Babies, Puppies and Poop

I made a discovery yesterday. Not exactly the “life-long learning” that people have in mind, but nonetheless it added to my knowledge base. The institution of higher education in this particular case happened to be Target.

Yeah, I know, their record on donations to particular causes which I abhor is deplorable, and they have spent months talking out of both sides of their face trying to get away from it, but just like their arch-nemesis Wal Mart, sometimes there’s no alternative.

In this case, we needed a baby gift. Actually, we needed two since our friends are having twins. So we found ourselves in the baby department at Target wandering around trying to find something suitable and arguing over what’s an appropriate baby gift.

While looking at the “wall o’ stuff” offered – I tend to like gift basket type things with lots and lots of little nit-noid things on the theory that something will ring a bell and be the “perfect” little gift – I saw them.

A card hanging up with three rolls of colored plastic bags on them.

“That’s odd,” I thought. “Why would they have doggie poop bags here in the baby department?”

Now, let me start by saying that we have some of these. I tend to opt toward the newspaper bags to take care of the dog’s mess, because it recycles something that would otherwise be thrown away and my frugal nature likes to do that. I have to admit, though, that we have some of these fancy little odor-resistant bags as well because sometimes they’re more convenient to carry, being rolled up and fitting into a little dispenser.

I don’t care for them because they are neon colored and if you see someone walking down the street carrying one, dog on the leash, you know what’s in it. This does not tend to encourage people to engage you in friendly conversation as you walk along. They usually to go to the other side of the street, not being quite sure what you have in mind for that bundle – are you carrying it to the trash, or to someone’s front porch?

Part of the reason we have those plastic bags is that cleaning up after your dog is a function of being a responsible pet owner. It’s annoying when people let their dogs do their business and other people have to deal with it. Part of it is selfish, though, because it’s less disgusting to pick up after the dog than to have to clean off your shoes later. Given that his early morning walks to the yard are sometimes in my favorite fuzzy slippers, I’m especially concerned that we remain vigilant about this.

Either way, plastic bags are involved and during the drought the newspapers haven’t provided enough plastic bags to keep up with puppy demand. That still didn’t explain why they were being sold in the baby department, though.

When I looked at the card, I realized they were the same product, merely repackaged to make them appealing to those with human infants. It makes sense, I guess – it’s easier to deal with the mess of human babies up front rather than to have to clean it off your shoes later.

What didn’t make sense, though, is that the product was a full $2.00 cheaper when marketed toward babies than toward pets. The only difference is the cardboard labeling on the package. Nothing else.

It’s always seemed deceptive to me to sell the same product at different prices based solely on misinformation given to the public (i.e. “marketing”), especially when the products are sold in the same store. Everybody’s got to make a living, but c’mon, let’s be fair about it and give the buyers a straight shot!

So the trip to the semi-evil retailer was worthwhile, since I learned something. From now on, when I have to buy plastic poop bags I’ll be heading over towards the baby aisle rather than the puppy aisle.

Oh, and the baby gift? Apparently twins go through incredible quantities of diapers and a couple of cases are a more than appropriate offering. This, from the dad of twins who was having flashbacks (not to mention dry heaves and was breaking out in a cold sweat) at the thought of dealing with newborn twins.

I thought 168 sounded like a lot of diapers, but apparently it’s not.

I may throw in a couple of sets of earplugs as well. From the non-parental perspective, that’s one of the things that I’ve always appreciated when trapped in close proximity to infants.

We didn’t opt for poop bags, though. I’m betting that they take a newspaper already.