Embarrassed when purchasing condoms?

That_Guy

I recently had a discussion with a few mates about condoms and purchasing them and 4 of the 7 lads that were there said that they felt embarrassed when buying them.

I know it's common for guys to buy them but some get that little bit embarrassed when purchasing them.

I myself don't get embarrassed but I've had a few encounters with people behind the tills. I was in the chemist a while ago and was getting my prescription and realised that I needed condoms and the girl behind the counter gave me a dirty look.

It's happened more than once. I don't see what her problem was really. Was it that she is a devout Catholic and doesn't believe in using condoms or is she pissed off because she's not getting any.

It's a common thing now and if all lads were getting these sort of reactions then it's understandable why some might be embarrassed about buying them.

I'm not embarrassed or nervous buying them myself but my question to you is.... Are you embarrassed/nervous when purchasing condoms?

TouchingVirus

No.

CDfm

No

LOLd at the dirty look - maybe it was your imagination.

Otis Driftwood

Embarassed for what?

Cos they were getting some lovin and were being responsible?

Sheesh.
:rolleyes:

Khannie

Used to be when I was much younger. Couldn't give a fiddlers now (though I haven't bought any in a while).

CDfm

just had a nasty thought.

pick up the package examine it and ask for help finding the best before date before completing your purchase or ask what type of spermicide they contain or indeed ask would she recommend a different brand.

I know that chemists train their retail staff in their products -I wonder what training rhey get in condom sales.

Michellenman

I used to be when I was younger cause I thought everyone would know and be staring at me. And I was paranoid that suddenly my mother would just appear behind me and catch me :P


Not anymore though obviously. Although when boots did 2x12 packs for €15 a while back I was stocking up... and well... the woman and the counter looked surprised :P

nedtheshed wrote: »

Embarassed for what?

Cos they were getting some lovin and were being responsible?

Sheesh. Sheaths
:rolleyes:

Fyp.

Will

A bit embarrassed but depends on the cashier. If it's a woman ya usually get evil looks, with guys there's a mental high five going on :pac:

LightningBolt

Never! Although it was slightly embarrassing the first time I bought them, more so the fact I got fruit flavored condoms as opposed to regular ones. Wasn't a chance I was going back to change them at the time, in hindsight I'd have loved to have gone back and change them.

Dord

Maybe when I was a teenager yeah, but certainly not for many years.

amacachi

Never had a need to buy any, when I finally do it'll be with a prideful grin, not embarrassment.

Gary ITR

I worked in a Spar when I was younger, anybody buying condoms might as well have been buying a mars bar for all I cared. Although I did have a woman tear the crap out of me when we had run out 'You've got to have something'

Buying them myself, I couldn't give a fiddlers what the cashier thinks

Dr Galen

like others when i was younger i would have been, but now i don't be bothered at all.

I love the mental high five thing that Will talks about, its so true, especially of your missus is hot and shes with you

CDfm

CDfm wrote: »

just had a nasty thought.

pick up the package examine it and ask for help finding the best before date before completing your purchase or ask what type of spermicide they contain or indeed ask would she recommend a different brand.

I know that chemists train their retail staff in their products -I wonder what training rhey get in condom sales.

Nah see your an oul fella that makes you look like a creep.

Me whiling away my breaks camped beside the condom stand in boots.
Amused by the frustrated fumbling waiting angst of shy men on a mission.
Is just juvenile. :P

The guy in my chemist is so galactically hot. I can't look directly at him without blushing head to toe.
The last time I picked up my implant, I ended up having a painfully embarrassing conversation.
Where he basically congratulated me on my choice of contraceptives.
There wasn't a hole in world, big enough to sink into to hide the beet head on me.

CDfm

Moonbaby wrote: »

The guy in my chemist is so galactically hot. I can't look directly at him without blushing head to toe.
The last time I picked up my implant, I ended up having a painfully embarrassing conversation.
Where he basically congratulated me on my choice of contraceptives.
There wasn't a hole in world, big enough to sink into to hide the beet head on me.

