Returns don't work like that...

[Hitokiri Akins]

This is a story I heard in the break room of big retail chain.

So this lady tries to return a two pack of vitamins or something, but the thing is that the two pack is out of the box and have the labels removed, so no UPC bar code. The customer service lady tells the returner that she can't return it, due to what I just said. The returner is a little perturbed, but walks away.

A few minutes later, the returner returns to the customer service desk, her vitamins in a box.

Customer Service: Where did you get this?

Returner: From the shelf.

CS: ...Well, where are the vitamins you brought in here?

Returner: On the shelf.

CS: You can't do that.

Returner: Why not?

When I heard that, I'm just rolling my eyes at this point. Her next sentence got me laughing, though.

CS: Because the store could get shut down if we let you, and you won't be able to shop here at all.

CS said that the lady had the "deer in the headlights" look. I didn't hear the resolution to the story because I was laughing so hard. I think CS must read these boards because her retort was so perfectly in tune with the tone of this site.

[LillFilly]

Geeze did the lady want to get prosecuted for product tampering or what!?

[sms001]

Returner: Why not?

Gee, I can't imagine why it would be A BAD THING to put them back.

I don't know why you'd be allowed to return vitamins in the first place, short of defect, but a very generous store might allow it, in which case you leave the thing you took home at the service desk, and grab the whole package for scanning.

[drjonah]

We'll return otc medication as long as the plastic seal is still in tact. We don't put it back on the shelf but what we usually do is just donate it to either the red cross or the missions

[greek_jester]

We'll return otc medication as long as the plastic seal is still in tact. We don't put it back on the shelf but what we usually do is just donate it to either the red cross or the missions

After my brain op* I was prescribed a 1 week course of a particular anti-clotting medication, to be followed by a month of aspirin. The letter to my doctor, signed by the consultant, specified that I only needed enough medication for one week; in fact, that was highlighted with a fluorescent yellow marker. My doctor managed to pass me a prescription for a 1 month course instead.

Regardless, I took the prescription to my local pharmacy, as I didn't fancy sitting in the waiting room for another 2 hours waiting for another break where he could complete another prescription.

I explained the situation to the pharmacist (I had taken a copy of the letter before handing it in to the doctor), but he said that regulations state that any medication dispensed has to be destroyed if it is returned, even if it is just him taking the blister strips out of the packet, putting them in the generic packet to pass to me, then me tipping the extra strips out of the box and letting him pick them up to take them.

I then had to spend 15 minutes arguing with the pharmacist that no, he didn't have to dispense the whole month's supply, just the week. This allowed him to not destroy perfectly good medication that some other poor person may have needed that day (yes, I know, it's to prevent black market drug dealing/fraud, but still...)

*Intra-cranial hypertension; I was very, very lucky that they could fit a stent to widen a vein and allow the excess fluid to drain naturally, installed by sliding it up through the vein in my neck and allowing me to be discharged from the hospital 48 hours later. The traditional op involves drilling through the skull to install a small pump attached to a drainage tube dumping into the same vein *shudders*

[Hitokiri Akins]

Gee, I can't imagine why it would be A BAD THING to put them back.

I don't know why you'd be allowed to return vitamins in the first place, short of defect, but a very generous store might allow it, in which case you leave the thing you took home at the service desk, and grab the whole package for scanning.

I guarantee that if the CS had brought that up, the returner would have said "Well, I wouldn't do that!"

[Gilhelmi]

Gee, I can't imagine why it would be A BAD THING to put them back.

I don't know why you'd be allowed to return vitamins in the first place, short of defect, but a very generous store might allow it, in which case you leave the thing you took home at the service desk, and grab the whole package for scanning.

Incidentally, Johnson&Johnson handled the situation perfectly by being honest with the public and doing the right thing in general. Leading to a full recovery in the company stock within a year.

Now if only more people and companies could follow that example.