This really did happen to me today. I didn’t make it up; my mind is not this creative.
Today I went to a pharmacy in Pretoria. It was a pharmacy called DisChem which is similar to a Walgreens in the U.S. It’s basically a big store with lots of products that just happens to have a pharmacy at one end.
I was in DisChem looking for travel-size toiletries for my son Ben; who, by the way, starts Air Force Basic Training next week. (Expect a sobbing mother entry early next week.) So, I asked a worker where to find the travel-sized toiletries whereupon I was directed to Aisle 8. Aisle 8 had a small section of everything from tiny vaseline to travel-sized toothpaste to miniature bottles of polish remover.
The one thing they didn’t have was shampoo; or maybe I should clarify, they didn’t have human shampoo. Instead, they had 90ml (3 oz) size bottles of horse shampoo. You read that right, horse shampoo. Remember, this was a human pharmacy, not a veterinary supply store. Besides the horse shampoo, there were no other animal related products in the travel-size toiletries section. There was also no human shampoo.
I then waved down a worker and the following conversation ensued:
Me (holding up a bottle of the horse shampoo): Is this really for horses?
Worker (after inspecting the bottle): Yes, I believe so.
Me: Um … do you have any human miniature shampoo?
Worker (after looking around the travel-size toiletries section): It doesn’t appear so. But this is also really good for humans. It will prevent your hair from falling out and give you a glossy coat.
Me (while giving the worker my squinty-eyed perplexed look): Really?! People really use this?
Worker: Yes, but you have to mix it with human shampoo.
Whereupon, I put back the few miniature products I had collected and walked out of the DisChem.
Too bad Ben isn’t going into the Cavalry.
Six Abroad 