It bothered me to no end that the pharmacist had never heard of paracetamol, especially since you have to consider that as a pharmacist you will come in contact

It bothered me to no end that the pharmacist had never heard of paracetamol, especially since you have to consider that as a pharmacist you will come in contact with people from all sorts of nationalities. Maybe, maybe not. Not sure why you assume that. The US is a big place. Also, I'm sure the pharmacist would have known the proper chemical name: para-acetylaminophenol. And directed me to Aleve (naproxen sodium) and Advil (Ibuprofen) and Bayers (Asparin) all of which are NSAID's which can't be taken with certain drugs, and for some reason they are not nearly as effective. None of this is strictly correct. There are many cases in which other NSAIDs are more effective. It's true that other NSAIDs have some poor drug interactions, but acetaminophen does as well (alcohol being the most notable and important).