(I’ve just come from the emergency department of the hospital, with instructions to fill two prescriptions immediately. I’m obviously sick and having difficulty breathing. It’s about 9:30 PM, which is 30 minutes before closing.)

Me: “I have a severe corn allergy, so can you please double-check the ingredients on those before filling them?”

Pharmacist: “No.”

Me: “…Pardon? ”

Pharmacist: “Almost all medications are made with corn starch, you know. I don’t think I can fill them.”

Me: “My understanding is that very few prescriptions meds have corn in the them. Can you check them please?”

Pharmacist: “No. I don’t have the ingredients.”

Me: “Aren’t they on the bottle?”

Pharmacist: “No.”

Me: “Can you look them up somewhere? Online or in a compendium?”

Pharmacist: “No.”

Me: “I really need these medications immediately.”

Pharmacist: *sighs* I guess I could leave them for someone tomorrow, and they could call the company.”

Me: “I need them tonight. I’m not sure what to do.”

Pharmacist: “I’m sure you’ll be fine. There’s only a little bit of corn starch in a pill.”

My Husband: “NO! Didn’t you hear her? She’s ALLERGIC!”

Pharmacist: “Well, there’s nothing I can do tonight. I guess I can keep these until tomorrow and someone else will deal with it.” *wanders off*

(I called another pharmacy in the same chain, and they were able to check the ingredients immediately. We retrieved my prescriptions from the unhelpful pharmacist, and my husband made a complaint the next day. It turned out he was a temp and was fired.)