Should’ve gone to Specsavers: after a gran forgot her glasses before popping to the shops, she thought she bought a box of teabags – only to accidentally come home with a jumbo pack of condoms.
Rosemarie Riley was left feeling a little embarrassed after a humble trip to Asda to pick up tea, bread and dog food on Tuesday, February 12, turned a bit blue.
The 76-year-old managed to conquer the weather and make it to the shops. However, after forgetting her specs, the gran-of-eight accidentally popped a 30-pack of Durex Thin Feel condoms into her basket, believing them to be Tetley teabags.
The pensioner’s gaff only came to light after her bemused husband, John Riley, 78, pondered why she’d bought them – they cost £17, giving the small shop a grand total of £26.75. Soon after, Rosemarie begged her granddaughter Gemma to return the condoms and get them refunded – unsurprisingly, the 29-year-old was ‘howling’ with laughter.
After sharing her gran’s shopping blunder on Facebook, the post quickly went viral, racking up more than 12,000 likes, shares and comments.
Gemma, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, said:
I’ve not stopped laughing, and It’s brought many people to tears. I saw the box on the side and asked her ‘how come you’ve bought these?’
She didn’t notice what they were until my grandad noticed on the receipt. He’d said to her: ‘How come you’ve bought condoms, you silly mare?’ He wasn’t very happy she’d spent that much money on his card. From there we had a little giggle about it all and I said I’d return them for her.
Gemma wrote in her Facebook post: ‘Sooo nan’s gone and brought these from Asda thinking they were teabags – and her wonderful granddaughter has the job of returning them. So please, if anyone sees me returning these, don’t judge. I know Valentine’s is around the corner but I have no use for them and they cost her £17. All she wants is her Yorkshire teabags.’
She added: ‘Happy Tuesday. She will be wearing her glasses next time she goes shopping as we are worried what she might come back with next time.’
Gemma, a mum-of-one, went back to Asda that evening explained what happened. Luckily, the staff found it as funny as she did.
Gemma explained:
My nan said they were actually on the aisle where the teabags were – so either someone popped them back, or she’s got mixed up, I’m not too sure. I said: ‘She’s picked these up instead of the teabags, is there any chance I can get the teabags and return these?’
The lady was laughing her head off. I was too and then I ran out there as quickly as I could. Everybody knows me around here and I didn’t want to be seen returning them, especially before Valentine’s Day. I said to my nan: ‘I thought you were in for a good time’.
Rosemarie admits she felt ‘mortified’, wondering whether the lady at the till thought she was ‘a bit raunchy’. ‘I just threw everything onto the conveyor belt and shoved them in the bag, I didn’t think. My husband normally does all the shopping but he’s not very well. I don’t care, I just grab whatever’s there, I’m a terrible shopper,’ she said.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.