Sudafed-ed Up

Actually, I'm not FED-up; I mean I got my Sudafed "fix" so to speak.   My head is much happier now, no longer trying to explode on me, got us to bed at a decently early hour, too.   It was much easier to purchase Sudafed at the better grocery store.  

I really preferred to MAKE cranberry sauce for M's wigwam party today, so enroute home from p/up M from her dance classmates home (really nice people), we stopped into a branch of my preferred grocery store chain.   No walls keeping people either trapped or separated from other areas.   I went readily from produce to, well, anywhere, while M searched through the Halloween area for props for her intended costume.   No fresh cranberries, but what the heck, I'll try this pharmacy.

As soon as I walked up to the pharmacy, a woman was there to help me.   She discussed with me the different brands and generic brands, quantity, and even offered that Sudafed has reconfigured one version with a new ingredient to replace the one used by meth makers, but that it's not as effective nor for as long......   I did have to purchase it THERE, but she said if I'd been at the register, or at customer service, someone would have brought the product to me, still with the controls.   She'd had "Sudafed-Training."  LOL, but, I can see why.  These are regulations that all need to be on board for.

I didn't have to show id.  I did have to sign my name and address, but it wasn't verified.   Only as I paid with my debit/credit card, did she have to check that the name on that card matched the name I'd written down.   She didn't need to check if I'd paid cash.   Heck, I bought the smallest quantity available for sale, anyway.  

The woman kept apologizing at the inconvenience this is causing customers, with real disappointment, and explained that, "Unfortunately, not all of our customers are, um, not all of them are trustworthy."   Such a different experience, and yet this grocery store is essentially in the same overall neighborhood as the one I visited earlier in the day.

Leaving the pharmacy to meet up with M and see what she discovered, I almost ran into a huge display of, yep, Q-tips.  LOL.   The same package I'd bought earlier was 20 cents more here, approximately a 10% markup.   Customer service comes with a price; this is a "high-low" store, and the other doesn't typically have sales but has "overall lower prices."   Time or money, shopping costs one way or the other.

Oh, and disposable cameras had a full, open end of the aisle display available, also.   I didn't check contraceptives, but IIRC, they typically have contraceptives and pregnancy tests, et al, out in an open along-an aisle display.   I didn't check baby formula, either.   I find it amazing that some states keep baby formula behind counters.   I wonder why that is!   Heck, I'm trying to remember 100% what "meth"'s long name is even.