No Cancer For Christmas

(I’m working the register at my home pharmacy. A man asks to pick up his prescriptions, and some for his wife. I take the necessary information, and grab hers at the same time as his. Note: she has around a half dozen prescriptions, some in large bags.)

Customer #1: *seeing me with several bags* “Oh, dear, that’s more than I thought.”

Me: “It’s all right; some are just larger than others.”

(I ring up the total for the prescriptions; it’s about $15 dollars. As I’m relating the price to him, he searchers his pockets for extra cash.)

Customer #1: *clearly embarrassed* “I’m sorry, but I only have $5.”

Me: “That’s okay; we can hold your wife’s prescriptions for the next two weeks. At least her painkillers have no co-pay, so you can take these home for her right now.”

(At this point, the customer at the till next to mine looks over.)

Customer #2: “Excuse me, but how much are your co-pays?”

Customer #1: “Oh, it’s OK, really.”

Customer #2: “Are they more than $20?” *he already has a 20 dollar bill in his hand*

Me: “It’s about $15.”

Customer #1: “Really, you don’t need to do that.”

Customer #2: “Well, I’ll just take the change then, and you trade me the $5.”

Customer #1: *looks about ready to cry* “Thank you. You don’t know what this means to me.”

Customer #2: “My wife has cancer. If someone hadn’t helped us out at one point or another, we wouldn’t have her medication. Is her insurance [Insurance Company]?”

(The second customer then tells the first how to get co-pay booklets, to help with the cost of co-pays, so he can get the prescriptions cheaper in the future. I hand the change back to the second customer as promised, and the prescriptions to the first customer.)

Customer #1: *shakes the hand of the other customer* “Thank you, sir. You’ve made my Christmas.”