From a Reuters piece on how men get overwhelmed by grocery stores:
Many men have difficulty finding items, forego buying rather than risk purchasing a substitute for an item on the grocery list and hesitate to ask for help if they can't find an item, [Mandy] Putnam[, vice president at consulting firm TNS Retail Forward] said in her report.
"They never ask for help, except maybe from the butcher, but they always say they never had problems finding anything when the cashier at the register asks," she said.
Yeah, we don't ask for directions. But do women really bother to respond to "Did you find everything OK?" At that point, I've waited in line, I'm ready to go, and there are people in line behind me. Am I supposed to either get out of line to get some item that I couldn't find, or hold everyone else up while some clerk goes to get me a jar of Baco-Bits?