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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to complain after rude treatment at Boots over medication?

87 replies

TheOpalFox · 04/04/2026 16:20

Went to boots today for some medication, they said it was prescription only . I then added it to basket and click and collected it . The woman was so rude to me! So rude !!! I then told her colleague … as I walked out, I wasn’t rude . She then shouted across the whole shop… you better not be talking about me!!!! Wow wow wow!!!!!

OP posts:
AintNoPunshineWhenShesGone · 04/04/2026 19:07

Butchyrestingface · 04/04/2026 18:59

Surely shouting at a customer across a store, "You'd better not be talking about me" is rude?

Sounds pretty rude and unprofessional to me.

But at this point the OP was apparently telling the woman's colleague that she'd been rude.

What the OP is point blank refusing to tell us is what the woman said that was apparently rude 🤦‍♀️

endofthelinefinally · 04/04/2026 19:10

Yellowpapersun · 04/04/2026 18:28

I had such terrible service from Boots as my designated pharmacy that I'd never use them again for a prescription.

I think they have delusions of grandeur being employed by a large firm. No sensitivity at all. She was gossiping away with her colleague in the dispensing area too. I could hear them while I was waiting. I just think that if they behave that way at work, are they gossiping with their friends?

sanityisamyth · 04/04/2026 20:03

TheOpalFox · 04/04/2026 16:37

eveana to stop heavy bleeding

Do you mean Evana? Tranexamic acid is a Prescription Only Medicine so she was right.

ilovesooty · 04/04/2026 20:30

endofthelinefinally · 04/04/2026 19:10

I think they have delusions of grandeur being employed by a large firm. No sensitivity at all. She was gossiping away with her colleague in the dispensing area too. I could hear them while I was waiting. I just think that if they behave that way at work, are they gossiping with their friends?

So what were they saying? If they were discussing confidential patient information you shouldn't have been able to hear that and I hope you reported it. If they were discussing TV programmes or something it doesn't matter. If you couldn't hear what they were discussing it's not your business.

Yellowpapersun · 04/04/2026 22:15

endofthelinefinally · 04/04/2026 19:10

I think they have delusions of grandeur being employed by a large firm. No sensitivity at all. She was gossiping away with her colleague in the dispensing area too. I could hear them while I was waiting. I just think that if they behave that way at work, are they gossiping with their friends?

One of my experiences was when something was missing from my prescription. I checked whilst I was there because they had done it before. I said to the assistant could she recheck my prescription and she just said No and walked away!
Another time I was waiting for my prescription to be ready and the assistant said the pharmacist was checking them and she'd put them in a bag. The pharmacist came along, checked all 2 items (!), picked up a bag, then the assistant shouted that a rep was here. The pharmacist put my meds and the bag down, came over to the counter where the rep and I were, had a lengthy chat about a new treatment for nits, then wandered off somewhere. I asked the assistant for my meds and she said Oh she's just popping them in a bag!
Eventually the pharmacist came back and gave me my meds. I told her how long I'd waited and how she'd just left my meds while she talked to the rep. No apology, she just looked at me and shrugged. That was the last time I used Boots.

endofthelinefinally · 04/04/2026 22:33

ilovesooty · 04/04/2026 20:30

So what were they saying? If they were discussing confidential patient information you shouldn't have been able to hear that and I hope you reported it. If they were discussing TV programmes or something it doesn't matter. If you couldn't hear what they were discussing it's not your business.

They were talking about me. I just wanted to get out of there. I was embarrassed.

ilovesooty · 04/04/2026 23:22

endofthelinefinally · 04/04/2026 22:33

They were talking about me. I just wanted to get out of there. I was embarrassed.

That's not on. Even if you didn't feel able to challenge it at the time you could still have complained.

KidsLifePathQuestion · 04/04/2026 23:32

It sounds very unprofessional of her not to apologise when corrected and to shout across the store at you.

I have my own Boots horror stories, it's why I stopped doing repeat prescriptions with them. When I was recovering from emergency c section I was in a bad way. The queue was long and slow, and I was trying to get painkillers. A lovely older lady in front of me in the queue could see I was pale with pain, and offered to let me go in front. I thanked her profusely. Then at my turn, the person serving took in my age and made a judgement saying to me "Can you wait, let's serve this lady first" and invited the older lady up. I just stood back, emotional as hell, bleeding through my dressing, standing up in pain, feeling like the whole world was out to get me. I'm sure she felt she was being really kind, but it was pretty ignorant to make any assumptions about the health of anyone collecting prescriptions, and triaging them without any medical knowledge and based purely on age.

AppleDumplingWithCustard · 05/04/2026 00:57

I once had a Boots counter assistant have an extremely loud convo with the pharmacist about my Vagifem prescription. I asked her if she’d like to go to the door and shout it to the entire high street just to make sure that everyone knew.

TulipCat · 05/04/2026 01:11

It sounds like both parties are poor communicators. But that aside, no staff member should be shouting at customers across the shop.

Labelledelune · 05/04/2026 10:46

Trusttheawesome · 04/04/2026 16:40

Did you talk to her at all? Use your words?
I’d have told her it isn’t prescription and asked her to check. If she refused to do that, then I’d complain after doing the click and collect.

Edited

I think what the OP did was funnier.

TheAutumnCrow · 05/04/2026 10:56

TulipCat · 05/04/2026 01:11

It sounds like both parties are poor communicators. But that aside, no staff member should be shouting at customers across the shop.

Fairly typical for Boots, though.

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