I’m a nice customer!

My husband asked his doctor recently to fax a prescription to a local pharmacy for malaria tablets, which he did. My husband is particularly vigilant about carrying the malaria tablets with him as he is often in areas in Southern Africa and he has just recovered from a bout of malaria three weeks ago.
When he got to the pharmacy a few days later, he was told they had not received the prescription. He walked across the road to enquire at the doctor’s office and was shown that indeed the prescription had been sent. He went back to the pharmacy and was offered tablets which had expired and told his medical aid would not pay for it and then told his medical aid would pay for the medicine and then told that they had ordered the medicine and he was to phone the chemist the following day.
The conversation with the pharmacist was most unsatisfactory as he said that he was unable to recall all the people who visited his shop and he did not have the tablets in stock and did not care if my husband was now left unprotected.
My suggestion to the owners of that pharmacy is that maybe they should read “I was your customer” by Peter Cheales and I quote from the back cover of his book: “I was your customer. I never complain … I never grumble at the poor service I get. I’ll stand at the cashier’s window while she chats with the typist about last night’s date. I don’t scowl when kept waiting, and if the salesperson who finally wanders over to see what I want is impatient or discourteous, I don’t complain. I am very tolerant. When I ask a simple question and get a curt answer; do I call the manager? No, I just tolerate the situation. I like to be nice to people because – well, that’s the way I am. I never moan. I never fuss, I never criticize, I’d hate to make a scene like I have seen others do. I think that’s just awful. No, I’M A NICE CUSTOMER. But I’ll tell you something else too: I’m the customer who doesn’t come back. That’s why I can sit back and laugh when I see you spending all that money on advertising to get me back when you could have kept me in the first place with a smile, a few kind words, a little service.”
JOLANDA VAN ROMBURGH
Zinkwazi

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