PHARMACIE OPERA - BRITISH AND AMERICAN PHARMACY

<p>I am in Paris, on business. To my discredit, I speak roughly 5 words of French, and that terribly. In truth I believe my French hosts will suffer less to hear my offensive American English tongue than to listen to me mangle their own. I arrived here without luggage, because somewhere between a cancelled flight and a rescheduled one on Friday and Saturday, a combination of Delta, Air France, and British Airways lost it, in Tampa, New York, Paris, or possibly mid-flight. One never knows. Today it is Sunday. I awoke today after a terrible night&rsquo;s sleep, precipitated by a totally disturbed body clock and a French couple who decided to have a protracted lovers&rsquo; quarrel outside of my room in the middle of the night. I am completely disheveled, unkempt, in clothes I had been wearing for two days, highly irritated, and just to make things really fun, neither my phone nor my credit cards decided to work today, despite my having taken every measure, prior to my trip, to ensure that they would. Readers of this review can imagine the distressed, displaced, language-impaired, unpresentable train wreck who showed up at Pharmacie de L&rsquo;Opera today, shopping (God help me) on a Sunday, and whom a wonderful young woman named Stephanie bravely decided to help. I will make a long story somewhat less long: I needed EVERYTHING, from a toothbrush to mascara, shampoo to shower wash. Stephanie dealt with equal aplomb and perfect kindness with my desperation, stress, horrid French, color palette, and hyper-protective credit card carriers who somehow decided I had misinformed them when I told them I would be traveling in FRANCE this week. Undaunted, Stephanie called American Express on my behalf and corrected their perception of my whereabouts (Verizon, as mentioned, having also forgotten that I am in Europe and that I needed my international coverage to work EVERY day of my absence, rather than strictly on Saturdays, so I literally could not call Amex myself). With my purchases finally approved, I left the Pharmacie with all the items I needed, and as many more in samples, brushes and sundries that Stephanie provided from her trial-supplies that I could possibly have forgotten in my distracted state of mind. So I wish to say thank you. I thank the Pharmacie for being open on Sunday, and the kind gentleman working with Stephanie who helped us to call American Express when they declined my card, under the perception that it was the target of fraud. I thank all the other patrons who ended up moving around, waiting in line behind, or otherwise inconvenienced by my frantic shopping frenzy and complete inability to read a single label for myself. But most of all I thank Stephanie, for making a very unfortunate tourist feel far more prepared for a very challenging business week ahead of her. I will never forget your patience and kindness, and the Pharmacie is lucky to have you in their employ. Dawn Olson Sarasota, FL</p>