Glitter Phingers

Early one afternoon, a fairly suspicious middle aged man came into the pharmacy requesting to get his script from us and have it kept on our script file so he wouldn't lose it. The problem was, the script he wanted was already on file at another pharmacy a fair distance away and was for an item considered to be a 'dangerous drug'.

We agreed to keep the script for him, but before we could dispense any part of it, we required the hard copy of the script, verification of the Doctor who wrote it and permission from the health department due to the medication's potentially harmful nature. The client agreed while I followed up with his previous pharmacy, his Doctor and the health department.

While he waited he wandered the shop, and due to the shadiness of his demeanour, another pharmacist followed his actions on CCTV when he wasn't busy.

I managed to contact the previous pharmacy who informed me that the man had discussed the situation with them and the pharmacist was prepared to fax a copy of the script to me then post it in the mail. The pharmacist was also aware further verification would be required before it could be sent to us.

Once we received the fax, verification of the Doctor was fairly simple, however, permission from the health department was taking some time which seemed to make the client fairly anxious. He was asking every few minutes if it was ok to grab his medication to which the reply was, "No, we are still waiting on the health department."

He continued to look around the shop, then approached me again to say he would come back in a few minutes, of which I was very pleased due to his annoying requests every few minutes. Just before he left, the other pharmacist on duty thought he saw the client put something in his pocket from the skincare section.

Checking back through the video footage, it was confirmed he did take something, but we couldn't make out what it was. Before he returned, I contacted his previous pharmacy and spoke to the same pharmacist again indicating we would no longer help him as he had just stolen from us and not to forward the script.

On his return, the other pharmacist on duty approached the client asking him to return the product he stole. The client denied any wrong doing initially, until we showed him the CCTV footage. He retrieved the item from his back pocket of which was a skin lotion containing glitter!!

"Why would you steal a glitter lotion?" The pharmacist asked.

"Uh, I don't know. It was taking so long and I'm a little weird in the head. I haven't had my medication today," he replied. "Can I get my medication yet? Have they called back?"

"Sorry, you stole from us," I said, "You're not getting anything from us."

The other pharmacist on duty then said, "Because you stole from us we're going to call the cops now."

At this point, his obvious addiction to his medication come forth, yelling and swearing at the other pharmacist on duty then saying, "You got something against me? huh?" and put his hands up as if it was the first round of a boxing match.

He began trying to punch and kick the pharmacist and a bit of a struggle developed. The pharmacist corralled him to the front door as I pushed the panic button for the police to arrive. At the front door, he tried to kick the pharmacist again and accidentally hit a customer. Other customers were yelling at him to stop being such a dick-head, and a couple of them also contacted the police as it was a fairly scary scene.

He eventually left, at which point I realised it was well after the end of my shift. I made sure everyone was OK then went home...



HEY! Don't judge me! Everyone was OK! I didn't abandon them!!

To put you at ease, the customer he kicked didn't get hit hard and was ok. Also, the cops arrived just before I left and I gave them my statement as well as the name and address of the crazy middle aged man who stole body glitter for no apparent reason! He wasn't smart enough to realise we had all his details on the faxed copy of his prescription...

Pharmacy Phrenzy

Late one night, a man wandered the pharmacy for a little while, checking out products here and there. I waited for him at the counter as he said he required no assistance, and when he was ready, put through a few items for him.

Just after I served him, the security guard approached him and asked him, "Can I check your pockets please?"

The man refused and asked why he had to show his pockets. The security guard demanded, "Show me what you have in your pockets!"

I was unaware the man had tried to steal anything, but quite often, you are unaware. I said to the man, "Just show him what you have, if there's nothing, you can go, if not, I'll give you the chance to pay for it or hand it back."

The man insisted he had nothing in his pockets. He tried to leave the shop but the guard stood in his way, so started to push the security guard. The guard, obviously having none of this, stood his ground and at the same time reached for the man's left pocket.

The security guard said to me, while reaching, "He's stolen a berocca!" Berocca, in case you didn't know, is an effervescent vitamin group B & C product most often used as a hangover cure. Wikipedia information here.

The man protected his pocket and began to push more. The guard's reaction was to restrain him, pulling his right arm while still reaching for the left pocket, causing the man a little bit of discomfort. The man attempted to break free of the guard and a small struggled developed.

While this was going on, I went to the phone and said to the man, "If you don't stop fighting and produce the product I'm calling the cops!"

The man then started to to get quite agitated and began yelling and whimpering, his face had gone red and it look like he was crying!

"Stop pushing me," he said, "Let me go, I haven't got anything! This is harassment, let me go!"

I called the police, and began describing the incident when the man started yelling, "I'm having a panic attack!" and fell to the floor.

"Stop, I'm having a panic attack!" He continued.

I described the incident to the police and then added, "And now he's having a panic attack. I don't know if he's faking or not, but it happened as soon as I called you guys."

The guard stopped after finding the product in his pocket, a small box of red berocca. The man meanwhile, curled into a ball and crawled into a corner of the counter and some shelves, whimpering and crying, "Leave me alone, I'm having a panic attack."

The man stayed there with the security guard watching over him while he continued to complain of being harassed and having anxiety. I continued to serve other customers, of which all inquired as to what was going on.

This went on for about 10 minutes until the police arrived. Two officers walked in, one an older gentleman and a younger female officer who asked, "where is the guy?"

I pointed to him, "he's over there."

The male officer approached the man, then said, "Oh, hi Barry. What trouble are you getting yourself into tonight?" (Real name not used)

"You guys know him?!?" I said

"Oh yeah, he's been at the station earlier this week. We'll handle it from here."

The police talked to him privately in the corner for about 10-15 minutes, calming him down, while I continued to serve and the guard stood close by.

Eventually, after taking short statements from both the guard and I, the police walked out with the man. To this day, I'm still unsure if they arrested him, as we did recover the product and the guard approached the man before he had officially "stole" anything. To officially steal something you must leave the premises with the item, of which the man did not, although he intended to. And to top that off, he is within his rights to refuse any bag or pocket check!

Sometimes, sorry, I mean, a lot of the time I feel the law is out to protect the criminal rather than the victim. The crazy world we live in...

Unfortunately for us, intention to steal is not breaking the law, it's almost breaking the law... In totally unrelated news, intention to travel is apparently a foul in basketball according to the umpire of our competition!