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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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10

Drugstore Sorry After Clerk Scares Child With Flu

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

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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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10 comments
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dontlikeyou
Nov 5, 09 4:35 PM CST
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lasty58
Nov 5, 09 6:34 PM CST
Can you blame her? If she is uninsured and cant pay for treatment catching the swine flu could very well result in her death. That being said, she certainly could have been a little more considerate and avoided frightening the 12 year old. But i hardly think she should have been fired for being over cautious.
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shonangreg
Nov 5, 09 8:09 PM CST
Some people are just ignorant. They don't mind hurting other people's feelings through their ignorance. And some are not embarrassed about repeatedly posting comments demonstrating their ignorance ;-)
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+11
zumajay
Nov 5, 09 4:37 PM CST
minimum wage at its finest Reply
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+2
laslow
Nov 5, 09 4:45 PM CST
Some people are complete idiots. Reply
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+4
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