- Joined
- Jun 4, 2012
- Reaction score
- 634
Urban Dictionary: smurfing
I had a strange and unpleasant experience during the past week.
I renewed a prescription at a local pharmacy, and went there to pick up the refill after they called me. But I also have a cold and my nose has been dripping like a faucet. So I thought while I was at the pharmacy, I would also pick up a box of pseudo-ephedrine (generic "Sudafed") while I was there, since it is kept behind the pharmacy counter.
When the pharmacist tried to enter the purchase of the "Sudafed" into the computer/register, it went berserk and refused to allow it. They subscribe to this database which supposedly tracks such purchases. The database is run by an organization called NPLEx. NPLEx has a website where you supposedly can go to get information if you have been denied the ability to purchase "Sudafed" during the last 30 days. But the "Catch 22" is that when the system stopped my purchase, it stopped the cash register from printing out anything about the transaction, including the reason for the "stoppage" and including the transaction ID number. And you have to input the/a transaction ID number to get any information from the NPLEx website. So that was a vicious circle and a total dead end.
I spent the next ten minutes talking to the woman pharmacist, whom I had never seen before. She was more than willing to speculate about how I had violated the law, bought more than my quota of "Sudafed" within the last month or year, etc., etc. In other words, I was a "smurf" or "smurfer,"
and would be selling my "Sudafed" to a methamphetamine dealer, like on "Breaking Bad." There is another pharmacist who works there that I have had dealings with and he pretty much knows me. I was told he would be on duty the next day.
So I came back the next day. The fellow I wanted to speak with had already left for the day, but the co-manager was there and he tried to help me.
He grabbed a box of "Sudafed," wanded the bar code on the back of my driver's license, and entered the transaction into the same NPLEx database. The transaction went through. And I got a receipt with the transaction ID printed on it. He then tried to use that ID number to access the NPLEx website to find out what was the problem the previous day. But the website had no information to provide, including no information about the sale that just happened two minutes ago. He said it was probably just a lag in putting the information into the system, and I should try again later.
I have tried it several times since then. I keep getting an error message: "Transaction history could not be generated. Please verify your information."
So now I am not sure what to do about this.
Maybe you should start calling me "Joe the Smurf."
