The Deceit of Charmin Bathroom Tissue

Rolled out, it’s not as wide.
It happened overnight,
It’s not the bromide,
Or blurred vision after a fight.

The toilet is the same,
My stomach’s not upset.
Just the end not feeling game,
By God, it’s sensing paper debt.

Though a clever corporate ploy,
The arse is not a toy.
Yet we close the door
And just roll out more.

It’s all for profit, the untricked say,
More fattened executive pay.
Paying consumers use more,
With each effluent day.

Trickery says, tis priced the same,
But such reasoning is lame.
For even simple math,
Says, we take a bath.

Still users tend to know,
That profits will really grow
As micro size reductions
Save millions, mass production.

Sham is practiced door to door.
And less-packed products shown as more.
Soft bulk appears the same,
Our poor attention is to blame.

Containers stay the same,
Locked in commercial shame,
It’s what’s inside that’s less,
For which companies must fess.

James Hoover is a recently retired systems engineer. He has advanced degrees in Economics and English. Prior to his aerospace career, he taught high school, and he has also taught college courses. He recently published a science fiction novel called Extraordinary Visitors and writes political columns on several websites. Read other articles by James.