LOL MB

I have the same reaction when I go to the chemist and feel bad walking away leaving the female chemist looking disapoiinted.

Hey - Im an old fashioned guy.;)

Ebbs

Will wrote: »

A bit embarrassed but depends on the cashier. If it's a woman ya usually get evil looks, with guys there's a mental high five going on :pac:

I couldnt agree more

Young women usually are a little embarrased when you hand them in, or in some shops where you have to ask for them as they are placed behind the counter. You always have that awkward moment. I do always feel old women look at me with shame

Old and young men seem to be more in the "lucky bástard" line of thought.

Was in Superquinn one day, picked up a packet of condoms, and a lucozade (so I could go 33% longer So I wasnt just buying condoms). The service desk was free and they tend to allow small purchases there. So I handed them in to a lady in her early 20s, trying to avoid the eye contact. They didnt scan and asked could I go and get another packet for the scanner. While going completely red I ran back and got a packet, handed it in...didnt work again. She then called the manager over the intercom to help, the manager turned out to be a man hating women... At this stage a few people were behind me waiting, everyone looking to have a nose while waiting.

Turns out that someone had drew extra lines on the barcode of all the durex on the shelves, and the machine was having an offday and wouldnt register them. Ended up having to get a backroom staff member to go fetch a new packet.

Myself and the girl working there both stood mortified when the backroom staff brought out sultra sensitive chocolate flavour (or something to that effect). I jjust took them and ran....bought condoms for months or so after that in pub bathrooms

thebigcheese22

Ebbs wrote: »

I couldnt agree more

Young women usually are a little embarrased when you hand them in, or in some shops where you have to ask for them as they are placed behind the counter. You always have that awkward moment. I do always feel old women look at me with shame

Old and young men seem to be more in the "lucky bástard" line of thought.

Was in Superquinn one day, picked up a packet of condoms, and a lucozade (so I could go 33% longer So I wasnt just buying condoms). The service desk was free and they tend to allow small purchases there. So I handed them in to a lady in her early 20s, trying to avoid the eye contact. They didnt scan and asked could I go and get another packet for the scanner. While going completely red I ran back and got a packet, handed it in...didnt work again. She then called the manager over the intercom to help, the manager turned out to be a man hating women... At this stage a few people were behind me waiting, everyone looking to have a nose while waiting.

Turns out that someone had drew extra lines on the barcode of all the durex on the shelves, and the machine was having an offday and wouldnt register them. Ended up having to get a backroom staff member to go fetch a new packet.

Myself and the girl working there both stood mortified when the backroom staff brought out sultra sensitive chocolate flavour (or something to that effect). I jjust took them and ran....bought condoms for months or so after that in pub bathrooms

Lol! Reminds me of Trigger Happy tv where he stops a fella coming out of a sex shop congratulating him on being the 1000th customer!

I would be fairly nervous/embarrassed when buying them. I normally get them in a pub toilet.

I much prefer France, they have machines everywhere on the street and packs are only 1/2 euro :eek:

Professey Chin

I made myself get over any embarressment of them when I was about 16.Was still a virgin and no gf at the time but decided go buy them in person and get it out of the way. Never has a swifter condom purchase been made :pac:

Sofiztikated

Nope, doesn't bother me.

Usually its meself and herself in the shops, Boots or whatever, and we remember, "Oh yeah," and spend a while mooching around the isle, seeing what they have, whats new, lubes, etc. Wander up to the counter, hand them over, pay, wander out.

When I was younger, and I mean about 18 ish, there was a girl I fancied working in a Texaco. While one of the lads was in getting petrol, I was up at the counter getting fags, coke and crisps, and asked yer wan for a packet of condoms, and asked her if she was going out later, and winked at her.

Very unlike me, and it didn't work, but hey, why be embarrased.

Anyway, its only contraception, its not like its a 14 inch hook shaped buttplug, or anything.

CDfm

I feel so sorry for all the young guys posting here.

You don't know what embarrassment is.

