# Buying tampons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 13, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959 "2000-02-13T16:26:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/41 "2000-02-14T16:22:00Z")
I’ve bought them for a couple SO’s before. Never even thought about it. I mean, what, the guy is gonna think I’m using them? And like I care about what some clerk or cashier thinks of my purchases.
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Yer pal,
Satan
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### Author:  [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/42 "2000-02-14T16:30:00Z")
It’s kind of a rite of passage thing. Like when you buy your first pack of condoms. When I have to get them for my wife, I take the end of the empty box with me just to be sure I get the right kind. Talk about confusion…mini,maxi,super,thin,wings ???
Last month I had to run out at 7 AM (What a guy !) because of one of those “early surprises” and I bought tampons plus 5 useless items just so I wasn’t obvious.
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“Hope is not a method”
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/43 "2000-02-14T17:19:00Z")
There is a commercial on TV going around for some time now about a guy who buys them for his girlfriend just cause of the shampoo she uses…sigh
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/44 "2000-02-15T06:10:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I can’t tell you how many times I went to the store to buy condoms for him to use,
ShadowFox, am I to believe that you weren’t benefiting from his use of condoms? Must be nice to have an open marriage like that. Just 'coz he’s wearing them doesn’t mean you’re not using them.
That having been said, I never had a problem buying fem hyg prods for my women. I also insisted on brand/type specification, but I eventually became able to remember these details myself.
I would love to have somebody I could buy tampons and pads for, though I think flowers and poetry are more romantic. 😉
* * *
–Da Cap’n
“Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one.”
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/45 "2000-02-14T20:43:00Z")
Shadowfox - Quick condom story. My SO and I stopped at a convenience store to buy condoms ( I was on antibiotics). He refused to go and ask the clerk for them saying "No, it’s embarrassing (they are kept behind the counter). So I turned and yelled across the store,“Can we have a pack of condoms, you see we plan to maybe have intercourse, so we need some condoms!” Cruel? Maybe, but we laugh about it now.
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### Author:  [@boli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boli)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/46 "2000-02-14T21:44:00Z")
Somebody summon Alphagene, quick - the Cap’n is getting all mushy on us.
A related story to the OP: A bunch of us girls were talking at the bar this weekend, and one girl told this story. A guy kept asking her for cigarettes. She finally handed him a tampon instead of a cig - he held it in his hand for a few seconds, not comprehending what it was. When he finally realized, he was so embarrassed that he quit bugging her for cigarettes.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/47 "2000-02-14T22:41:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> How come a woman would need a man to pick her tampons up for her? Too embarrased? Or is it cause it’s an emergency? I have no problem with going to the store and getting them myself.
Well, if he is going to the store anyway, is there a reason he SHOULDN’T pick them up? My husband doesn’t think twice about it, and he shouldn’t. It’s no different from buying soap or toilet paper or whatever.
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–
“it’s all real”
“I KNEW IT!!!”
O p a l C a t
[www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com)
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/48 "2000-02-15T02:40:00Z")
If I’ve asked hubby to buy pads/tampons for me, I give him the box to take with him. Just like when I’m sent to the hardware store to buy a bunch of specific kinda nails, I take along the ones I need. I know he doesn’t do this with a tampon, but when I go into the local ACE, I walk up to the first employee there with the nail and go, " I need a bunch of these." And their response is, " Oh, you need a flux capacitor nail, got it right over here."
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/49 "2000-02-15T06:21:00Z")
And I guess you all heard the one about the guy at the multipurpose store who, on his first day, sold a very expensive boat and a ton of fishing gear to his first customer. Boss says, “How did you do that?” and the clerk says, “Well, he came in to get a box of tampons for his wife, and I said since his weekend was shot he might as well go fishing.”
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Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
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### Author:  [@crackwise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crackwise)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/50 "2000-02-15T06:53:00Z")
## I buy tampons for my wife, and did so for several girlfriends before her. I think I quit shying away from it around age 20. For what it’s worth.
I am large,
I contradict myself,
I contain multitudes.
