Dawn

I went to the grocery store for us the other day. I've done it several times. It isn't like being a pioneer to a new world.

Judy says I'm a good husband. Apparently because I occasionally do something like going to the grocery store or carrying in her saxophone or washing the dishes or clothes or what not. Always makes me smile because I enjoy getting compliments from her and because I think to myself that the standard for husbands must be absurdly low. But I digress.

So I needed to buy some dish washing detergent and I wandered over to the dish washing detergent aisle. That's staggering in itself that my store would have a significant portion of shelf space dedicated to detergent. There are about a jillion varieties of product available for purchase there. But I was able to narrow my search to the brand, Dawn. Mom used Dawn and I continued the tradition when I took over kitchen duites. And Judy uses Dawn so it was pretty simple to follow suit. Now, honestly, for myself I don't really have a preference for dish washing detergent. But I am more than happy to accommodate another person's taste, especially when the other person is my spouse. Again I digress.

There are a good many choices in just the Dawn line. But this one caught my attention because it was both detergent and air freshener. I laughed when I saw it. I don't know what this adding of features to ordinary products like detergent is called but I find it quite fascinating. AND it is called "Simple Pleasures" and the fragrance I chose is "Water Lily and Jasmine" and, at least to me, the shape is a bit more sensual than what detergent normally conjures in my mind.

In the immortal words of Billy Mays "But Wait." Just next to my selection is "Dawn Hand Soap" on the very same shelf. And it's anti-bacterial and orange. Can't beat that with a stick!

But of course I had to examine this more closely. Because, in my mind, hand soap even if it is Dawn, should not be in the same place as dish washing detergent. But there it was. And I didn't even know that Dawn made hand soap.

There was no other hand soap in this spot. I checked the other brands, too.

Then it made me wonder if it had been done on purpose. Because I bought a bottle of it. And I would not have bought that bottle if it hadn't been in that particular place. And, yes, I did walk over to the hand soap section and check there and, sure enough, no Dawn hand soap was present.

I would like to think it was great and innovative marketing by the grocery store. If for nothing more than as a tribute to my assorted friends of the conspiracy persuasion.

I suspect it is more likely the QED mistake of an earnest but otherwise preoccupied stock boy.

So much for soap.