are you there margaret? Peter needs some clarification.

At work, we use these really strong cleansing wipes to help prevent the spread of infections. These wipes are seriously powerful, they'll kill MRSA, VRE, HIV, Hepatitis, etc.

Yesterday, one of our mental health patients was standing in the hallway asking my coworker for something. He was holding the container of wipes and looking really confused. I couldn't really hear all of their conversation, but I did pick up that she was asking him for a sanitary napkin. He stumbled over his words a bit and then handed her the package. At this point, I could only hear his part of the conversation. "You need them right now?" "Oh, you want them before you can go to the bathroom?" "Oh, okay....well, this is really the only thing that we have..." and then he handed her the wipes.

At that point she looked really confused, and I could barely contain myself. "Ma'am. I can help you. We have some right in here" and I headed for the supply closet. "Peter..." I called my colleage in. "She wanted a maxi pad."

"No. She said she wanted a sanitary napkin. I thought she meant an alcohol wipe."

I informed him, "She meant a maxi pad."

"Well why didn't she just say that?" he asked.

"She was probably kind of embarrassed. A sanitary napkin is a maxi pad."

Still confused and probably a bit embarrassed, he said, "Show me where it says that on the package! You don't put these things on your face, it's not a napkin!"

"That's what it says on the machines. It's kind an old fashioned word," I explained to him.

"Well, I'm was a history major and I've never heard that word."