Teenage son getting ready for a night out with friends

"So Son do you have enough money, condoms"
" Sure Da"
" You sure they are not out of date"

Chemists hold no terrors for CD junior.:)

Mackman

Not anymore, I used to get a little embarrassed when i was younger, but i got over that, getting laid was more important than what someone in a shop thought of me.

What happened me a few times was when your in spar or texaco or somehthing, and you have to ask for them, ya get some smart arse guy behind the counter who pretends he didnt hear you, and makes you say it a few times :rolleyes:
One guy that did it to me, i actually ran into him in a pub in town that night, and he says, in another attempt to embarass me, "How did those COMDOMS work out for ya?" I just said, "They were awesome!!"

Nothing to be embarassed abou at all, everyone needs to buy them at some stage

leahyl

This reminds me of a few years ago when i was working in a chemists and this guy comes in and is looking around the (very small) chemist for about 10 minutes - quite obviously looking for something in particular so he walks past me and i go "are you alright there - looking for something" and he goes all coy and embarrassed and says "ya where are the johnnies?"!! LOL! God love him!

CDfm

Off topic - I was in a music shop with my father in Cork looking for a G string for my sons bass guitar. A brand new shop assistant and my Dad both went scarlet.

Then some guys would be hugely embarrassed buying womens sanitary products. A few years back a friends girlfriend had their first baby -he was too embarressed to buy sanitary towels etc. I did the honours.

KTRIC

I normally find a nice cashier and giver her a little wink when I buy them

Funfair

If I was from India I’d be embarrassed after reading this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6161691.stm

:)

That_Guy

Was in the chemist the other day with a mate. I had to get some Solpadeine and he was trying to return condoms because "they didn't fit" or something.

While I was waiting for him there was a big discussion in the back which was quite loud so that a number of customers in the shop could hear.. It went something like this:

"What's the policy on condom returns?"

"I don't know. Why what's wrong with them?"

"Oh hold on"

cue woman re-entering and asking my friend what was wrong with them.

*whispers*
"They were too big for me"

woman enters the back door. Giggidy

"They were too big for him"

"Ah sure just give him a new pack"

therewillbe

:DHow times have changed.Back in the day when they were illegal we would be over in England at a game and all the mates would give us an order for supplys.Into Boots and asking for 3 or 4 dozen boxes ,Now that was scary:eek: The Scouse shop assistant would crack up when we said we were horny Irish lads.FFS dont be embarrased its your life your playing around with.ENJOY:)

Andrew Flexing

Will wrote: »

A bit embarrassed but depends on the cashier. If it's a woman ya usually get evil looks, with guys there's a mental high five going on :pac:

haha..I do be thinking the same!!!

monkeyfudge

I even get embarrassed buying toilet paper...

So yes I would rank it up as an embarrassing experience... although not quite as bad as last week when I had to buy tights for a girl and they were a very specific type and it took me ages to find them and buy them. (I didn't get the right ones in the end either)

I don't like people knowing what I'm getting up to... be it pooing or shagging...

Oh... anyone see the movie Amazon Women on the Moon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS-IGXlTBeo

hitlersson666

yeesh!!!!!! i had to look around pennys once buying kinckers for a girl with a friend (long story involving a school play, red bull and paper clips dont ask) and we were morto when the shop asissant asked us what size we needed and y were we buying them!!!!!! i can never go to wilton again :eek:

cocoa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxUQuLS-IU

classic...

Snowie

i baught some with my food shop the other day i was more interested in packing my shoping bag properley

entropi

Never...its just like buying some sweets, just alot more expensive:p

monkeyfudge

Little packs of condoms just €2 in the €2 shops these days... I love those shops.

Earlier today I got embarrassed buying a bread bin in Dunnes... Men don't do that sort of thing... The girl behind the counter probably thought I was going to have sex with a midget inside it or something... eek.

CDfm

Master of Nothing wrote: »

Never...its just like buying some sweets, just alot more expensive:p

You have never been at a Diwali celebration - some of the sweets are seriously expensive.

