Ugh. Sometimes it’s a fun misunderstanding, but other times…
On my first visit to Seattle several years ago, my (now ex) fiance and I discovered we were low on certain supplies. I wasn’t on birth control at the time, and so we needed to buy a box of condoms. We headed on out to the Rite-Aid. I wanted to try a different form of contraception, so we bought some kind of female condom, too, just to try it out, as well as our regular male brand, which we trusted. Hey, it’s a fact of life, nothing to be embarrassed about, just healthy adults protecting ourselves from pregnancy and all that good stuff. That itself wasn’t so embarrassing.
We did get some funny looks, however, when we marched up to the counter with two different types of condoms, one of those big, 12 packs of Energizer batteries (AA), a disposable camera, a small jar of Vaseline, and a large tin of almond roca. Yeah, even I blushed. The cashier made a comment along the lines of “Big plans tonight?” Not being easily offended, I chuckled it off, but scuttled the hell out of there fast enough.
Hey! It really was all innocent, except the condoms (but that’s just safe sex!), but everything else was:
12 pack of batteries: The television remote died, and needed two; also, he claimed to need them all the time, and it was a good price, so why not buy them now? (I also needed two of them for something, however, I honestly don’t remember what it was now. No, it wasn’t anything dirty.)
Disposable camera: I was on vacation, and I didn’t own a digital camera. I realised too late that I had left my regular camera at home, and this was my first trip ever to Seattle - I needed pictures to show my family and friends back home!
Small jar of Vaseline: one of the cats had hairballs, and it was recommended that we put a dab on their paw so they would lick it off and do whatever it is Vaseline is supposed to do to hairballs.
Almond Roca: it’s a local candy, I wanted to bring some home to Mom and Dad.
But who has time to explain that to everyone who stops and gives you the :dubious: look? I did get out of there in a hurry. Thankfully, that was way the hell down in Federal Way or Covington or something. I tend to stay north these days. Wouldn’t want to be recognised. 
A similar incident happened once while I was back home, but wans’t nearly as humiliating - a small box of condoms, some bananas, and a bottle of wine. The condoms were for my boyfriend who refused to buy condoms for himself (“that’s the woman’s job!”), the bananas were for my mother, because they were on sale, and the wine was for me, drinking myself stupid a lot in those days. The cashier burst into laughter. I (jokingly) invited her over to my place for the night, saying I was awfully bored. Since we went to school together, she knew me and my sense of humour, she wasn’t offended, laughed harder, and then we blew each other kisses as I walked out the door. She saw me a couple days later and asked me how I was doing. I responded, “Best. Bananas. Ever.”
The people I know, I can deal with. It’s strangers I get embarrassed around. And you can’t joke with them. It seems like these days there’s always someone just waiting to be offended by something.
Oddly enough, I had an eating disorder for several years when I was younger (hell, I still struggle with the urge to purge most days) - and no one raised an eyebrow at some of my odd purchases. Granted, I often went out of my way to not get caught, but sometimes that behaviour should have been even more suspicious. I guess that’s just the way it goes.
So yeah, my purging days are gone, it’s the binging I’ve got to learn to control!