Friday, 07 August 2009
-
Unlock the Condoms
My nearest grocery store keeps condoms in a locked case.
Few things infuriate me this much. I mean really, what's the point?
The last time I needed to buy condoms it was late at night, when only self checkout was open and there were no employees to be found. I could have walked out with a dozen steaks under my arm and no one would have stopped me, but sex beats petty theft any night, and I've heard red meat is bad for you.
I had to wander all over the store looking for an employee (I found her outside having a smoke) who then had to page another employee to meet me at the locked condom case to get me my condoms. The case also happens to contain testing strips, pregnancy tests, and Vagisil so the employee had to ask me what, exactly, I needed from it.
Trying to not be awkward, I said, "umm, those, in the blue box."
The guy chuckled a little as he handed me my condoms--I cringed.
I'm a pretty shy person when it comes to asking for help. I don't even like to ask bus drivers how to get to certain places because I don't like approaching them.
But I have to tell two separate strangers that I'm going to do the dirty, just to have safe sex.
I know that condoms are one of the more frequently shoplifted items, but really, how bad is that? A greater good happens when a condom is stolen: Someone doesn't get knocked up. Someone doesn't get herpes.
Stick an extra camera over the condom shelf and call it a day, grocery stores.
You don't need to be all up in our sex lives.
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to datingish's Datingish Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in datingish's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: lotta_valdez@xanga
- About Me: "...I found myself fantasizing about a career in television. It was my dream to create and star in a program called 'Socrates and Company', in which I would travel from place to place accompanied by a brilliant and loyal proboscis monkey." -Dave Sedaris --Naked
-
True
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 2 Views: 0 4845 Comments: 0 120 View all posts by lotta_valdez@xanga
Comments (76)
Yep, yes, affirmative, agreed, sympathetic, nodding, right on, dig it, uh-huh, sho thang, and so on and so forth.
YES to this.
The only store around here that doesn't keep condoms locked up is walmart, because there's like 5 billion cameras there. I think it's stupid too, I'd be horrified if I had to ask someone to unlock a case so I could buy condoms...
i never knew that condoms were a frequently shoplifted item. but hey, like you said, a greater good comes when they are shoplifted.
realistically, they should have kept them behind the counter, which is better than having them locked up.
or just shelf them like all the other products.
Have you ever heard of the Free the Condoms campaign?
I read about it here.
Planned parenthood = free condom buffet.
Hmm. I always just go to wal mart for stuff like that. They don't have anything locked up. But I don't have a need to buy condoms, birth control ftw!
That's awful! I've noticed that in the Walgreen's near my house, and I went somewhere else to buy them. I don't see why I should have to tell other people about my sex life just to stay safe. Plus, the workers always give you funny looks when they see you with condoms.
That's horrible! I've never encountered a locked condom shelf. However, at my closest pharmacy, RiteAid, the "Family Planinng" section is right next to the pharmaceutical counter so that to get anything sexy you have to dodge people (most of them two or three times my age) standing in line to pick up their prescriptions. It's almost always busy there, too. I went there twice to try to get stuff to prepare for my honeymoon and never could work up the nerve. Easy solution: I just drive a mile or two farther to go to Walgreens where the store layout is much better designed and buying necessities isn't unnecessarily awkward. Thanks for nothing, local RiteAid. lol
As for locked condom displays, it's no wonder people don't use protection more. Goodness, if all the local stores locked up their condoms I would buy them online rather than go through that embarrassment. There isn't a Planned Parenthood in every town, after all.
The video camera idea is good. I wonder if pharmacies take into account how much potential revenue they lose to the unlocked condom shelves in Wal-Mart even as they protect their own precious condoms from theft.
Seriouslyy? They should put the condom aisle sort of near the registers so you can make a quick purchase or else put it where employees can keep an eye out once in a while to prevent thefts and such.
Yeah it happened to me once. I went to a Duane Reade after getting drunk and decided to get some condoms. They had that by the pharmacy section which was gated! I seriously thought I could reach for it because I have small hands but of course, I get stuck and then 3 employees had to come and unlock the gate and help me get my hand out. yikes...
wow that sucks.
go to a diff store fosho. XD
@HiArianne@xanga - for me it's pretty far and in between though. the nearest one in my town is about 30-40 min drive away :/ i live in a sorta-major city too, not some boondocks area >.<
I agree. Some people (like myself) are shy when it comes to this and dont want the world to know our junk!
set them free!yeahh it was awkward once when we were buying KY yours+mine. they guy opened it & we didnt know if he was gonna reach for it. so it took a moment of silence. then we all reached for it. then hes like oh you guys can grab it...
i have seen that. most at save marts they do that. i would be embarrassed as well.
xo
That's the guys responsibility - I mean what if you didn't get the right size?
haha yea i walked into a store to get some the other day and ended up leaving when I saw that they were locked up, I'm too private of a person to ask a worker to open the case especially since all the workers in the store usually give you that judgmental glance.
find another store? or just stock up! lol
One time, I saw Condoms located where cigarettes are stored in a walmart but in another walmart, I found them in the health section. Unlocked. At another store, they were unlocked.
But, personally. I don't think it's my responsibility to buy them. Just my responsibility to make sure they are wearing them, right?
@communitychannel@xanga - its good for the girl to be prepared too but i agree.. i feel its the guys responsibilty to have em when it comes to condoms
Self check out? No employes? What!? I'd just "check out" without checking out ;P but really why lock the condoms.
Yeah, really. Also, why in hell are they so expensive? At the very least make them cheap enough for people to WANT to buy them, not shy away from the price. A friend who was hard-up for money considered not buying or using any because a 3-pack at the nearest convenience store to us is almost $6. I convinced him to but I worry that others thought the same way.
haha yea. I totally agree with ths blog. I am not embarassed buying condoms in the line at the grocery store but to have someone unlock the case for me and then know if I prefer her pleasure condoms or that my boyfriend wears Magnums... just too much information.
In college I worked at a campus convenience store and condoms were so frequently stolen. but not as frequently as the pregnancy tests were stolen.
A-fucking-greed!
i work at a grocery store, and i haven't seen or heard of any birth control theft. everyone wants to hit us up for the razor blades, oil of olay, $15-$20 hair products, and tylenol, advil, or other medicines that contain psuedoephedrine. they actually were smart and about 2 months ago moved the whitening strips behind the pharmacy counter. i can understand why people would steal them,...but locking them up i would think would cause more customers to turn around and go to a store where they weren't (including me). i work in the pricing department in the store, and just seeing how a 12 pack costs about $8.50...oh my word... my boyfriend is coming home from Iraq in about a month and I'm seriously wondering how we're going to afford them (even though I am on b/c). you would think if they don't want us to produce a lot of children that they would lower the price on them! oh, and those pregnancy tests aren't cheap either (and I do not buy the store brand on that). i'm all for those stores to want to stop the theft, so if anything...move them to a spot that is either in clear view of an employee keeping an eye on it, or maybe put one of those anti-theft stickers on it. that's my opinion....