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Tampons or Wine, the Eternal Dilemma

I run a small but growing start-up and employ many young female employees. As is standard for the start-up world, we buy kitchen items for our staff, including snacks, beer and wine, paper towels and facial tissues. We have a board in the break area that we use to remind me what items we are getting low on. My employees keep putting feminine sanitary items on that board. I quizzed building maintenance and found that these items are for sale in all the ladies’ restrooms for 25 cents each. Should I be buying these items with corporate money, and how can I justify it one way or the other? — Atlanta

How nice that you keep your staff well fed and with access to multiple booze options. While it is of course not necessary for workers to have access to Kind bars and hazy IPAs in the office, it is a nice way for you to show them that their happiness matters.

You know what is absolutely necessary for workers to have access to? Tampons and pads! Why are we having a conversation about how to justify the cost of necessary hygiene products when kegs and chardonnay are considered essential!

Now, I’m sure you pay your employees handsomely, Atlanta (and that you’ve made very sure that there’s no pay gap between your male and female staffers), so it’s probably true that paying 25 cents a tampon is not cost-prohibitive for any of them. It is also true that the realization that you don’t have a quarter and your period has come a day early is among the worst feelings in the world.