A quiet one

The pole asks
"Are you nervous/embarrassed buying condoms?"
Ten years ago I would have wanted the choices to be
"Are you nervous/embarrassed/annoyed buying condoms?

I'll be quite candid. I had a problem with them. They were not all the same but that reality was not expressed anywhere in the packaging; nor could you rely on price, package design, origin of product or even a suggestive name. And which outlet you bought them from made no difference either. The only way to find out, if you didn't have mates with some decent experience to ask, was to buy the lot, which was very expensive because there were heaps to choose from.

In reality too expensive, so it was a case of buying a few packs now and then.
You'd then go home and open them up and there you'd see, as I often did, something that wouldn't even be as wide as my middle finger, and yes, I know they stretch quite impressively, but ... well... here's the problem.

This may be something to file under more information than you needed to know.

You'd go through the exact same motions as they did on the telly, and they were using some great big baseball bat sized lump of wood.
You'd get it to slip over the 'helmet' and then the problems starts because you're supposed to just roll down the shaft but it would just Boinnng snap in, up and under the rim and for the life of you , you can't get at the dam thing any more. And even if you could, been a guy means you probably don't have long enough nails to tease it out of its hiding place, or nimble enough fingers to try and roll in down. Here's were the GF comes in handy you might think, but no, in reality it's got a grasp on you like it was spring loaded with a tension that just wont let go.

In the meantime the unhealthy death-throes colour of its captive has become a cause of great concern.

There's nothing else for it but wait and wait for things to die down (deflate) and then before the moment is completely wrecked start rolling it down. Alas, by now it's like its folds have been fused together by some great heat source and that's that; wait some more, get rid of it, try another.

Then it's time to repeat experiments you had already tried with previous condoms; the: first roll it back a bit more then you're supposed to , approach. Doesn't work; then there's the ... you hold one side and she the other to stop it from launching itself back there; Doesn't work either.

Then came the option of Femidoms, which no women liked so that was that.

The term passion killer hardly did the experience justice, but it was either condom on, or no shaging.
But no amount of practising got past the issue.

And so, one day, you're driven to go into the main chemist in the area and ask to speak to the manager, who off course, never has somewhere private to discuss anything and so, you have to explain the problem as I've set out above and explain that you're only doing so because someone somewhere has to get the message across to these (generally) anonymous manufacturers and it's not that you're built like a flaming donkey so you can't be the only guy with the problem and so the makers need to be told; and nearly everyone in the shop is listening.
At that point there are many deeply embarrassed faces looking at you, and trying not to look at you and it's a dead end; no dirty looks, but a bit of shell shock perhaps.
And you never want to go back there again!

And then there's the weird thing that with many brands, once it's on it's like , well, very very short. You look like some twerp who had bought a shirt several times too small.

Rant over.

icanhearjimi

Been doing it around 10 years now, dont think i'll ever get used to it. Only ever do it out of town too.

The_Kew_Tour

when young I did but like few of you now I dont care.

Gerty

The first time or two,still don't like a busy shop in a local area but its grand really.

faceman

When I lived in Kenya one of the condom brands was called "rough riders". Now how could you be embarrassed buying those?

Nolanger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncjTdjQOXIc

sam34

faceman wrote: »

When I lived in Kenya one of the condom brands was called "rough riders". Now how could you be embarrassed buying those?

lol, that brought back memories! an ex of mine came back from hols in india with a selection of oddly named condoms -- "rough riders", "big boys" and "smooth ride" are some of the ones i remember

star-pants

Mental some of those names! I would giggle myself!

I remember a good few years ago in Boots I think, myself and a friend were behind a guy in the queue. He was buying a box or two, and to his mortification, the woman serving scanned one in and then goes 'hang on a sec', calls down to 'Mary' or whomever, and goes 'Mary are these in the 3 for 2?' *holds up box* 'yeah the durex blah blah', then couldn't hear yer one, so goes down to her, all the while the poor chap (who was older than us) was going a deeper shade of red, we couldn't help but giggle quietly (not at what he was buying but at the situation you'd only find on tv or something). POOR chap.
Personally I'd have no issue buying them, just bring them to the till like anything else.

sea_monkey

yes so i use
www.smarthealth.ie

cause i know like everyone in the shops in my town and they all know my OH
the post man gives me a wink and a smile when he hands me the package tho...

big_show

star-pants wrote: »

Mental some of those names! I would giggle myself!

