My cheeks were red, my voice shaky. I couldn’t wait to flee from the assembled throng who seemed intent on feasting on my shame.
“Is it for yourself?” asked the sales clerk mockingly. I gritted my teeth and nodded in the affirmative, my look telling him that further jibes would not be tolerated.
Finally he rung the purchase through the till, and I sauntered out of the shop pretending I was unperturbed.
The item? Pokemon Sapphire for Gameboy advance. I don’t remember buying porno mags being that embarassing.
Mature Pokemaniacs like myself should be treated with dignity and respect, we are no different from any other members of society after all. What does it matter what we do in the privacy of our own homes if it hurts no-one?
If anyone else has had a similar experience, please share. Together we have strength!
Jeez. What kind of judgemental place are you shopping. The lady at the register when I bought a couple of butt plugs only commented that I made good choices. (And that the hetero porn DVD that came as bonus with one might not be to my taste since I was wearing Gay Pride jewelry at the time.)
I once wentinto a children’s store to purchase a toy for myself. The clerk asked if it was a gift, and I said yes because I didn’t want to admit it was for myself. She gift wrapped it. :o
I can’t buy certain breakfast cereals. I’m too embarrassed to pay for a box of colorful sweet crunchies with a cartoon character on the box. I know I would be just buying a sugary snack like a candy bar (which I feel no shame in purchasing) but I can’t look the check-out girl in the eye while pretending it is normal for a grown man to be eating Admiral Choc-o-loops.
I know that I would feel no qualms if I had a toddler at home but my conscience overwhelms my subterfuge.
In my Britney Spears- obsessed phase I bought girl’s magazines because they had pictures of her in them.
Buying presents for my nieces is never easy.
I used to buy ‘Heat’ on a regular basis because I thought it was primarily a TV guide. One day I realized it’s actually more a woman’s gossip mag.
When I used to buy men’s magazines (FHM, Maxim etc…) before they became a waste of money, I used to worry that uninformed people would mistake them for porno mags.
Thank og for amazon. If it weren’t for them I’d have to stand in lines of 12 year olds to buy Harry Potter books.
Buying underpants, Why must they put a picture of some poncy model’s bulging crotch on the front? Don’t they realize men will be buying these!? It’s women who will appreciate the picture.
I was embarrassed the first couple of times I bought tampons for my wife, but I’ve gotten over it.
Now the humiliation comes when buying wart-removal products or athletes-foot sprays or anything else that basically tells the clerk, “I AM A DISEASED HUMAN COVERED IN GROWTHS AND PARASITES!” Much fun, I tells ya.
I always feel a bit wierd when I buy a coloring book. Hey, I like to color in a coloring book every now and then as much as the next gal OK! so every few years I buy a new one when the old one is all used. I get some wierd looks from people.
I remember the first time I bought condoms. I’d recently read a book where a charcter had bought condoms from , what I realise now, was probably an old fashioned chemists shop, and he asked for them from the shop assistant who has to get them from behind the counter.
I went into my local nationwide chain chemists store, already crimson with embarrassment, pretended to do some brousing whilst getting my courage up, them storde over to the counter and said in my most confident sounding voice " a packet of CONDOMS please!", only to be told I had to go and get them for my self from the section called personal care, or some other stupid, non- discriptive thing:O
Back before it was OTC, I had a prescription for Monostat. The phamacist was a young gal that was all smiles when I gave her the prescription. 10 minutes later when I picked up the prescription, the smile was gone and she gave me some funny looks.
Hey, quit looking at me like that. Yes, guys can get a yeast infection, I got it from a hot tub.
I bought a webcam not long ago. The hot clerk wanted to know if I had seen American Pie, and then winked. On the drive home I remembered the scene with the webcam, so that was a bit embarrassing.
Well, I think I was 13 or 14, when I started fiddling with electronics, I was building a circuit and I needed one resistor, so I went to the electronics shop and I bought: one resistor… what was it?, 1 cent, 2? dunno, the clerk said in loud voice “don´t let the boy run away without paying or we´ll go broke!” or something like that, clueless as I was (hey!, 14 and buying electronic components, what did you expect?) I paid and left.
The most recent embarasing purchase was a comics magazine, it was a magazine I haven´t seen in the shelves since I was a boy, so I thought “what the hell, let´s see if it´s as funny as I remeber it” so I picket it up and waited for the clerk to pay, I don´t know what was the problem but it took the guy something like 15 minutes. Meanwhile I was waiting, comics magazine in hand, next to three women engaged in a debate about some literature masterpieces… I felt like a real dork.
At last the comic magazine was great.
The then-SO and I were leaving Walmart with a cart containing condoms, K-Y jelly, four 6-foot lengths of velvet rope, a stuffed cuddly bear, and Icyhot.
You’ve already guessed the punchline… cashier forgot to demagnetise the anti-theft thingy in the condom box, and the alarm goes off at the door, so a dozen people are watching the attendant inspect our purchases…
I once bought hardcore pornography while with my mother. That wasn’t quite as uncomfortable or embarrassing as I expected it to be. Her presence made some of the other customers visibly uncomfortable though.
This thread reminds me of a scene from Only Fools and Horses. I can’t remember the details but rodders gets del to ask for a porno mag on his behalf because he knows the cashier. Del asks the cashier who then says “which one?”. Dell shouts to rodney, who’s at the other end of the shop “Rodney!, which rudey mag do you want?”
I once purchased a large box of condoms and a large box of spermicidal vaginal films, and a tube of lube (hey, I was restocking!) only to find out a week or so later that I was about seven weeks pregnant. :eek:
'Twas embarrassing enough to purchase enough birth control for a boatload of sailors, but to find out that I didn’t even need it? It’s a good thing DH and I both have a good sense of humor!
I once bought six copies of some really trashy skin magazine (I think it was called ‘Oui’) – all the same issue. The girl at the cash register gave me a look of pure revulsion and muttered “Must be really good?”.
I was so embarrased I couldn’t even bring myself to say “They published my cartoon”.
How about picking up my #5 Harry Potter book, at 8 o clock in the morning the day it came out, after I had preordered it 4 months before. Hey, at least I didn’t go to the midnight release party.
so every few years I buy a new one when the old one is all used. I get some wierd looks from people.