When I was very young in 1979 I bought several gifts for family members from Spencer's in a mall. Cheap items that I had just enough money saved up to buy them.

One item in particular I was proud of picking out was a battery operated personal massage device for my great-grandmother.

I noticed she had a heated massaging pad for her back on her recliner. In my very young mind, I thought that she would like this item. I had no clue that it was in fact a dildo.

Fortunately, not only was I very naive, I was also too stupid to watch my bags of goods while I was playing arcade games. All of my Christmas gifts were stolen. I owe a debt of gratitude to that thief, sparing my great-grandmother the trauma of a horrible gift.

What are your stories?

Interesting.

Here we have an example from 1979 of a "very young" child who was able to walk into the mall and buy a dildo.

Meanwhile, we have people gasping and clutching at pearls because Walmart is currently selling dildos, while pining away for "the good old days" with cries of "think of the children".

In residency, I sent a Merry Christmas card to one of my Attendings, who was Jewish.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And? I hope he said thank you for the thought.

Wow, I always thought there was no use for thieves, now I know 1 LOL

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Interesting.

Here we have an example from 1979 of a "very young" child who was able to walk into the mall and buy a dildo.

Meanwhile, we have people gasping and clutching at pearls because Walmart is currently selling dildos, while pining away for "the good old days" with cries of "think of the children".

Interesting that you mentioned this. I noticed recently at CVS(or was it Walgreens?) adult toys being sold along side the condoms. Made me laugh seeing that.

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
…Spencer's in a mall… I had no clue that it was in fact a dildo…

The clerk at the store that sold you a dildo at the age you describe, that clerk was an asshole. I can only imagine him asking “who is this for?” You saying it’s for grandma, and him selling it.

The 16-year-old that sold it to him probably didn’t care either.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
In residency, I sent a Merry Christmas card to one of my Attendings, who was Jewish.

Early 70’s I worked in a city with a high Jewish population. Parts counter Christmas Eve I made the mistake of telling a customer purchasing some accessories “Merry Christmas”.

Damn, did he become unhinged. He made sure everyone in the parts department, the service drive lane, and the cashiers office know that he was Jewish.

He still bought them despite my error of judgement, guess he wasn’t that offended.

Some of those dildos can come in packaging that can be misleading like "body massager" and have a lady holding it against their face.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Some of those dildos can come in packaging that can be misleading like "body massager" and have a lady holding it against their face.

I think I'll have to look next time I'm at the store to confirm.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And? I hope he said thank you for the thought.

He didn't.

My sister in law ran into a gift shop trying to buy a card for my son’s christening. She asked for help finding one. She had no idea what the sign “Judaica Gifts” meant.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
In residency, I sent a Merry Christmas card to one of my Attendings, who was Jewish.

Early 70’s I worked in a city with a high Jewish population. Parts counter Christmas Eve I made the mistake of telling a customer purchasing some accessories “Merry Christmas”.

Damn, did he become unhinged. He made sure everyone in the parts department, the service drive lane, and the cashiers office know that he was Jewish.

He still bought them despite my error of judgement, guess he wasn’t that offended.

That guy was an ass. Of course if you know someone is Jewish you shouldn’t intentionally say “Merry Christmas” to them. But if you don’t know and say it, the appropriate response is to say “Merry Christmas” back.

Q, the Attending would have had to believe you intentionally sent him a Christmas card out of spite to be offended, and I can’t imagine making that assumption. I’m guessing that he was an ass as well.

I worked for a Jewish family for the last half of my employment. The made a special effort to wish me a Merry Christmas each year. Guess I was bad by replying with the same. They never took offense, or showed any. Of course the old man who made the business gave us each a ham at that time of the year. He took one home, too. Could be mid west Jews see things differently, or are more accomodating.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
Could be mid west Jews see things differently, or are more accomodating.

Keep in mind that "Jewish" is both a religion and an ethnicity, and there's not necessarily always overlap between the two groups, even though the majority are both.

So there are those who both practice the Jewish religion and are ethnically Jewish, and then there are ethnic Jews who are either non-practicing or follow some other religion, and finally there are those folks who follow the Jewish religion but who are not ethnically Jewish.

So your ham-eating, "Merry Christmas"-saying Jewish employer may have been of ethnic Jewish descent but not a follower of the Jewish religion. Just because they're of Jewish descent doesn't mean they celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas and refrain from eating pork.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
In residency, I sent a Merry Christmas card to one of my Attendings, who was Jewish.

I did the same thing with one of my direct report staff, sent a Christmas Kringle. She was a little pissy, but understood there was no possible way for me to know she was Jewish without having pried inappropriately in her first year of working for me.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And? I hope he said thank you for the thought.

He didn't.

^^^^^^^^^^
Sad. I would appreciate a Hanukkah card and said thank you even though I am Catholic. Overly sensitive in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
I owe a debt of gratitude to that thief, sparing my great-grandmother the trauma of a horrible gift.

Might have been what we heard all the Red Hat Ladies over at the big table laughing about over lunch.


"Hey, girls, look what my grandson Trio gave me for Christmas! baHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
Some of those dildos can come in packaging that can be misleading like "body massager" and have a lady holding it against their face.

That's exactly how I remembered the packaging!