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"

Bernard LPG · 26th December 2009, 23:52

No-one dare comment for fear of PC damnation.

Ragman · 27th December 2009, 00:28

Ah but isn't the queens english a wonderful language

Bernard LPG · 27th December 2009, 00:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ragman

Ah but isn't the queens english a wonderful language

Nice one.

Dragrad · 27th December 2009, 01:19

The english have a QUEEN? Which Queen's English?

black olive · 28th December 2009, 21:23

I joke at work that our place of employment ( a major defence supplier ) is a day care centre and we are institutionalised, this does shelter us from these types- and it opened my eyes a bit on a recent lecturing course as half the delegates were health and social care workers- some drugs workers- they had some scary tales to tell

Ragman · 28th December 2009, 21:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragrad

The english have a QUEEN? Which Queen's English?

Now now - be nice!

I'm half Irish and can't remember the last Irish Queen (no comments about Graham Norton please)

Ragman · 28th December 2009, 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by black olive

I joke at work that our place of employment ( a major defence supplier ) is a day care centre and we are institutionalised, this does shelter us from these types- and it opened my eyes a bit on a recent lecturing course as half the delegates were health and social care workers- some drugs workers- they had some scary tales to tell

My wife and her sister work in the sector that sees at lot of such people and you're right - the stories are scary!

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..

27th December 2009, 00:28	#3
Ragman This is my second home ZT 260 SE Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Ashington, West Sussex Posts: 3,512 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Ah but isn't the queens english a wonderful language __________________ I've learned that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

27th December 2009, 01:19	#5
Dragrad This is my second home *None DROWNED** Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Cardigan Posts: 33,339 Thanks: 1,257 Thanked 1,664 Times in 1,081 Posts	The english have a QUEEN? Which Queen's English? __________________ Andrew Ich Dien Problem solving is... lateral thinking SEARCH FIRST ...ASK LATER...

28th December 2009, 21:23	#6
black olive I really should get out more....... 260 SE vin 214 ( last mark 1 260 ) Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lancashire Posts: 2,009 Thanks: 1 Thanked 8 Times in 4 Posts	I joke at work that our place of employment ( a major defence supplier ) is a day care centre and we are institutionalised, this does shelter us from these types- and it opened my eyes a bit on a recent lecturing course as half the delegates were health and social care workers- some drugs workers- they had some scary tales to tell __________________ [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

26th December 2009, 23:52	#2
Bernard LPG I really should get out more....... 75 V6 Saloon 2003 LPG MGZT V8 260 LPG Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Evesham Posts: 2,134 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	No-one dare comment for fear of PC damnation.