, I'd not be offended. I didn't laugh in her face or make her feel bad. It was just genuinely funny.

Why would you mock someone who made an error?
Don't you ever make an error? How about if everyone laughed on here about your grammatical mistakes? It wouldn't be nice, would it?

She definitely thought the same about you and answered the least rude way she could!!

I would have said the same 😂😂

It would be like me asking a McDonald's worker what the difference is between a Big tasty and a Big mac, obviously the answer I'm wanting isn't "one is a Big Tasty and one is a Big Mac" 🤦

No. It's still not obvious to me at all. If you know, could you please tell me because the mystery remains .....

Again, didn't mock. I said I laughed, because it was funny. Is laughing offensive now? Have I missed something huge where laughing is now as bad as mixing up pro nouns?

Have a look at your thread title. It sounds like you were rude.

@Shmee1988 "
"Again, didn't mock. I said I laughed, because it was funny. Is laughing offensive now?"

Can you explain how laughing out loud at someone making a mistake is not mocking them?

If I'd have said 'i chucked' would that of been less rude? Is laughing at someone who said something funny offensive?

According to your op, you laughed at a retail worker. Your whole post appears to be belittling.
If you didn't mean it, ask MN to edit your original point.

I think this has backfired on u . U was hoping everyone would laugh with you but taking the piss out of anyone is just not good at all. My lovely mother always said if u can’t said anything nice then say nothing at all . In a world where everyone has stresses and struggles just be kind and certainly do not put a post up . Not good on your part at all .

YANBU. Any remotely sensible person (regardless of their wage) would have responded by looking at the packets and saying 'This one's X mg and this one's Y mg'. I imagine the average 12 year-old would think that was the obvious thing to do. I can't believe the deluge of made-up excuses posters have come up with.

I think you may have thrown her off with your question to go behind the counter that is an odd request. Then you didn’t actually say what are the difference in ingredients. In retail I think they are probably used to getting obvious questions all day long. Perhaps she was neurodiverse and took your question literally.