Day 166: Controlled Substances

For the past week and a half or so, I've been battling some kind of sickness that's been primarily marked by a nasty dry cough.  Mr. E bought a bunch of over-the-counter liquid and capsule medicines for me last week, and we had some Cepacol cough drops in our personal bathroom stock.

I discovered that the night-time cough syrup we initially had in stock under the sink contained high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) - what??!!  Ridiculous.  I actively avoid HFCS and carefully read all food items to ensure that it doesn't cross my palate, but I never thought to check cough medicine ingredients for the nasty substance.

Luckily, Mr. E found one (but only one!) night-time liquid cough syrup that is HFCS-free:

I've almost depleted the first bottle at this point, so I went to Safeway this evening to restock.  I read every single bottle of cough syrup, and this was still the only version with no HFCS.  Sheesh!

I also restocked the awesome Cepacol cough drops, which have been the only cough drop that is able to actually calm my night-time cough and help me sleep:

Since I only had a few items, I figured I'd take advantage of the self checkout aisle at Safeway instead of waiting for a cashier.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I scanned the cough syrup and received a message on the screen that a store employee would need to process the purchase!

Apparently, the Tylenol cough syrup is considered in some way a "controlled substance" that requires additional authorization to purchase.  Weird.  It's sold on the regular shelves and doesn't contain alcohol, so why should there be additional oversight?  Even weirder was that the cough drops required the same staff authorization.

So much for being quick and efficient in the self checkout aisle!!!