Source
r/TalesFromRetail•
SentientBricks

She may have done it for faster service, but we'll never know.

Medium

Once had a short, stout, erratic lady come in demanding a certain concrete base for an outdoor umbrella at a peak shopping time. I was with a customer and the two other staff for the area were busy serving as well. As i was quickly wrapping up a sale with the customer i was currently serving, lady proceeds to become more and more flustered, throwing an occasional comment about how she needs this thing ASAP. No big deal I thought, she's just in a rush.

Get to serving her and not only did I find this base in fleeting time, It was behind all the other concrete bases on the rack. I phone other staff for assistance and a trolley so we can move the thing out. The woman became silent for the most part, but I could tell she was becoming very impatient with the time it was taking to get this base for her. As the two other staff arrive to assist (manual handling requirement for items of 20kg +) she starts to complain about the time it was taking. Her whole customer service experience by this time had compiled to a whole 5 minutes which was exceedingly quick by peak hour standards.

So as we start moving the bases out this lady cracks. She starts bawling, "I'VE JUST HAD AN EPIDURAL!" We just stopped and stared at each other for a split second before going into first aid mode. She, still passionately wailing about it, still wanted her umbrella base and refused any sort of medical assistance. So us, being on the safe side of things, concluded it was in her and our best interests to call an ambulance even though she was refusing because there was obviously something very very wrong with the way she was presenting by this point. As soon as we told her an ambulance was on it's way, she perked up from her dire state like nothing happened and hiked it out of the store!

All this for a concrete umbrella base!? Crazy!

TLDR: erratic customer probably feigned being seriously ill to get quicker service.

Posted Mar 29, 2017, 12:50 PM UTC

28746
MistressLiliana•

If she just had an epidural, she should be better not worse. If she had it for active labor no way a hospital would let her leave, if she had it for lower back pain or sciatica then she should not be in pain. More likely she is just a liar and doesn't even know what an epidural is.

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soleoblues•

Eh, not necessarily. Epidural steroid injections are pretty intense; mine knock me on my ass for a day or two after, due to increased pain.

The lady OP dealt with sounds off her rocker, but as a general thing? They're not always fun. Once the local wears off, fuck me, I hurt worse than I did before the injection. My doc warned me about it, so apparently it's not unheard of either.

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MistressLiliana•

Oh, I didn't know that, but I do know if I was in that much pain a concrete umbrella stand would be the last thing on my mind.

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soleoblues•

You're ok until the local wears off. And some people are fine even after the local wears off. Personally? I was fine leaving the facility, and wondered why they had me bring a driver.

By the time we got home, I was starting to realize why I needed a driver. It sucked for a few days after, but then it was glorious and I could move my shoulder again.

That said, I burn through pain meds quickly, so what took me the drive home could have taken her longer. You really do feel fine while the local is working.

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soleoblues•

Ooouch. Hope it's better now tho!

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ghostdrummer•

I've received many injections for back pain over the years and I can attest to your experience. Not one time have any of the injections worked. The increased pain floors me for days afterwards. The second to last one I received was the most painful injection to date.

The amount of pain during the procedure was the closest to the pain I felt the day I broke my back (L2 compression fracture. L2 split in half and peeled forward). My normal pain level before the injection was an average of 5-6 of 10 on a scale of 0 being the least and 10 being the most. Since then my pain level is now 6-7 constantly.

The pain management doctor finally agreed that the injections do not work on me.

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soleoblues•

SWEET CHICKENS, that sounds miserable! I'm lucky that mine worked after a few crap days; I can't imagine going through that only for the pain to get worse. I hope you found an actual way to manage your pain.

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ghostdrummer•

Currently waiting for an MRI authorization. In the meantime it's a smorgasbord of medication. Pain killers, muscle relaxers, nerve damage pills, migraine meds, and then a few for the intestinal issues I have from the accident in '93 that started all of this.

The worse part is the doctors who keep telling me that I'm just too young to have this many health issues. Age has nothing to do with it when a near fatal car accident is involved.

Posted my reply somewhere else and it really didn't make sense out of context.

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satan_rocks_my_socks•

Sciatica?

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emax4•

"I'VE JUST HAD AN EPIDURAL!"

"And I'm looking at a pain in my ass. Now are you going to wait, or what?"

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Kristeninmyskin•

I knew someone who got epidurals every few months for back pain. He could walk

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Belle_Corliss•

Yep. My son has a slipped disc and he's had 3 lumbar epidural steroid injections so far. They aren't the same as the epidurals you get when you're in labor.

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geoliciouswerdsmith•

Just one teeny tiny question.............IF YOU JUST HAD AN EPIDURAL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SHOPPING???? GO THE FUCK HOME!

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ghostdrummer•

Currently waiting for an MRI authorization. In the meantime it's a smorgasbord of medication. Pain killers, muscle relaxers, nerve damage pills, migraine meds, and then a few for the intestinal issues I have from the accident in '93 that started all of this.

