never thought I’d miss the Sav-On guy

Alright - time for a 'getting to know me a little TOO much' blog.  :)  Stick with me though. I promise I have a point.

It's been a month since Exxxotica New York, and I haven't found time to blog about it yet. I realized it had been a month when over the weekend, I started my period.

I also started on the weekend of Exxxotica New York. I hadn't expected it, because I start every 28 days and wasn't due till the following Tuesday. Every 28 days, except when I'm stressed. And then without fail something like a tradeshow will make me start as much as a week early. So I had my standard 'emergency supply' of a couple of tampons in my suitcase, which is usually enough to get me through until I can make a quick stop at a pharmacy, 7-Eleven or gas station.

There was a CVS pharmacy a few blocks away from our hotel. As I ran over there, I passed Jesse Jane walking back with her bodyguard... trying to be incognito in her sweatpants, hoodie and huge sunglasses. I didn't want to miss the shuttle from the hotel to the Expo site, because the day before I missed the shuttle and had to wait for a cab.

I grabbed what I needed, and was about to checkout with a box of tampons and some much needed comfort snack of gummy bears when I realized that I was feeling really bloated and had bad cramps. When I have bad PMS, I don't normally have a short temper, but I do get whimpery. I wanted to be as friendly as possible at the show, so I figured grabbing some Pamprin at the CVS would be a wise choice. I ran to the pain medicine aisle without giving it much thought, cause I was in pain and Pamprin was going to relieve my pain. I saw Tylenol, Excedrin, Aleve and all different kinds of pain medicines. But no Midol and no Pamprin kinds of medicines.

There was a store worker stocking the shelves in the pain medicine aisle. He looked like he was about 19 years old. I figured since he stocked the shelves, he would probably know where stuff was quicker than I would. So I asked him if he knew if the Midol was in this aisle or by the tampons. I'm a 33 year-old mom. It's been over a decade since I've been embarassed to ask where the feminine hygiene items are located. He said, "If we have it, it's here in this aisle somewhere", and kind of looked for a second. He glanced back at me and said "no, I guess we don't carry that, I don't see it" and went back to slowly stocking.

Despite me saying I don't get angry when I'm PMSing, I DO get angry at people who don't care about doing a good job. I kind of snapped, "I'm pretty sure you have Midol or Pamprin SOMEWHERE in this store. I'm going to go check in the feminine products aisle." I ran three aisles over, and yup - it was there. Despite wanting to make the shuttle, I detoured back to the teenager and told him, "just in case you need to know for another customer sometime, the Pamprin and Midol are three rows over, NOT in this aisle." I don't know why he bothered. The look on his face told me that he had no intention of caring enough to remember. I kind of hope in some wonderful act of karma that someday SOON, a PMSing angry woman asks him where the Midol is and he tells her the store doesn't stock any.

I never thought I'd say this, but as I was running back to the shuttle, I found myself missing the perky, overly helpful guy at my local Sav-On. At least he really cares about his job. And I'm sure he knows where the Midol is.

-October 13, 2008