All human life is here

Raistlin · 26th December 2009, 18:26

SWMBO, having decided to have bronchitis over Christmas, was seen by the "out of hours" doctor today and this resulted in me trekking right to the other side of the City to the duty pharmacist.

As soon as I entered, I spotted two Police officers, in uniform, standing quite close to the counter, one of whom I recognised. I assumed there had been some shoplifting activity but as I progressed down the queue they seemed to be doing nothing other than watching.

Once I was near enough to talk to them, I asked what they were doing and was told that they were there to discourage the local junkies with their stolen, altered, and otherwise fraudulent prescriptions for, among other things, Methadone, which, for those of you who are not aware, is one of the drugs prescribed to drug users to help wean them off drugs.

Once I handed the prescription in I continued my chat with the officers, one of whom was wearing a turban (I mention this for a reason which will become clear).

Apparently, the local junkies would be in dire straits by Boxing day and would do anything to get drugs. It seems that some of them arrive with hand written notes which they claim to have been given by their doctor having "run out" of prescription forms. The pharmacy staff were, it seems, in distinct danger of verbal, if not physical abuse when they refused to accept the motley collection of fraudulent prescriptions and refuse to work on Bank holidays without a Police presence

I have to say that, when somebody walked into the pharmacy, the tension was noticeable. If it wasn't so serious, a good analogy would be the scene in "The good the bad and the ugly" where there is a three way stand-off and the camera focusses on the eyes of the protagonists to see who will draw his gun first.

The tension only relaxed when the newcomer found the back of the queue and took up the appropriate position, making it clear that no queue-jumping was intended.

During the course of my wait for SWMBO's prescription, one more than one occasion, a little old Indian lady would walk in, take one look at the queue and walk straight to the counter, at which point several people would tell her, quite robustly, that there was a queue and each of them, I kid you not, used the "No speak English" routine, attempting to force their prescription forms at the counter staff. Most eventually sensed the hostility and took the hint. One however, chose to push things further and it was at this point that the officer wearing the turban stepped forward, placed a none too light hand on the lady's shoulder and spoke a few words of what I recognised as Punjabi, escorting her to the back of the queue.

That was the point of my mentioning the officer wearing a turban. When he returned to his colleague I commented upon how lucky it was that he had been there.

I was told, by him, that these incidents happened so many times with Indian ladies that they liked to send an officer with a good chance of speaking the appropriate language to maintain the peace as there have been cases of these ladies being assaulted.

An interesting, if sad, hour or so spent be me in this season of "Peace and Good Will to all"

26th December 2009, 18:26	#1
Raistlin Banned 75 CDT Connoisseur SE Auto Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wolverhampton Posts: 8,450 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	All human life is here SWMBO, having decided to have bronchitis over Christmas, was seen by the "out of hours" doctor today and this resulted in me trekking right to the other side of the City to the duty pharmacist. As soon as I entered, I spotted two Police officers, in uniform, standing quite close to the counter, one of whom I recognised. I assumed there had been some shoplifting activity but as I progressed down the queue they seemed to be doing nothing other than watching. Once I was near enough to talk to them, I asked what they were doing and was told that they were there to discourage the local junkies with their stolen, altered, and otherwise fraudulent prescriptions for, among other things, Methadone, which, for those of you who are not aware, is one of the drugs prescribed to drug users to help wean them off drugs. Once I handed the prescription in I continued my chat with the officers, one of whom was wearing a turban (I mention this for a reason which will become clear). Apparently, the local junkies would be in dire straits by Boxing day and would do anything to get drugs. It seems that some of them arrive with hand written notes which they claim to have been given by their doctor having "run out" of prescription forms. The pharmacy staff were, it seems, in distinct danger of verbal, if not physical abuse when they refused to accept the motley collection of fraudulent prescriptions and refuse to work on Bank holidays without a Police presence I have to say that, when somebody walked into the pharmacy, the tension was noticeable. If it wasn't so serious, a good analogy would be the scene in "The good the bad and the ugly" where there is a three way stand-off and the camera focusses on the eyes of the protagonists to see who will draw his gun first. The tension only relaxed when the newcomer found the back of the queue and took up the appropriate position, making it clear that no queue-jumping was intended. During the course of my wait for SWMBO's prescription, one more than one occasion, a little old Indian lady would walk in, take one look at the queue and walk straight to the counter, at which point several people would tell her, quite robustly, that there was a queue and each of them, I kid you not, used the "No speak English" routine, attempting to force their prescription forms at the counter staff. Most eventually sensed the hostility and took the hint. One however, chose to push things further and it was at this point that the officer wearing the turban stepped forward, placed a none too light hand on the lady's shoulder and spoke a few words of what I recognised as Punjabi, escorting her to the back of the queue. That was the point of my mentioning the officer wearing a turban. When he returned to his colleague I commented upon how lucky it was that he had been there. I was told, by him, that these incidents happened so many times with Indian ladies that they liked to send an officer with a good chance of speaking the appropriate language to maintain the peace as there have been cases of these ladies being assaulted. An interesting, if sad, hour or so spent be me in this season of "Peace and Good Will to all" Last edited by Raistlin; 26th December 2009 at 22:31..