~Walt Whitman
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### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/51 "2000-02-15T07:19:00Z")
Not about tampons, but:
I used to be an AIDS educator, and part of the gig was teaching about condoms, showing how to use them, desensitizing people about them, etc. I was flying out of town to give one of these presentations, and the security guy didn’t like the looks of my x-rayed bag, so he had me empty it out for him. Inside were a gazillion kinds of condoms and lubes and a big wooden dildo. All the people in line saw it. That was interesting.
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### Author:  [@Felinecare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Felinecare)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/52 "2000-02-15T23:33:00Z")
Once upon a time, there was a very small local Safeway. Very small. Finding any item was always a challenge, because the criterion was always _Where will it fit?_ rather than, say, _Let’s put the bottled water next to the sodas._
So some genius decides to put the sanitary supplies on a top shelf which can only be reached by someone in the express lane. Now I’m 5’5, almost 5’6 and I couldn’t reach the shelf even standing on the tip of my tip-toes.
You haven’t lived until you’ve stepped in front of a 6’ foot male stranger in the express lane _Sorry, just be a moment_ then had to ask _Uh, would you mind reaching down that package? Thanks!_
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### Author:  [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/53 "2000-02-16T00:46:00Z")
My husband buys them for me. Now this is a little off topic, but I figure it would be appropriate to share this here. Last month, they hired a new woman at my husband’s work. So one day, Derek is on his way to the store and asks if anyone needs anything. So this girl says, “Yeah, could you get me some tampons?” No, she wasn’t kidding…she had been bitching about her “monthly curse” all day. So he says, “If you want them, come with me. I’m noy picking those out for you.” So…
Ladies: Would you ever ask a male co-worker?
Guys: Would you go get them?
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### Author:  [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/54 "2000-02-16T02:10:00Z")
Jeannie, I would never ask a male coworker to do that. It’d be just too far over the line of workplace courtesy. FWIW, I’ve been pretty horrified at some explicit conversations female coworkers have blithely indulged in front of guys, e.g. cramps, Pap smears, childbirth accounts, etc. C’mon, that’s just not appropriate.
But as to the OP, there was never a more conservative, dignified gent than my dad and he bought “supplies” for my sister and I with no fuss. I strongly suspect that he was a tad embarassed but he never made us feel like a burden, doing this for us.
Just a quick observation.
Veb
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### Author:  [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/55 "2000-02-16T02:32:00Z")
When a lady I’m with is having her period, the first thing I think is “WoooHooo! she’s not pregnant!”
Hell _yeah_, I’d buy tampons for her!
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You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/56 "2000-02-16T06:42:00Z")
LOL! Sealemon, love it – the truly practical approach!
::still giggling::
-Melin
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/57 "2000-02-16T15:33:00Z")
I would NEVER ask a male co-worker to buy tampons for me. I might say, “Hey mind if I tag along?” and buy them for myself, but gawd, can’t imagine evr doing that!
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### Author:  [@Lanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanna)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2000, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/58 "2000-02-18T09:45:00Z")
A few months ago, my parents went to Mexico. They had been in a rush before leaving, and thus, hadn’t had a chance to go shopping. Since they’d only be gone four days, it was decided we could survive.
However, the night they left, my period started, and thanks to my synchronized girl friends, I had exactly one tampon in the house. I ended up calling my boyfriend and asked if he could grab some for me on his way over that night. He sounded a bit dismayed at such a task, so I assured him that it would be quick, simple, and no one would even notice. He agreed to go, which surprised me, since he is such a silly, high school boy.
Turns out, I was completely wrong. He first couldn’t find the section, and had to ask an employee, who snickered at him. Brian then spent TWENTY minutes comparing prices, absorbencies, brands and applicator types to find what I had specified. When he finally went to check out, the cashier openly laughed at him. The bagger grinned, and asked if he bought them often.
Bri’s response? “No, but I’m pretty whipped.”
-Lanna
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/59 "2000-02-19T04:30:00Z")
I have no pronlem buying tampons and pads for my whife, but is there any reason that pads can’t be flushed? She always wraps them in tp and throws them in the trash, and if the door gets left open, the dog goes diggin for them. Why can’t they just get flushed?
* * *
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-tampons/13959/60 "2000-02-19T04:31:00Z")
I DO seem to have a problem spelling, though. Teach me to proof read!
* * *
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
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