During the summer of 1993, a social anthropologist carried out non‐participating observations in two pharmacies in Oslo, Norway, in order to describe the communication and interaction between the customers and the pharmacy staff. The ways the personnel encountered their customers varied in a striking way. Few indicators could be relied upon in predicting staff behaviour. Informational interaction did occur between customers and staff, but this practice did not seem to be systematic with regard to rules or routines. In the cases of customer‐initiated questioning, the customer seemed to be taken good care of. The observations made in this study highlight three important features of pharmacy: a lack of control of admission, the transactional nature of the interaction between customer and staff and a lack of systematic approach for serving customers with particular needs. The quality and content of the information and interaction did not seem to be dependent on the physical layout of the pharmacy. It also seemed more dependent on the personal characteristics of the staff member concerned than on his or her formal competence, and dependent on when, during opening hours, the interaction took place. These features should be taken into account when more standardised routines are implemented for serving pharmacy custom
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