by Weddingweiser

I live in Berlin-Wedding, which is not the most picturesque quarter of Berlin. What we do have here is a lot of shops and pharmacies though. Germans do go to the GP at the first sign of a cold, so there’s no tradition of self-medication here at all: all pharmacies lack the good stuff like Nurofen or Lemsip – the only thing they offer are weak lemon-based remedies without painkillers. German pharmacies do however have the strange tradition of handing out giveaways with your prescriptions. The standard is a pack of tissues and some sweets, but the pharmacies here in Wedding seem to be in fierce competition with each other. With a sinusitis, I walked into my nearest pharmacy last week to get antibiotics. I handed over my prescription, and the lady behind the counter started packing my bag.

Chemist: ‘So, that’s the antibiotics and the painkillers. Would you also like some olive soap?’
Me: ‘Sure, why not.’
Chemist: ‘Good. I also put some tissues in. Do you like cappuccino?’
Me: ‘What?’
Chemist: (grabs a handful of instant-cappuccino bags from under the counter) ‘Cappuccino.’
Me: ‘Mmh, ok.’

I left the pharmacy with my prescriptions, two packs of tissues, olive soap, 8 bags of instant cappuccino, glucose, a little calendar, and mints. I like it in Wedding.