I used to work the graveyard shift in a convenience. We kept the rubbers behind the counter. It was always interesting to me to see how some people would buy five useless and unrelated items, wait until no one else was in the store then finally after I rung everything else up, quietly ask under their breath for the condoms.

I do remember one customer already familiar to me by reputation at least. The guys knew him as a stud and many of the girls he'd been with thought of him as a slut. He wasn't bashful about his purchase. He'd take them right out of the box in front of me and stick them into his fanny pack as bold as gold.

At least, he knew enough to play safe. Granted I think he always asked for the cheapest box, not the one ribbed for her pleasure. Then again, there were all sorts of rumors about that dude but that was years back when the press was still speculating about what side George Michael's bread was buttered.

Anyway, most of us now don't have to ask anyone to give us our condoms. However, according to Bob Purvis of Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel (01/01/07), many local stores in his city are beginning to lock them away again in special glass display cases or behind the pharmacy counter, like batteries or expensive replacement razor blades.

It's not to discourage sex, especially safe sex. Rather, it's because theft of prophylactics has led to serious profit losses in some pharmacies. Nevertheless, some national chains have decided that they'll simply put them out in displays that are more likely to be surveyed by staff or fellow patrons.

It's as if time is going backwards to how it was over 30 years ago. It was 1972 before the Supreme Court finally ruled on a case in Massachusetts that access to birth control was legal for unmarried persons. Wisconsin, Milwaukee's home state waited until 1976 before updating their statutes to comply with the above ruling and still forbid the commercial display or advertising of contraceptive methods. The Supreme Court finally stepped in and ruled against the State in 1977.

Now, it's 2007 and it seems as if things are moving backwards. I but the Fonze is really annoyed at having to waste time talking to the pharmacist while Laverne and Shirley must be mortified now that the druggist knows all those nasty rumors are true.