Everyone who's worked at a place who deals with customers should know what I talk about. These people, who suddenly got all the training and information required to make statements about your work, without the actual education for it, nor anything closely related to it.
I work at a pharmacy, as a technician (actually, I have this Wednesday the entrance exam for becoming a pharmacist, wish me luck!). A new feature in our pharmacy is that with a certain bonus card you get bonus points for all products we sell, that aren't classified as drugs. According to the law concerning drugs, we just can't give bonuses for said substances (the law passed last autumn). Pretty straightforward one would think, but no. A couple of days ago a man wanted to give his bonus card to me while buying only drugs, and I kindly told him that no bonus this time. By assessing his reaction one could have thought me accusing him of being a fat, smelly piece of turd. In other words, he was really offended. I told him of the law, when another man in the line cried "This is a cartel, set up by the government!" I readily agreed, selling licensed drugs is a state monopoly. One guy in the line also said that the law is complete bullshit, and there is no such thing.
I could only sigh and a few thoughts went through my head. A) Were those guys a) doctors b) nurses c) pharmacists d) chemists e) working for a pharmaceutical company or perhaps f) lawyers or g) judges? No, I highly doubted that they were. B) The legal monopoly is there because a) drugs without proper knowledge are dangerous (did you know that one of the most common drugs misused is paracetamol/acetaminophen?) and b) every pharmacy around the country is required to sell drugs at the same price so that people living in small cities and towns won't have to pay twice the price that people in big cities for the medicines they need.
And C) does one really need to get 5% of the money back for paying 3.00 € for a medicine?!
Do you think I've missed something essential, that the quarrel wasn't about bonuses and drugs? Is it wrong for the government to protect ignorant people from the dangers of medicines? Have you had a funny, horrible, memorable situation with a customer?

I've spent so much time educating people on proper recreational drug use it ain't funny. I used to think that most people obsessively research a drug before using it, at the very least checking Erowid.

Now I don't.

Because if most morons check Erowid, they'd realize that drugs have unexpected or nasty effects.

Some of which are still considered 'research chemicals'.

And for some consumer asshattery, I give you this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqRPOEa3P44

I worked in electrical wholesaling for 11 years(the electricians would buy their gear from us)

The stories I could tell.

That photo puts me in mind of the times we would be shut for stocktakes and despite large signs on the doors proclaiming this fact people would still stand there banging and pulling on the doors trying to get in.

And when you would point out the signs to them they would crack the shits and storm off.

@Moros Synackaon: Whoa.. That guy's got some serious issues! I've had ridiculous customers, after working at a hamburger restaurant as a team manager, a nurse in health care and now the pharmacy. I can say that I've seen a lot, but not this bad. Fortunately
And no, people are disgustingly uneducated, even though many take the trouble trying to teach at least the essentials. My friends now know at least not to take paracetamol for their hangover headaches, livers don't tend to like that particular cocktail XD The sad part is that most don't care, they have no drive what so ever to learn. I find it sad..

@Zen Badger: Oh dear if a store is not open when it's supposed to.. The wrath! My cousin told me of the time when their connection to the bank failed, and even though they had signs all over the place saying that one must pay in cash, there were still angry customers in line yelling "What the hell is this?!". Funny how people lose their ability to read when there are many, large, often colorful signs all over, when something doesn't work as it's supposed to..

As far as ignoring signs goes, it actually does make sense. There are many varied and colorful signs all over the place at all times that are advertising crap we don't really care about so we are conditioned to ignore signs! I certainly look for a written explaination when I am barred from doing something, but I can see how other people just ignore signs and want a person to explain stuff to them.

@Syn, Erowid is great and I always thought people were like me and researched dosage information before chugging drugs to get happy. You see, I grew cubensis for about three years and then invited my friends to hang out with me and trip, thinking that they would jump at the chance, but often the story was, "I don't like mushrooms, I had a bad trip once." SHOCK! How in the fuck did that happen?! So then I would ask them what happened starting with dosage information set and setting. Almost without fail their bad trip stories would start with, "Well, I took a large handful of mushrooms..." Me: "What kind were they?" Them: "What do you mean? The magic kind." Or some variant of pointing out what a dummy I was for even asking. So, my faith that people give a shit about themselves enough to actually research stuff that could make their life better is nil. For those that don't know, depending on the species of mushroom and even how they are grown, it is usually unwise to eat more than about 6 or 7 mushrooms unless you are experienced with what is about to happen. I usually started people off with a dose of 4 or 5 and made sure that they were not abhort mushrooms.

(May 23, 2011 at 10:22 am)Rhizomorph13 Wrote: As far as ignoring signs goes, it actually does make sense. There are many varied and colorful signs all over the place at all times that are advertising crap we don't really care about so we are conditioned to ignore signs! I certainly look for a written explaination when I am barred from doing something, but I can see how other people just ignore signs and want a person to explain stuff to them.

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@Syn, Erowid is great and I always thought people were like me and researched dosage information before chugging drugs to get happy. You see, I grew cubensis for about three years and then invited my friends to hang out with me and trip, thinking that they would jump at the chance, but often the story was, "I don't like mushrooms, I had a bad trip once." SHOCK! How in the fuck did that happen?! So then I would ask them what happened starting with dosage information set and setting. Almost without fail their bad trip stories would start with, "Well, I took a large handful of mushrooms..." Me: "What kind were they?" Them: "What do you mean? The magic kind." Or some variant of pointing out what a dummy I was for even asking. So, my faith that people give a shit about themselves enough to actually research stuff that could make their life better is nil. For those that don't know, depending on the species of mushroom and even how they are grown, it is usually unwise to eat more than about 6 or 7 mushrooms unless you are experienced with what is about to happen. I usually started people off with a dose of 4 or 5 and made sure that they were not abhort mushrooms.

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