to be annoyed by the refusal of a supermarket to sell me two packets of paracetamol and a tube of bonjela?

[ruthosaurus]

I was told today that I could only buy two "over-18s" items at a time, and the (adult) bonjela counted because it has an ingredient that could react with paracetamol.

Point 1: What if I want to buy, say, an 18 certificate film, a bottle of wine and a tube of bonjela? If that's the kind of evening I had planned, what of it? What kind of joyless rule is "only two naughty items" anyway?

Point 2: Why the hell do you need to be over 18 to buy mouth ulcer gel? Tell me it isn't because bonjela contains ethanol.

I did ask if it was because of the "one pack of paracetamol at a time" rule and they said no.

Why could this be, then? I am baffled and a little perturbed.

• i was once disallowed two boxes of calpol sachets and a bottle of Peroni Beer. Even the cashier agreed it would be a pretty weak suicide attempt...

Tis bonkers...

Buggered if I know. My recent online order from Tesco included 2 packs of 16 Ibuprofen and 2 packs of 16 Paracetamol (they don't sell single packs of larger quantities). Tesco delivered them without a quibble.

The delivery man also recently turned up whilst I was dog walking and handed over shopping including a couple of bottles of wine, to my then 14 yo DD. I thought that was against the law/store regulations too.

snort at the calpol and peroni suicide mission!!!

Sorry, but this thread is making me laugh. The world truly has gone mad.

I've ordered more than that from Tesco online. In store though they're so worried about getting into trouble for selling wrong items. I wasn't allowed to buy a bottle of alcohol-free wine at 8.30am (needed it for something after work but was going to be short on time when I finished but they wouldn't let me buy it because it 'contained alcohol'! Erm, yeah about as much alcohol as a carton of orange juice... Madness. Crazy pointless restrictions.

I can beat you!!!!!!!!

One pharmacist wouldn't sell me some iron tablets once.

YANBU

I've got round this by just going through the checkout twice. Would love to know what the effect of too much bonjela is. A&E are hardly going to be overun with Bonjela overdoses are they!!

I work for Tesco a supermarket.

People have been fired for 'splitting' a transaction and selling two packs of painkillers with the main shop and then putting through another two packs of painkillers seperately.

YANBU, but please don't think the cashier was BU. I need my job and couldn't afford to lose it over something like this.

John Lewis once refused to sell me some reins because they said that I had told them that I was going to use them to put in my pram for a sitting up baby which could be a danger.......

I had to walk to Boots holding my sitting up baby and then buy them there.

I was not happy. Not least because the ones in JL were navy and the ones in Boots were like clowns braces.

Ha Ha!

I was once refused a tube of (famous) pile cream by the fascist pharmacist in Boots because it was for a horse. Not that the horse had piles! My vet had told me to use it for healing purposes on a cut on the horse's leg.

I went round the corner to an independent chemist and bought it there. I have never been in Boots again since.

I hope you never need clown like baby reins then! You will be doomed

It's not the cashier I had a problem with, Tombliboob , it's the policy. I understand the 2 packets of paracetamol thing, it was the bonjela that threw me. I have had crap jobs with seemingly weird diktats to implement and wasn't questioning that bit.

But I am concerned about the "only 2 over 18 items" rule. Weird.

And I too have had loads of painkillers plus booze delivered to my door by Tesco.

Gettingagrip I think I know where you're coming from. I had the devil's own job convincing my local pharmacist that I would not kill anyone when I asked for a packet of Sea Legs travel sickness remedy.

I was with my teenaged DDs but the tablets, I explained, were not for any of us but for my Labrador, who throws up at the very sight of a car. A vet nurse friend had recommended them and my vet had agreed with her advice. My mistake was to tell the pharmacist WHY I wanted them!

The cashier at Boots tried to refuse to sell me 2 packets of Nurofen even though they were running a "buy one get one free" offer on them.

I went to Asda the other day to buy bonjela for DD 6, I have used it before, but in big letters it said it was for adults only. I ended up going to the pharmacy and was told it contains aspirin. She sold me something else which worked fine.

I think it is illegal to sell buy one get one three or 3 for the price of 2 on medications.

I used to work in Boots and the general tills on the shop floor won't let you scan through more than 2 products containing paracetamol, it cancels the transaction. However, up on the medicine/phamracy counter you can get say 2 packs of paracetamol and a bottle of calpol, because one is classed as a child medicine

Asda once refused to sell me
1 bottle of 3 months calpol
1 packet of paracetamol
1 packet of Ibuprofen

on the grounds that I could take them all at once and kill myself

I love the fact that the self-scan at Tesco comes up with a warning that you're buying "over the regulation quantity" but just lets you continue!

The stupid thing (amongst others) is that

a) you can still buy enough to kill you, in 2 packets

b) if you buy 1 large packet of say 24, it counts as 1, but 2 packets of 12, and thats your lot!

This is why I get my ibuprofen in the States when I go back home for a visit -- a bottle of 750 ct right off the shelf (don't even have to ask someone behind the counter!).

it may seem stupid (and I agree on the Bonjela), but apparently paracetamol overdose liver damage/suicide has dropped massively since they introduced the restrictions, so they can't be a bad thing

Jeez. If you were that intent on killing yourself with paracetamol, then you would surely buy some in one store, then pop to the chemist and buy some, then pop to another store....

It's just bureaucracy gone bonkers....

i've never heard of not being able to buy more than two over 18 products before, or the not allowed to buy booze at certain times, how wierd!

i do a bit of part time at Sainsburys a supermarket and we are not allowed to sell more than two packets of anything containing paracetamol, or iuprofen, aspirin. we are allowed to sell you these with as many bottles of cheap gin as you like i remember a while back a lady got really irate at one of our long time cashiers, saying they were for her husband who had severe joint pain [he wasnt with her]
our cashier calmly took it, then got up and just walked off the till and asked someone else to serve her, then when she tried to complain about him and the policy at customer service our manager told her that he was within his rights to refuse to serve her, and that frankly the cashiers job was way more bloody important than shifting her arse to the Boots NEXT DOOR and buying more paracetamol.

dont complain to the cashiers about policies or give them hassle, we could lose our jobs if we sell it to you.
[also, i couldnt really give a flying rats arse about whether you get what you want or not if you're horrible to me sitting on a till]

I was refused fireworks in sainsburys last year because I tried to buy them from the firework counter before buying my shopping and they didn't want them in store in my bag. Perhaps they thought I would set them off in the aisles. They were only sparklers and I was furious. I was going to buy them, leave the store, then go back and do my shopping, but my dh was annoyed I was 'making a scene' and made me leave it.

2 items over 18??
and yet you get a discount if you buy six bottles of wine

is 6 no longer more than 2?

I remember Boots having a "3 for 2" offer on lemsip, but they wouldn't let me have my freebie because they could only hand over 2 boxes.