How to Practice Immaculate Sex Shop Etiquette
Going into a sex shop should always be an adventure.
One that is made best by following certain rules of decorum. Here are 8 rules to make your shopping experience at a sex shop the most stress-free.
1. Say "Hello"
First of all, as a sex shop staffer, one will encounter a variety of comfort levels. Primarily due to the sexual culture of where one was born and raised, their religious affiliations, and sad to say even traumas.
So to be safe, when you first walk through the doors of a sex shop, at the most a staffer should say to you is “Hello”, then leave you be for a spell. The only way the interaction should immediately go beyond that “Hello” is if you initiate and request more conversation.
2. Take your time
Your venturing into a sex shop is you buying something for a most intimate possession, your body. So if you don’t know exactly what you want, be it for you or someone else, take your time to figure out what works for the intended recipient.
3. Speak to a Customer Assistant, not a Salesperson
Many will think that these 2 job titles are one and the same when actually they are not. A Customer Assistant does just that – assist. You tell them what you’re looking for, and they’ll assist you in finding what works best for you.
They are not governed by a big sale, even if it comes at the expense of what you really want. A Customer Assistant will tell you the safest materials, and let you do the rest for yourself. Because after all, it’s like my personal motto says…. It’s your body, your call.
A salesperson, on the other hand, will talk, and talk, and talk. Leading you… ALL THE WAY. The problem is this might result in you buying something your body doesn’t really want or need because you were not heard enough to be properly assisted.
4. Do not open packaging
There, of course, are times when a sex shop product calls out to you. It may be in packaging, but without a demo in sight. In that instance, ask a Customer Assistant to help you. For a sex shop is not a clothing store where you can easily go into some packaging, take it out so you can get a feel.
Products in a sex shop are products that go to even more intimate parts of your body. So when you want to see a product there is no demo for, ask for assistance. Please don’t take it upon yourself.
If you think about opening the packaging yourself, think about this scenario:
What if the store lets every customer open up packaging? Imagine how many hands would be on that product before it finally got in yours.
Would you still want it? Exactly, you would not. (Or would you?) So please don’t make the product undesirable for anyone else who might want it, even though you don’t.
5. Shhh! Not so loud
The excitement of venturing into a sex shop is totally understandable. Especially with friends along for the ride. However, you are in a store. An adult store. So please keep your elation over the experience under control. This is a rule more so for the sake of the other customers.
For while you can be vocal in your taking in the experience of a sex shop, and still be progressive in making a choice, others might need lower volumes around them. I’m not saying to be quiet like you’re in a library, Just be mindful of where you are.
Again, it’s an adult store. Not an amusement park for children. Of course, have fun. But be responsible enough to acknowledge not everyone’s way of (or volume in) relieving their nervousness over exploring their sexuality is the same as yours.
6. No T.M.I. sexual info or touch
Maybe you find your customer assistant attractive. Maybe you just want the ego boost because you think you have a great sex life that no one knows about, and you want to tell someone. Whatever the case, a sex shop is not the place for it. Not with a Customer Assistant, or a customer.
That also means keep your touching under control. Sometimes customers touch me with a friendly tap on the shoulder. I’m usually alarmed by this, because we seem to live in an age where boundaries that should be known to us are often disregarded, therefore crossed. So I think it is best that customers refrain from touching Customer Assistants and customers altogether to avoid crossing that line.
7. Only Sample Toys Above The Waist
Yes, you are in a sex shop. However, keep your sampling with demos in/on non-intimate above the waist areas. Because no customer wants to touch a demo that you put on your bare nipple, or in/on your mouth.
8. Don’t yuck anyone else’s yum
We all have our individual desired positions, kinks, and fetishes. And we have every right to voice them…. in your private space. However, in a sex shop where all sexual tastes are permitted and respected, it’s rude to knowingly insult someone else’s sexual taste with any overt body language.
That is unless the action, kink, or fetish can easily be proven as being mentally and/or physically harmful to one’s health.
In short, when it’s not dangerous, live by the old saying, “LIVE AND LET LIVE”.
In Conclusion
With all of that said, there is a lot of fun to be had when you venture into a sex shop. But while sex is an act in which we are often encouraged to go at with some level of reckless abandon, doing so in sex shop takes away from that fun. So when you go into a sex shop, follow the above rules to keep it fun. Keep it cute.
Keep it sexy.
Written by:
LeNair Xavier
LeNair Xavier has studied sex and sexuality by reading up on and observing various sexual behaviors. These observations has led to time in the gay porn industry, and now writing erotic poetry. Tales of his journeys leading to his growing sexual knowledge can be found on his blog, L’s X-Ray Vision.
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