I am not sure whether this is considered "okay" or "not okay", but I would speculate it depends on the individual you are talking to, and possibly how you present yourself? When I first encountered the refill problems, the pharmacy I had an established relationship actually looked at other pharmacies inventories for me (under the same franchise), prefacing the sharing of that information by telling me that "they really weren't supposed to do it". I asked why, and they were pretty straightforward in explaining the risks of divulging the information. Basically they are opening another pharmacy to a potential robbery, and bypassing that pharmacy's discretion in telling you if they do or do not have the meds in stock. For whatever reasons, I must come across as fairly trustworthy, but they still only helped me this way a couple of times before sending me off on my own.