The Pharmacist’s Honest Opinion

November 17, 2007

Photo:Postiglione
It’s difficult to believe how much trouble a broken little toe gave me during the first few weeks of my study abroad experience in Brisbane. The trouble all started when I attempted to walk through my bed instead of around it. This was the day before school started and a week before a Green Day show to which I had held tickets for at least three months.

When I bought the tickets, it sounded like a great idea to buy standing room only; unfortunately, standing room now meant a chance for my already throbbing foot to get absolutely trampled. One saving grace was that the standing-room section was divided into a front and back section, and I had only procured a back ticket. This meant my section wouldn’t be nearly as crowded, but going was still taking a serious risk of mangling my toe much worse than the bed’s leg had done.

I didn’t want to just skip the show, since I had paid upwards of $60 for the ticket, so I had to find a way to protect my foot. Limping to the nearest pharmacy, I found the bandages section and was busying myself looking for something that would provide padding when a pharmacist walked up to me.

“Are you finding everything okay?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure.” I said, staring blankly at the array of bandages in front of me. “Do you have anything for protecting broken toes when you’re wearing shoes?”

She grimaced. “Well…do you really have to wear shoes? Why can’t you wear those thongs?” (She meant flip-flops. Somehow, I don’t believe that getting rid of my pantylines would help fix my problem.)

I explained my situation to her, and how it would be a terrible idea to wear thongs to the concert that night. She uh-hummed and looked very serious, informing me that there was no way to cover up my little toe as much as I needed. Treating the whole case in a very solemn manner, she asked, “Do you want to hear my honest, and very personal, opinion?”

I nodded, bracing for the talk I would certainly receive, telling me that it was a dumb idea and I was risking further injury for $60 and a band I’d seen play twice before. I’d heard it plenty of times from my mother already. Instead, she said, with a completely straight face, “I’d go out and get pissed before the show. If you’re flogged, you won’t be able to feel the pain, right?”

I was astounded—wouldn’t pharmacists in America get sued for saying something like that? She did, however, have a very valid point and had found the only real solution to the problem, no matter whether it made it worse the next day. I decided then and there that Australia really was the brilliant country I had built it up to be in my imagination and was the place that I really belonged. This was all while I was sharing a fit of the giggles with the honest pharmacist and everyone else in the pharmacy was wondering which of her drugs we’d gotten into.

After we’d calmed down and had a bit more of a chat, I went home and helped myself to a couple of the ice cold beers waiting in our fridge. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fully follow her advice by getting rip-roaring drunk, since I was attending the concert alone and somehow had to find my way back home in a city I’d only lived in for a matter of weeks.

I went to Green Day and thoroughly enjoyed their show, even if it was nearly line-for-line the exact same as the one they had put on in Houston months earlier. The show, while memorable and well worth the money, was still not the highlight of my night; that honor lay firmly with the pharmacist and the country that sees things in a slightly different light, with a twinkle in its eye and a beer in hand.

About the Author: Kristin Repsher is in her final semester of a B.S. in Computer Science at Rice University. When she isn’t buried knee-deep in Java code, she enjoys traveling as far as her student budget will let her. She has found her passion in writing about these trips on KristinsTravels.com.

The TSM Fall Travel Writing Contest has been organized in association with On The Beach Holidays