The worse part is the doctors who keep telling me that I'm just too young to have this many health issues. Age has nothing to do with it when a near fatal car accident is involved.

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southendshwa•

How was she walking?

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robertr4836just assume sarcasm•

Out of curiosity why did you decide to call an ambulance? All you say in the story is she said she just had an epidural so unless she's shooting a baby out onto the floor all she said was she had a really strong aspirin (i.e. I'm in so much pain why are you taking so long!).

Was she short of breath? Incoherent? Passing out? Just can't figure out based on your post how you went from pain in the ass impatient woman to person who needs medical assistance.

-21
death_before_decafe•

So epidurals are pretty intense procedures. When you have one for birth you are lirerally paralyzed from the waist down and cant walk. Now i cant speak to epidural uses for other diseases but it is certainly more than a strong aspirin.

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eViLegion•

Yeah that's what I thought.... it's effectively a temporary medically induced paralysis, right?

17
kionae•

Still... unless she'd just administered it herself there in the store, I don't think she'd be out shopping if she'd had an epidural that same day.

16
urania3You have insufficient flair.•

No...it's a route of administration of a drug or contrasting agent. It's most commonly associated with epidural analgesia during labor. You'd still be able to walk after an epidural steroid injection, but it could cause anxiety and a localized increase in pain in the short-term​.

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eViLegion•

I see. It sounds really full on. Presumably most people wouldn't go shopping soon after having such a procedure?

I hate shopping at the best of times, I can't imagine going immediately to a shop after something as basic as a dental clean, let alone anything stronger.

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mandolin2712•

They also do epidural injections to treat some spinal disorders. It doesn't make you numb, but they do drug you up pretty well before it. So it's possible she was just still high.

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carriegood•

I had one, and while I was high as a kite with my ass exposed during the procedure, by the time they let you out, you're fine. Not fine enough to drive, maybe, but fine.

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mandolin2712•

I wasn't. I've had it done 4 times and I've always been messed up for at least the next 4-5 hours.

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robertr4836just assume sarcasm•

I'm only familiar with epidermal steroid injections that my parents get for chronic arthritis. From them it seems to be an in office procedure and they are walking on air afterwards because of the lack of pain.

I still don't know why someone saying they had something done to relieve pain would result in a call for an ambulance.

I guess I'm just a heartless person who would have let the woman stand around in pain (not in pain?).

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ParallelLynx"But you put all those viruses on my computer!"•

Epidermal is just a sub-skin shot. Epidural is a spinal injection. So two vastly different procedures.

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robertr4836just assume sarcasm•

Ah...so basically I have no clue what I am talking about. Pretty normal for me.

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carriegood•

Epidurals for birth are way different than for neuro-muscular problems. If she had just had an epidural from pregnancy, she'd be in active labor and the hospital would not have let her out for a quick jaunt to the outdoor furniture store.

I've had one for a pinched nerve in my back. I was lucky, it worked immediately. Sometimes people need as much as a series of 5 before there's any relief at all. And I had an elderly lady neighbor who got them regularly, and they wiped her the hell out afterwards. Just the stress of the procedure, I think, not the epidural itself.

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airbornecavepuppyAlterations Tailor•

Unless you are like me... and it doesn't work at all. :C

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nikhilbhavsar•

So us, being on the safe side of things, concluded it was in her and our best interests to call an ambulance

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robertr4836just assume sarcasm•

That doesn't really explain anything though.

So, a guy came up with two products and I told him the total. He says, "No, item 1 should be cheaper!" To be on the safe side of things I called an ambulance.

Now tell me my story isn't missing some critical info to make sense.

-42
nikhilbhavsar•

So, a guy came up with two products and I told him the total. He says, "No, item 1 should be cheaper!"

She never said that, OP explained that she probably did it to get quicker service

She starts bawling, "I'VE JUST HAD AN EPIDURAL!" We just stopped and stared at each other for a split second before going into first aid mode. She, still passionately wailing about it, still wanted her umbrella base and refused any sort of medical assistance. So us, being on the safe side of things, concluded it was in her and our best interests to call an ambulance even though she was refusing

I could be wrong, but if a customer starts bawling and wailing about having had an epidural, to reduce liability (and to avoid getting sued later), any business would call an ambulance to be on the safer side (better safe than sorry).

Maybe OP can explain better as he was there

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RevokFarthisNo lad.•

So, before reading this post, and it's comments, I had no idea what an epidural was.

I was vaguely aware of it being related to some medical... stuff (hand wavy motions) but no clue what it was or why.

It could'a been a surgery, or a serious illness, anything. If I had a customer come into my store yesterday and start screaming about just having had one and crying, I'd have likely done the same as OP.

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emax4•

Read all the lines of text.

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