Jinger and Jeremy: Life with the Soccer Preacher Man

[CreationMuseumSeasonPass]

This isn't a story about buying feminine products, but I find it pretty funny. In high school, I worked at the local movie theater and a guy in my grade was the assistant manager. One afternoon, when the shows were going on, I asked him if I could go home for about 15 minutes. He looked at me strangely and said, "What do you need there that you can't get here?" I was 16 and still a little embarrassed about my period, so I replied, "It's a feminine issue." Being distracted, he replied, "What issue? I still don't get why  you have to leave." Finally, I said back to him, "My period came early and I need to go home and change!"

I swear, I will never forget the look on his face. It was like he had seen a ghost and was a deer caught in headlights at the same time. He completely froze. His stuttered response was, "Buh..buh...buh...but, yeah of course you can go! Do you need more than 15 minutes? Take all the time you need! Do you need the rest of the day off? Whatever you need you can have!"

I started laughing and responded, "No, I just need 15-20 minutes. I'll be right back." I swear, it's like he knew he had really stepped in some foreign territory and was so scared of offending me.

13 years later, this still makes me laugh when I think of it.

[Jana814]

6 minutes ago, Chickenbutt said:

In high school, my son got a job at a grocery store. One of the "fire-able offenses" was discussing what he saw people buying. He signed a form that said he would not discuss with his friends or family what he saw people buying.

Once, he came home ready to burst. I asked what the deal was, and he said that he saw a classmate of his buying a pregnancy test. I reminded him of his promise at work, and he said he remembered, but he had to tell someone and he thought I was safe...lol.

How insane for your son to see something like that. If I saw that I would be about the burst if I couldn't say anything either. 

[Thumper]

I love having a menstrual cup so I don't have to worry about buying femine hygiene products at the drug store. Ladies please look into it and there all different types of cup song now-a-days for different women

[kmary1]

One time I was in a discount home products store, buying a fairly expensive piece of cookware at a great price (compared to what you can find online or at that brand's outlet store). I was getting it like 50% off the full price so I was all excited about this great deal. Then the cashier checking out said, "Wow, you realize this one pot is $XXX? I could never afford that, I work three jobs to support my kids while my husband is out of work!!" Like wow, thanks for making me feel like total sh*t spending my money on one nice thing for myself that I've wanted forever and finally found it at a relatively good price.

[Denim Jumper]

I remember, about 10 years ago, there was a tomato shortage; normally we can still get nice produce in the dead of winter in NY, but some this particular year it was uncharacteristicly slim pickings. So, I managed to find this one big tomato at the grocery store, a big beautiful beefsteak, and I just had to have it. When I brought it up to the register, the actually cashier questioned my sanity for paying $6 for a tomato, and asked in an ominous tone if I realized it was grown in Mexico. LOL, I was willing to pay anything after 3 months of no tomatoes for my salad, and didn't much care where it was grown. 

[nausicaa]

4 hours ago, Pukingpearl said:

I always laugh to myself when I see someone buying funny combinations of things, like twelve frozen lasagnas and a 48 pack of toilet paper. 

I was once behind a guy in Wal-Mart Friday night just as it was closing. He had two boxes of condoms on the conveyor belt, and then put down a big tub of Cool Whip and several boxes of bullets next to them. 

I'm confident that he was having the most exciting weekend of any of us in that store.

[Coy Koi]

I generally hate when cashiers comment on what I'm buying. There was one cashier at the grocery store that commented on EVERYTHING as he rang it up, no matter how trivial. Like, "Oh, blueberry muffins! These look good....oh, some milk, to go with the muffins!" Dude, just shut up. I always avoided his line if at all possible.

However, I work at a store where we make customized items, so a lot of times I kind of have to comment. People ask for my advice all the time (which I try to keep as vague as possible...I'm not going to sway you on something and then have you change your mind after it's done and blame me) but often, people just want to talk about what they're getting. And if someone has a photo of a kid or pet, you can never go wrong by saying it's cute. If someone is getting something anti-Trump, you can never go wrong by giving them a thumbs-up. (If someone is getting something pro-Trump...well, I've never had that happen but if I did, I would flat out refuse.) But if someone seems a bit embarrassed, you just don't say anything. And if they bring up their embarrassment, I assure them I've seen much worse, and that the people getting the really weird things are never embarrassed, just the ones getting pretty normal things. That seems to make them feel better (and it really is true).

