DERRY — A 12-year-old Derry boy was scared into thinking he was going to die from the flu, his father said, after a drugstore clerk refused to serve him because he was wearing a paper face mask.
Scott Sullivan of Derry said he took his 12-year-old son, Michael, to Walgreens on Crystal Avenue Monday after he had been to the doctor for flu-like symptoms. On the way home, Sullivan said, they stopped to pick up over-the-counter medicine and juice, but a cashier refused to wait on them.
The cashier saw his son wearing a mask and said "she wouldn't put her life in risk" to help him, Sullivan said.
"This is a pharmacy that deals with people who come to get prescriptions," he said yesterday.
A doctor at Parkland Medical Center gave Michael the mask and told him to wear it in public because he was coughing frequently. The doctor said Michael probably had the flu, his father said, but said they should wait a few days before testing for the seasonal and H1N1 flus.
"The doctor told me it was OK as long as he had his mask on," Sullivan said.
The father and son picked up Motrin and orange juice at Walgreens, but when they got to the cash register, the woman refused to help them once she saw Michael wearing a mask, Sullivan said.
His son became upset after the clerk's comments, Sullivan said, and he started crying.
Sullivan said he asked to speak to a manager and the manager ordered the clerk to wait on him and his son.
A manager who answered the phone at the store yesterday afternoon referred all calls to the store's corporate office.
Jim Cohn, a Walgreens corporate spokesman, said late yesterday it was an isolated incident and the company apologizes to its customers.
He said the issue had been addressed with the clerk involved.
When leaving the store, Sullivan said he was approached by another woman who said she was angry he would bring his son to a store wearing a mask.
He said he is still surprised at the reaction he received at the store.
"I told her you got to take into account you're scaring a little boy," he said. "She said she didn't care."
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