Shopping Trip...

Recently Boots the Chemists have redeemed themselves and given me reasonably good service. And most of the assistants chat and call me by name. I like that.

However, last week they let us down again, after filling Mum's prescription they informed me that one drug was not in stock and would not be available until after the weekend(approx 4 days)and unfortunately the one they were out of stock was...the very drug she no longer had any of in the house and they were important as they were painkillers. It's not an usual drug and one if they had too much of it in stock would soon be used up.

Had I not had some spare of the same kind, she was without.

So ok I couldn't be bothered to ask for the prescription to be returned go elsewhere. It was getting late, I wasn't sure who would be open and I'd need to start riding around in a taxi which adds to the cost.

I waited until today as I had other things to buy so I could do as much as possible. I expected that I would go in and present my receipt and collect what was outstanding from last week and be finished in seconds.

Guess what! They started to put the prescription up for that one drug up whilst I was in the store and I had to wait.

What if they had run out again in the meantime when I presented the receipt and I was told again, we are out of stock? As that was my drug, part of a prescription not completed and I was promised it would be there waiting for me, it seems wrong not for it to be waiting for collection. That isn't good to me.

From what I can see there is a lack of business in the older part of the town, many would say it is because of the large Tesco's that has opened and they sell most of what is being sold by the few remaining shops in this part of towns plus the supermarket has a pharmacy with longer opening hours and you can shop whilst your prescription is made up it makes sense to go there.

And now another pharmacy has opened very nearby this branch of Boots again offering better opening times and it is connected to a Dr's surgery next door.

A new shop opened a few weeks ago to a great fanfare and it sells many items available in Boots(at discounted prices)and another couple of shops so again this has not brought extra business in my opinion but taken it away from others and I suspect those shops are suffering and it is the prescription part of Boots that is keeping their business going.

I needed a pair of trousers, the only store that sells men's clothes had plenty of t-shirts, jeans and shorts but trousers? Approx 3-4 pairs on a stand instead of the usual large part of the store given over to trousers that I remember.

I ended up at...Tesco's and they had what I wanted so is it any wonder they do so well?

How much did my trousers cost, a bargain at £6. Unfortunately, my usual waist size did not fit because my steroids have increased the size of my stomach but this then means that though I have the same inside leg measurement, the rest of the trousers are baggier. But what can I do? So now I need to do my little bit of alteration and hopefully I'll be wearing them soon.

So what should have been simple tasks were not so in the end...