[JillyO]

Ugh. I seriously hate it so much when the cashier comments on my purchases. Mr. O and I were shopping for a NYE party at our house once, and we had a cart full of groceries. After scanning everything, the cashier goes on to tell us, in the most condescending tone ever, "You know, you buy everything organic, except for the produce. That makes no sense at all. Don't you know that buying organic is most important with produce?" WTF, dude, did I ask for your opinion on organic produce or something? Sheesh. That was at least 4 years ago and it still makes me mad.

[donnal]

Okay one thing I remember from years ago when I was a cashier(maybe 10 years, maybe more), was a woman who insisted in being in my line to check out. The guy next to me had no line, and I was in the middle of a large order, but she insisted. It turned out she had tampons wrapped up in the magazine she wasn't actually buying and was embarrassed.

 

I wanted to say, "I promise you lady, he wouldn't have noticed what you were buying and if he did, he wouldn't have said anything or cared. He rings these things up all day long, it really isn't that big of a deal anymore." It just seemed so silly because she had to have been in her late thirties. I can see a teenager who is new to the whole thing being embarrassed but not a grown woman...

[SassyPants]

I wonder if cashiers are instructed to engage the customers and the products are just an easy conduit/props for mindless, conversation?????

[feministxtian]

14 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

I wonder if cashiers are instructed to engage the customers and the products are just an easy conduit/props for mindless, conversation?????

When we go to our local grocery store, we always end up in a conversation with our cashier...but most of them we know from either church or our neighborhood...so it's a quick way to catch up. 

 

[Bad Wolf]

We've been going to our local grocery store for a long time. We left the bags we hadn't used there once, and they were waiting for us on our next visit. Conversations are usually about the weather. The most personal is when were found a new grocery item and the cashier will ask if we've tried it and if we like it. Must be boring for them if they don't engage in any discourse with the customers.

[Nikedagain?]

Ugh. I hate that small talk so much. It is the worst. First of all, my youngest daughter has non verbal autism. And she is strikingly beautiful (she's adopted so I can say that, right???) and usually smiling and happy. Just a child that people love to speak to... And then she doesn't reply. So that's fun. Sometimes she will sign something and then THAT becomes a whole big thing. 

She is also not 100% potty trained at 12. So I buy pull-ups, the LARGE ones. It never fails that some cashier asks her, are these for your little sister?  blah, blah. 

I am such a curmudgeon aren't I? Sigh. 

 

[Daisy0322]

Lol I'm not sure what's wrong with me but none of this crossed my mind... I always just bought tampons from whoever because I needed them BUT my first time going with my mom to buy a bra I remember waiting in the car because I was so embarrassed at the check out. It was an older lady checking us out and she said something like "oh looks like someone is growing up" and I just turn so red and my mom just handed me the keys and said to wait in the car lol then for a couple bra shopping trips after that I wouldn't even go to the counter 

[Jana814]

2 minutes ago, Daisy0322 said:

Lol I'm not sure what's wrong with me but none of this crossed my mind... I always just bought tampons from whoever because I needed them BUT my first time going with my mom to buy a bra I remember waiting in the car because I was so embarrassed at the check out. It was an older lady checking us out and she said something like "oh looks like someone is growing up" and I just turn so red and my mom just handed me the keys and said to wait in the car lol then for a couple bra shopping trips after that I wouldn't even go to the counter 

Haha!!  Glad your mother let you go back into the car. 

[Mrs Ms]

On the topic of men not dealing well with female stuff:

I landed back in my home country, sick, tired, emotional and OVER being in a plane for 22 hours with a loooooong stopover where I couldn't leave the airport. Then I got stuck in customs and the male custom officer started going through my bags. He had taken most things out of my backpack that I used as hand luggage and tips it upside down to empty out. Out falls a clean pair of plain black knickers and a few tampons. He BLANCHED.

So he starts going through my main luggage. Pulling random things out. He pulls out an envelope of photos and a blue lacy bra got stuck to it and flies out in a big arc. He almost fainted. 

