An Australian woman says she was left "shocked and embarrassed" by a cashier's response after buying a pregnancy test at her local pharmacy.
Australian freelance writer and mother Shona Hendley penned an essay for women's lifestyle site Mamamia describing the "disappointing" experience.
- Teen mistakes girlfriend's thermometer as positive pregnancy test
- Greenland cat's hilarious reaction to unexpected pregnancy goes viral
- Mother shares unbelievable 20kg triplet baby bump journey
Hendley says she placed carefully-selected various items, including superhero Band-Aids, and a bag of cotton wool balls around the box for the First Response pregnancy test, as a "wall of privacy" from the line of customers behind her.
"I was feeling good, I had nearly completed my special shopping trip without seeing anyone I knew and now all I had left to do was to pay for my goods and get to the car," she wrote. "I was nearly there!"
It was then, she wrote, the cashier handed her the bag and said in front of the line of customers: "I hope you get the result you are looking for."
"She smiled, the woman behind me smiled, I am pretty sure the elderly man with the hearing aid at the end of the line smiled."
Hendley said she was "disappointed, shocked, and embarrassed" by the move.
"Something I had wished to remain private was now known by several complete strangers. A choice which was taken from me by a pharmacy cashier I had never met."
Hendley says she lives in a regional city, where "everyone knows everyone else".
"What had been a discrete visit to a pharmacy to buy something that I wanted to be kept private was now the pharmacy community news."
The story has attracted some backlash online - with commenters saying she should "lighten up" and stop "taking herself so seriously".
"She was obviously trying to be supportive and make conversation. Jesus lighten up!" wrote one woman.
"She's acting like she's Jennifer Aniston buying a pregnancy test out in public. And for something you wanted kept so private, here you are putting it on Facebook photo of yourself and all. Love, no one actually cares," wrote another.
Newshub.
