Walgreens tells customers to ‘Be well!’ Oh, puke
A customer (and health care editor) is annoyed by the store’s new phrase, ‘Be well,’ and the PR department doesn’t seem to care.
Every time I go there and buy something, a cashier will end the transaction by saying, “Be well.”
This is really starting to annoy me.
For starters, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say back to them. Telling someone to “be well” is not a normal way to end a transaction or conversation. I’ve tried my own slogans to say back to them, but it just winds up making everything more awkward:
“Be well to you, too.”
“Thanks. Be well, yourself.”
“May you also be well.”
I usually just nod and say, “OK.”
Most of the time, when I go to Walgreens, I’m already well. How can I get more well? I guess “be well” implies that they want me to continue on my path of wellness, but it puts a lot of pressure on me not to pick up a cold on my walk back home.
What about if I go to Walgreens and I’m already really sick? If I walk into the store with bleary eyes and a hacking cough and I’m clutching a pack of Tylenol Cold? Will a cashier tell me to “be well” then? It would be more appropriate to say, “Be well soon.” Or maybe, “Have you seen a doctor?”
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