Jet-lagged and miserable to the point of stupidity I had to fight so hard not to howl with laughter. I really hope it was his first week on the job. Imagine what he would have done with sex-toys 

[PumaLover]

This is so funny that I was reading this thread today and thinking no one ever really comments on what I'm buying. But tonight the cashier at Walmart saw me buying chocolate covered pretzels and asked if I had tried the caramel flavor and I said that I hadn't, but I would. Now I'm craving caramel covered pretzels.

She also didn't make a comment on the giant jug of vodka I was buying, which is what I would have expected more. Yes, I will be drinking and browsing FJ this weekend.

On the topic of men not dealing well with female stuff:
I landed back in my home country, sick, tired, emotional and OVER being in a plane for 22 hours with a loooooong stopover where I couldn't leave the airport. Then I got stuck in customs and the male custom officer started going through my bags. He had taken most things out of my backpack that I used as hand luggage and tips it upside down to empty out. Out falls a clean pair of plain black knickers and a few tampons. He BLANCHED.
So he starts going through my main luggage. Pulling random things out. He pulls out an envelope of photos and a blue lacy bra got stuck to it and flies out in a big arc. He almost fainted. 
Jet-lagged and miserable to the point of stupidity I had to fight so hard not to howl with laughter. I really hope it was his first week on the job. Imagine what he would have done with sex-toys 

My ex would have been like this for sure. My current husband buys tampons for me and the kid and I buy condoms for him. At some point I guess you grow up and don't care so much, but your story still made me laugh!

[Jiraffe]

LOL @Mrs Ms, something very similar happened to me while taking a Greyhound to the US a few years back! It was the middle of the night and you had to get off the bus to go through customs, I had just woken up and was really just looking forward to getting back on the bus and going back to bed. 

They decided to search my bag, which was fine. I was going for a bit of a longer trip so my backpack was quite full. The youngish male border guard opened it, reached in, and yanked out my notebook...and with it, a pair of underwear flopped onto the desk and a pad sailed through the air in a perfect arc, right past his face, landing on the floor behind the desk. 

He just kinda stared at it for a minute, as did I...I was too tired to be embarrassed and I just started giggling uncontrollably. He turned red and told me I could go ahead and repack my things, I was good to go. The best part was I was dirt poor at the time and really needed that pad back, because I didn't want to have to buy more, so all I had to say was "Can I get that back?" LOL, he picked it up off the floor like it was a bomb and then kinda slunk away.

[PennySycamore]

53 minutes ago, Mrs Ms said:

On the topic of men not dealing well with female stuff:

I landed back in my home country, sick, tired, emotional and OVER being in a plane for 22 hours with a loooooong stopover where I couldn't leave the airport. Then I got stuck in customs and the male custom officer started going through my bags. He had taken most things out of my backpack that I used as hand luggage and tips it upside down to empty out. Out falls a clean pair of plain black knickers and a few tampons. He BLANCHED.

So he starts going through my main luggage. Pulling random things out. He pulls out an envelope of photos and a blue lacy bra got stuck to it and flies out in a big arc. He almost fainted. 

Jet-lagged and miserable to the point of stupidity I had to fight so hard not to howl with laughter. I really hope it was his first week on the job. Imagine what he would have done with sex-toys 

When we went to Scotland back in 2003,  I had to have the really bad day of my period on the day of our flight.  I used double protection of an ultra-absorbency OB tampon and a pad only to have stained my undies and jeans by the time we arrived for a layover in Philly.  (This was not a long flight; my periods were just that bad.)  Fortunately, I had a change of equipment and a change of clothes in my backpack so I cleaned up and changed in Philly.  I had to pack my blood-stained clothes in my backpack.  That must have been fun for the customs people in the Glasgow airport!

Somehow I made the entire flight from Philly to Glasgow without staining my new pants which I believe was a pair of running shorts.

I had a hysterectomy almost 10 years ago and still buy pantyliners to deal with the occasional bladder leak.  Pantiliners are cheaper and work fine for me.  It's an odd thing to buy for a woman my age, but I'm not embarrassed.  

