Um, shouldn't you go to like, the Hospital?

[Hon'ya-chan]

This incident just makes me wonder what happens if we have a pandemic or some other medical catastrophe and people don't do the right thing.

A guy comes up to the desk and begins to describe, in very gory detail, about this "rash" one of his women friends has and wants to know where the medical books are. I'll save you the graphic description; even trying to write it out just makes me wanna destroy my LCD display.

Now at this point, I figure just don't dispense with trying to show him the books and advise him to seek professional medical help (if he's THAT graphic about the condition, a book ain't gonna help his lady friend). But the guy refuses to heed my advice and demands to know where the medical books are. I begrudgingly show him the books, and just stay away from him for the time he's in the store. I actually considered at one point to just call the cops, tell him some guy described to me some graphic medical emergency, and let them handle it.

Great, now i'm just wondering if the guy was infected by exposure to the woman, and if I'm gonna catch it.

[Sheldonrs]

I blame this behaviour on the proliferation of DIY TV shows.

[Hon'ya-chan]

I blame this behaviour on the proliferation of DIY TV shows.

I was waiting for him to actually ask me how to make and apply poultices. *shudder*

[42_42_42]

One can only hope that he's doing research for a very graphic novel and that his "lady friend" is actually a character in said novel.

One can hope.

[stucksb]

Eww, so sorry you had to listen to that. But I will admit that I many times referred to a medical text or the internet to try and treat a medical problem when I had no health insurance and couldn't get any.

[NateTheChops]

Had an incident in the same vein a year back although it wasn't sexual...I hope.

Guy comes in to the store and asks what I would recommend for this series of deep bleeding gashes up and down his right arm. He told me a cat snuck into his apartment through the window and scratched him.

Yeah. The last time someone had a cat that could do that I believe they were brought in for poaching.

[tropicsgoddess]

What part of go get medical help did that idiot not understand?

[BethB]

EWWW!! Disinfectants...STAT!!

[Hon'ya-chan]

Oh dear, another self-diagnosising customer today. Only one of my male co-workers had the honor of hearing the details of a girl who thinks she has a miscarrage. So he blankly led the girl to the Pregency section and thumbed thru the Pregency for Dummies book and found a page on Miscarrage.

Before I could intervene after he told me of the incident (due to being busy and he couldn't get away from serving other customers) and tell the girl she should go to the emergency room, she left.

[Dreamstalker]

I blame this behaviour on the proliferation of DIY TV shows.

Ditto; I also partially apply the blame to that DHealth "Mystery Diagnosis" show in which the prevailing lesson (at least according to us) seems to be "don't trust regular doctors cuz they get everything wrong."

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Ditto; I also partially apply the blame to that DHealth "Mystery Diagnosis" show in which the prevailing lesson (at least according to us) seems to be "don't trust regular doctors cuz they get everything wrong."

Thing is, most of the conditions on that show are unusual, very rare and often manifest themselves with symptoms that are part of many far more common conditions, hence the doctors think the person has common disease A,B or C and not super rare condition D.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Thing is, most of the conditions on that show are unusual, very rare and often manifest themselves with symptoms that are part of many far more common conditions, hence the doctors think the person has common disease A,B or C and not super rare condition D.

I suppose these people think the doctors should start with the least likely scenario and work their way backwards to a diagnosis...

[Dreamstalker]

Working backwards to make something fit an outcome you want has its own problems (diagnoses done like that have a greater chance of being wrong and--depending on the proposed treatment--making things much worse).

If you hear hoofbeats are you automatically going to say horse or wildebeest?

[Hon'ya-chan]

And today, I just got the most vivid description of someone's Tumor removal!!

Excuse me, I need to empty that case of Asutralian Wine in the pantry into me.

[Dreamstalker]

Eeewww...I guess some people think that since you have medical books all the staff are doctors (and they must marvel at the funny buildings saying "HOSPITAL"--what do they think those are?).

That stupidity should work itself out of the gene pool eventually...one would hope, anyway.