I was refused painkillers in Waitorse yesterday.

I suffer from dreadful hangovers, so I always make sure I have a ready supply of extra strength paracetomol and Iburprofen at hand to blitz that bad boy when it rears its ugly head.

So whilst I was out picking up something for sunday dinner, I thought I would replenish supplies, pick up a box of each and pick up a packet of lemsip on account having eaten the last sachet during a particularly bad hangover and had run out of tablets. (Top tip, if you are going to do raw lemsip, always go for lemon, not blackcurrant, it's rank)

So I get to the checkout and the till beeps at the woman whilst she is feeding my stuff through the reader.

"Sorry, I can't sell you this"

"What?"

"I can't sell you these three things together"

"Ok, er, why?"

"Because we aren't allowed to sell too many items conatining paracetomol".

I was utterly stunned. So I said "ok" and paid for everything except the lemsip which I then paid for at the *** counter.

I mean what, exactly, did Waitrose think I was going to do with a box of 16 paracetomol and a packet of lemsip. Even if I did for some reason decide to take them all in one go, it is doubtful that amount would kill me.

And besides, even if I decide I want to buy 76 packets of paracetomol, then that's my choice.

If I were of a suicidal nature, then I hardly think the actions of Waitrose would be enough to convince me not to throw in my lot and shuffle off the mortal coil.

I wouldn't, for one second think "Oh, right, well, that's done it. Waitrose won't sell me more than one packet of paracetomol. There goes my only option of killing myself".

Unless I had the IQ of a Waitrose health and safety officer.

I hate things like this with a passion. I hate censorship, I hate controls on what Ibuy. If I want to go home and smother myself in taramaslata and paracetomol pill accessories and then watch hardcore pornography then I should be able to.

Now, I don't particularly want to do those things (unless any of you know a Turkish pharmacist with a good dvd collection?), but the fact remains I should be able to without some **** deciding I should be protected from myself for my own good.

 

It's ****e isn't it.

Bring back personal responsibility.

 

Whilst it may seem stupid or inexplicable to the average joe public, I actually take my hat off to them....what they are doing is actually very sensible.

It is not as difficult to OD on paracetamol as you may think. They have self-imposed limits on the amount of 'active' substance they can sell you.

 

Pete, I work in Waitrose and it's a pain in the ****. It's the law I'm afraid, and there's sod all we can do about it. It's ridiculous, because if you wanted to take an overdose, all you'd have to do is go to another shop and buy some. Lemsip has paracetamol in it, so if you buy 2 packs of that, we can't sell you a separate pack of paracetamol or even Ibuprofen.

People always moan at the cashiers but we can't help it.

 

Now that it mental, Seeing as they are completely different drugs. Taking ibuprofen does not overdose you with paracetomol, on account of it being ibuprofen, and not paracetomol.

Oh I knows its not the cashiers fault, I mean they get a flash up saying they can't can't sell it, not thier fault. And besides, they are always nice and they smile at me.


I'ts a good job that thier Sausages are so utterly fantastic otherwise I wouldn't shop there.

 

Yep - this happened to me AGES ago - similiar types of things I was purchasing too - but its not the individual shop - its the law. Pain in the *** and as said if you were that way inclined - you'd just have to walk up to the chemist LOL - maybe they hope that in that time walking you'd talk yourself out of such actions

 

You can buy packs of 32 from a pharmacy, but only 16s from a normal shop.

And anyway.........if you weren't going to od, your gonna kill yourself with those **** anyway!


And can we say the same about your sausage?

 

In any over the counter situation like this, it's against the law to sell any more than 32 paracetamol/asprin products in total.

It may seem frustrating, as the majority of people probably have no intention of harming themselves, but rules are rules, and the assistant was merely doing her job, by refusing te sale. I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure if she had broken that law, she would be personally accountable, not the store, so I for one don't blame her. Shop assistants have to be so careful, sticking to these rules in case of spot checks and mystery shoppers.

It's not too different from the sale of knives/aerosols/age restricted products i.e. films or games. Whilst most normal people even below the applicable age wouldn't use any of these items for harm, there has to be some restrictions in place to try and protect. Yes it's frustrating when you can't get what you want, and don't see why, but laws are laws, no matter how stupid some of them seem.

 

But they don't really.

If I went into waitrose, and bought 12 bottles of Scotch, I could. And I reckon I would do far, far more damage to myself with 12 bottles of scotch all drank in one go, than I would 16 paracetomol and a packet of lemsip (and it is pretty bloody difficult to kill yourself with paracetomol alone).

And like I said, if I wanted to kill myself, I would hardly give it up as a bad Idea just because Waitrose said I can't.

 

I didn't go there to buy ****, I just went there to buy the lemsip, thus not having to queue at the checkout again.

Experienced shopper me!

It's a pork and leek beauty.

 

Pete, the cashier at waitrose ( probably oldsplice ) took one look at you, saw that you had obvious dependency issues coupled with a terrible compulsive nature and took a judgement call.

Now if it had been me all done up in a smart green striped pinny sitting at the checkout, I would have directed you to our 8 for 1 offer of super strength painkillers with the special weekly offer of a bottle of vodka and let you go on your merry way.

 

I don't know whether your policy is different, but you can sell as much ibuprofen as you like. It's only products containing asprin or paracetamol that you can only sell a maximum of 32 tablets, whether it's 32 of one or a combination. Ibuprofen isn't covered in this law, hence we don't get till prompts when selling it.

 

You can get medication for the leakage problems you know and even special underpants

 

None of this would be a problem if alcohol wasn't so ace

 

My missus works as a dispenser and they were recently told to watch for certain items being purchased together as the druggies of this world have learnt to heat them to specific tempreatures to get the certain drugs they require to get their highs




you must look suspicious Pete

 

Splicer, you hussy !!

 

As Lisa pointed out, the cashiers are responsible. The sale of alcohol to under 18s is another point. we have to 'Think 21'. It's a bloody nightmare, because the cashier who sells the product gets done as well as the shop and the shop can lose it's licence for selling alcohol.I don't know if you've ever tried to gauge a youngster's age but these days it's really tough. In our training we have to identify the ages of youngsters in the photos One girl who I thought was 23 was actually 14!!

There's also the fact that they raised the smoking age, so now we get 16 year olds who could smoke now being told they can't. Quite honestly, if they're going to sue the cashiers for selling to underage drinkers they should also do the purchasers.

 

He keeps trying to take me from behind when I'm doing his packing!!

 

Tena for men! Large!

 

Small

 

He heyah heyah heyah

 

Ooh Matron...................

 

Carry on noises are ace.


"phhhwwoooaarrr" and "oooohhhhhhhhoooooooo" are my favourites. Closely followed by "cccccooooorrrrrrrr"

 

Pete.................is that you?

 

"Heeeelllllllooooooooooooo"

 

Yes.



On the slack.

 

Ow, stop mucking about.................

 

Does this shopping establishment not know how real men shop??

Man + cold/headache= Buy every cough and cold remedy in shop.

Man + Toothache= Buy all painkillers in shop

Man + Promise= Buy all condoms in shop.

How the heck are we going to do our shopping if this is the law now?

Sucks

 

I wouldnt worry, we all know pete is a

 

I'll be in trouble for laughing now.............