Kiwi Pharmacy

I'm sick. It's winter (although the leaves and flowers are out) and everyone at work is sick and I managed to pick up a cold. I'm home from work today feeling sorry for myself. Yes, people actually take sick days here when they are sick, unlike in the states where people come to work sick and infect everyone else. So I went to the pharmacy to get some medicine and the experience was so nice I thought I'd share.
Kiwi's can be a little mixed up with language. Some things are said the British way, some things the Canadian way and some things the Kiwi way. Usually any of the above will do and they like to mix things up just to keep you on your toes. But more on that another day. This post is about the pharmacy, or the chemist (but not the drug store). Pharmacies here are generally quite small (no Shoppers Drug Mart) and generally only have pharmacy type things, plus some cosmetics. They don't have pharmacies in grocery stores (I can't remember what they call grocery stores) but just a small section of medicine.
OK, back to the pharmacy. As soon as you walk in some friendly person (the pharmacist usually) asks if they can help you and instead of just hunting through the shelves on my own I tell them what I'm looking for. Often you have to ask because more things are behind the counter here (I have an interesting story about "thrush"). But you can get more things over the counter here (like codeine, which is prescription only in the states). They ask about your medication and symptoms and find just the thing for you. It's great service, but often quite expensive. Worth it though, I'd say.