IN SOMETHING OF A STINK
I'll be the first to admit that I am a creature of habit, and when I find something that I like or something that simply works, I'll stick with it. As an example let's take antiperspirants - More specifically let's take my trip out on Tuesday night to the local supermarket to look for a refill. How hard is it supposed to be to find stick antiperspirant? Apparently it's harder than you expect and harder than should be expected.
I went to my local Coles supermarket first. Inspected their offerings to help me not smell like month old wildebeest carcass after the sun has been shining down on me and my motorcycle jacket all afternoon.
I was always under the impression that a "consumer boycott" was collective action by consumers against a particular product, supplier or company. Up until the moment that I strolled down the toiletries aisle of Safeway was I aware that those two words could be interpreted the other way, and it wasn't until I really searched the men's section of the toiletries aisle that I realised just how pervasive and insidious the conspiracy against me was. Both Safeway and Coles, in different shopping strips, had exactly the same product lines when it came to deodorants, right down to the same amounts of stock available.
Was I mistaken, or just totally deranged? Or is an entire supermarket being plucked from one location and moved to another before I have a chance to notice? I'll admit that I have been known, on occasion and from time to time, to be moderately unobservant. I'll even admit that it's sometimes taken me a week or so to notice that the vase full of flowers in the dining room has changed. Even so I think that even I would notice an entire section of building, undergoing in-flight redecoration, flying overhead. (The most disturbing part of this is if they are flying buildings around to keep me on my toes then they can read my mind. Poor things, how do they cope?)
I'll be the first to admit that I am a creature of habit, and when I find something that I like or something that simply works, I'll stick with it. As an example let's take antiperspirants - More specifically let's take my trip out on Tuesday night to the local supermarket to look for a refill. How hard is it supposed to be to find stick antiperspirant? Apparently it's harder than you expect and harder than should be expected.
I went to my local Coles supermarket first. Inspected their offerings to help me not smell like month old wildebeest carcass after the sun has been shining down on me and my motorcycle jacket all afternoon.
- Aerosol deodorant? Check.
- Roll-on deodorant? Present.
- Poxy gel "stick" crap that freezes your pits even as it clags hair together in limb threatening spikes of torment should you be mad enough to hold your arms up until they dry? Also present. Ready and lurking in fact...
- Dry stick deodorant? Dry stick deodorant? ... Bueller? ... Bueller?
I was always under the impression that a "consumer boycott" was collective action by consumers against a particular product, supplier or company. Up until the moment that I strolled down the toiletries aisle of Safeway was I aware that those two words could be interpreted the other way, and it wasn't until I really searched the men's section of the toiletries aisle that I realised just how pervasive and insidious the conspiracy against me was. Both Safeway and Coles, in different shopping strips, had exactly the same product lines when it came to deodorants, right down to the same amounts of stock available.
Was I mistaken, or just totally deranged? Or is an entire supermarket being plucked from one location and moved to another before I have a chance to notice? I'll admit that I have been known, on occasion and from time to time, to be moderately unobservant. I'll even admit that it's sometimes taken me a week or so to notice that the vase full of flowers in the dining room has changed. Even so I think that even I would notice an entire section of building, undergoing in-flight redecoration, flying overhead. (The most disturbing part of this is if they are flying buildings around to keep me on my toes then they can read my mind. Poor things, how do they cope?)
