Originally Posted by
FenLandK
I once had a very bizarre situation in that Boots. I wanted some cough medicine so I went to the pharmacy counter and asked for some of their own brand. The assistant apologised and said that as the pharmacist was on a break he couldn't serve my the cough medicine - however, he then proceeded to walk around the counter out into the store and found the same thing on the shelf. He picked a bottle up, handed it to me and said "but I can sell you that one". Dumbfounded, I was...
The stuff behind the counter is generally higher strength, and can only be doled out by the pharmacist (more pseudoephedrine or contains codeine). The stuff on the normal shelves was probably the lower grade stuff that isn't licensed (no codeine or just has phenylephrine), even though the packaging is the same.
If that isn't the case, I'm as dumbfounded as you are. Were you being filmed for a hidden camera show?