Toilet Paper

Erin has had to go shopping over the past week to try to stock our kitchen and obtain necessities such as paper towels, soap, and toilet paper. After only being in the country a couple weeks, she ventured to Wal-Mart while John was at work one day. Going very slowly and taking lots of deep breaths, Erin managed to get through the food section of the store rather well. Then she got to the toilet paper aisle.

Not only was a man stocking the shelves and moving things around while Erin searched the aisle, but there was toilet paper of every shape, size, thickness, and brand imaginable filling the shelves on both sides of the aisle. Erin tried hard to remember which kind she used to buy two years ago, but of course then she realized the packaging was probably different now anyway. This was no use. She actually almost had a panic attack right there in the toilet paper aisle. A few tears were definitely shed. Honestly, the toilet paper section in stores in Amsterdam is about 1/8 the size, and there are only two or three brands to choose from. Why on earth would anyone need 800 different kinds of toilet paper to choose from? I mean, come on, you wipe your behind with it! How fancy does it have to be?

When Erin first appeared in the aisle, the man stocking the shelves apologized for the inconvenience and asked if he could help. In hindsight Erin should have just asked him what kind of toilet paper she should buy! After the “almost panic attack” and tears, Erin finally just grabbed a pack and decided it wasn’t worth it to spend any more of her time in that aisle.

By the way, in the last couple years companies in the U.S. have come out with twice as many kinds of detergent and fabric softener, 10 more types of Cheerios, and we think the frozen food and chips sections of the grocery store have both doubled in size.