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Drugstore Sorry After Clerk Scares Child With Flu

Employee refuses to serve boy with with mask: 'I'm not dying'

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:28 PM CST
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(Newser) – A New Hampshire drugstore has apologized to a customer after a pharmacy clerk enacted her own quarantine. Scott Sullivan’s 12-year-old son was told he probably had the flu by a doctor, who gave him a paper mask because he was coughing. At a local Walgreens, the clerk took one look at the mask and refused to serve them. "She goes, 'I'm not putting my life in danger over this. I'm not dying,'" Sullivan said.

Sullivan then had to comfort his son, who began asking if he was going to die. "I told her you got to take into account you're scaring a little boy," Sullivan told the Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence, Mass. "She said she didn't care."

A woman and a boy wearing masks to prevent infection from swine flu leave the Miguel Couto hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, July 24, 2009.
A woman and a boy wearing masks to prevent infection from swine flu leave the Miguel Couto hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, July 24, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ricardo Moraes)
A Walgreens drugstore in Derry, NH (this one is in Newark) apologized after a cashier refused to serve a man because his young son was wearing a facemask in an effort not to spread the flu.
A Walgreens drugstore in Derry, NH (this one is in Newark) apologized after a cashier refused to serve a man because his young son was wearing a facemask in an effort not to spread the flu.   (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
joshua70448
Nov 5, 2009 10:56 AM CST
There are some seriously stupid people commenting on the source article, going off on the father for bringing his kid around in public with a mask on. He was on his way home from the doctor, so that was a perfect time to pick up the meds. What would they rather him do, leave the kid in the vehicle? Oops, that's not good. Hmm...leave the kid at home? Wait, that's bad too. Bunch of dumbasses. Oh, and that clerk is a dumbass, too. If she's so worried about getting sick (working at a PHARMACY) then maybe she should wear a damned mask.
laslow
Nov 5, 2009 10:45 AM CST
Some people are complete idiots.
DontLikeYou___
Nov 5, 2009 10:35 AM CST
Some people over-react to the government's fear tactics concerning swine flu. I hope she was fired for being grossly ignorant.
Health • Money • US

 
parenting • New Hampshire • swine flu • H1N1 virus • seasonal flu • Derry, NH

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