I remember a good few years ago in Boots I think, myself and a friend were behind a guy in the queue. He was buying a box or two, and to his mortification, the woman serving scanned one in and then goes 'hang on a sec', calls down to 'Mary' or whomever, and goes 'Mary are these in the 3 for 2?' *holds up box* 'yeah the durex blah blah', then couldn't hear yer one, so goes down to her, all the while the poor chap (who was older than us) was going a deeper shade of red, we couldn't help but giggle quietly (not at what he was buying but at the situation you'd only find on tv or something). POOR chap.
Personally I'd have no issue buying them, just bring them to the till like anything else.

I had a similar experience in a really busy Boots one day, went up to the till with a box of durex, the lady scans them and said "you know these are buy one get one free?" I said "O rly?",so i legged it back down the shop and got a second box and fired it up on the counter, all while a queue of about 10 people were watching my every move! so yeah, i have no issue buying them in the shop

Tefral

When i was younger yes, but now no way!

Normally young women cashiers go a bit red, i dont understand it.

Also is there some sort of stigma still attached? any reciepts i have gotten from condoms say : "Chemist Goods". Is there any particular reason for this? Are they expecting you to be hiding something or to be embarrassed?

Was in tesco not so long ago and went up to the till with the groceries and condoms, the girl behind the counter told me they are doing a buy one get one free deal and went off and got me the other box!

CDfm

big_show wrote: »

I had a similar experience in a really busy Boots one day, went up to the till with a box of durex, the lady scans them and said "you know these are buy one get one free?" I said "O rly?",so i legged it back down the shop and got a second box and fired it up on the counter, all while a queue of about 10 people were watching my every move! so yeah, i have no issue buying them in the shop

Arent you lucky they werent running a Durex Vibrator Promotion:p

Also is there some sort of stigma still attached? any reciepts i have gotten from condoms say : "Chemist Goods". Is there any particular reason for this?

when you really want it to say Condoms -extra large - hung like a donkey pack:pac:

I think the reason is that they are sold as a health product which is why it says chemist.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Emme

A few years ago I went out with a guy who was a practical joker and a bit older than me. We went into a poky little pharmacy one day and he asked the girl behind the counter did they have any extra large condoms. There were a few older men in the chemist and they were staring at us, I was so embarrassed! He did that more than once so I stopped going into poky little pharmacies with him. He got his own back when did the same thing in Condom Power and the assistant looked him up and down and said "I'd never have thought you were a Trojan kind of guy!"

Boys be thankful you have a reason to buy condoms, there's no need to be embarrassed when you're living life to the full!

Up de Barrs

There isn't really any reason to be embarrassed but it is an Irish thing I suppose. A couple if years ago I remember going in to a petrol station at night to buy condoms, I dont know if the guy was taking the p*ss but he was saying he couldn't hear what I was saying. Shouting condoms is a bit embarrassing I suppose.

Sofaspud

I was once out with a few friends, one of them wanted condoms but was too embarrassed to buy them. I told him that to show how it wasn't a big deal, I'd go into the shop, buy a box of condoms and a cucumber.
This turned into me and another friend walking around a 24 hour tesco at about 9 at night, looking for more embarrassing things to buy.

We ended up walking very camply to the till, holding hands, speaking in "camp" voices, buying a 24 pack of condoms, a butternut squash (google if you don't know what it looks like), a big tub of vaseline, and a pair of glow in the dark handcuffs (it was close to halloween)

There were a couple at the till behind us giving us very strange judgemental looks, and pointing and whispering. Was very hard to keep a straight face.

In conclusion, no, I don't think it's embarrassing.