Grocery Store as Gauntlet (file under I Told You So)

Isn't this interesting... it seems as though grocery retailers are finally recognizing that grocery stores aren't exactly a cake walk for all their customers.

Unsurprisingly (and a little sadly), the focus is exclusively gender-based, the implications being, men get lost, women don't. Which, of course, makes AD/HD-grrl feel a little bit more like a freak.

Still, in response to the guy mentioned in this article as on his way to "a nervous breakdown in the cereal aisle," I've got this: You think the cereal aisle is mind-boggling! Try the feminine hygeine products aisle. Setting aside the plethora of tampon choices... there's short pads, long pads, overnighters, wings, no wings, fragrance, no fragrance, baking soda, special liners, brief-friendly, thong-friendly. (And various permutations therof.)

The folks who make Always pads tried some kind of bizarre, arbitrary iconic identification system a few years back that I am personally grateful failed. Do I get the stars, the flowers, the sailboats, or the duckies? WTF? Imagine a woman in the throes of PMS, before a wall of plastic-covered product, shuddering short of tears. Those were moments I wondered whether the act of shopping for the rag wasn't actually causing the PMS.

I suppose I should be grateful. If the grocery store marketing mavens improve shopping for men, I suppose it should help me too. But in a world where the marketing campaign is so quickly confounded with the societal norm, it's a bittersweet victory.

Especially if, after all the other man-friendly changes, they don't do anything to streamline the feminine products aisle.