[nst]

I have used 3 pads at a time...now that I am hovering just two 

too much tmi

 

[Mrs Ms]

29 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

When we went to Scotland back in 2003,  I had to have the really bad day of my period on the day of our flight.  I used double protection of an ultra-absorbency OB tampon and a pad only to have stained my undies and jeans by the time we arrived for a layover in Philly.  (This was not a long flight; my periods were just that bad.)  Fortunately, I had a change of equipment and a change of clothes in my backpack so I cleaned up and changed in Philly.  I had to pack my blood-stained clothes in my backpack.  That must have been fun for the customs people in the Glasgow airport!

 

It was nowhere near the time of the month for me to need them - I'm just paranoid about being caught out and know that travelling can mess with monthly cycles (though probably not by THAT much, lol)

Glad you don't have to travel with those worries anymore!!

[justodd]

A little story about my days as a cashier, and the day I learned to keep my mouth shut unless invited:

I was working at a bookstore with something of a reputation for being a little more freewheeling than say, Barnes and Noble. (We were part of a multinational chain that has since sadly disappeared, but the stores all had a very independent vibe.) One week, we had a real run on copies of the New Yorker because a local artist's work was on the cover. All week, people I'd never seen come in before were walking out with multiple copies they'd probably never read, just because the cover was painted by someone from the same city. Sunday morning, I saw an endless parade of customers buying the same magazine over and over and I was tired and cranky (and let's be honest, probably a little hung over) enough to pick up the top copy from one guy's stack and comment along the lines of "yes, I get the guy's got technical ability, but god, can he be any more boring and overrated?" Guy stares at me, stone-faced, and hands his credit card over without saying a word. I take it, and instantly wish I could fall through the floor because of all the people I could have picked for the audience of my petty annoyance, I had to go and (unknowingly) pick the very man who'd painted the damn thing.

I handed back his card without running it and told him they were on the house. I told my assistant manager to charge me for them after he left, but she was laughing too hard to take me up on it. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

9 hours ago, nausicaa said:

I was once behind a guy in Wal-Mart Friday night just as it was closing. He had two boxes of condoms on the conveyor belt, and then put down a big tub of Cool Whip and several boxes of bullets next to them. 

I'm confident that he was having the most exciting weekend of any of us in that store.

My bachelorette party was all about doing this stuff. I had to go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of weird things. I had to go into the drug store with a sweater tied around my waist to buy tampons. Go into Burger King and ask for a Whopper wrapper for my fiances whopper. Stuff like that, it was great. Some people didn't bat an eye others laughed, especially when they found out it was for my bachelorette party. I have crazy friends. 

[GoatZombie]

I don't usually care what cashiers say or think, after all I'm spending money at the store that pays them and they ring this stuff up all day. But I don't think they should comment, even if its innocent, sometimes I'm just not in the mood for small talk. And you never know what could be taken the wrong way.  I use self check out whenever possible anyway. But I've never cared if its a man or woman ringing me up when I buy feminine products or condoms. I would never give a guy the time of day if he was too sheltered/too much of a wuss to pick up a pack of pads at the store for me. Even with all those sisters, I'd love to see a Duggar boy's face upon seeing a pack of tampons. Fundies probably hide that stuff even after marriage too. I wear panty liners the majority of the time, not for leakage or anything but just because I feel cleaner and drier. My mom always wore them so i thought everyone did but apparently its less common than I thought. Thats always fun explaining to a new guy...when I forget to go remove it before hand and they get all confused.  

I lived in Japan for awhile and there they would usually put certain items in a paper bag or black bag because apparently some women don't want their boyfriends or husbands to see. It is kind of nice when you're walking down the street not to have your giant pack of pads sticking out of the bag though!

Sometimes I buy adult diapers for an elderly relative, I admit I do get kind of embarrassed over those because I'm quite young and I always think they're going to assume I'm into diaper fetishism or something LOL. 

[VeganCupcake]

15 hours ago, Thumper said:

I love having a menstrual cup so I don't have to worry about buying femine hygiene products at the drug store. Ladies please look into it and there all different types of cup song now-a-days for different women

I'm too scared to try one of those. Doesn't it feel weird to have your vagina "open" all day? Like the walls stretched apart by the cup? I guess a tampon does the same but the cup looks MUCH bigger.