A small grumble... about buying smalls

Went into M&S lingerie department the other day, chose something and looked around for somewhere to pay. nada. nowhere to be seen. had to wander out of the lingerie area into the next department, which turned out to be menswear. Why do I have to wander into the menswear area carrying personal women's stuff? it wasn't even in a box - totally exposed. I felt so embarrassed I came close to just leaving it and walking out.

There were two members of staff at the tills - one male and one female. of course my turn came when the man was ready to serve... I hid behind the socks and waited for the woman to become available.

Is this some kind of trend, to make women parade through half the store carrying their intimate purchases? It has happened to me before, in Debenhams, but that was at least a temporary thing - they do have a till in the lingerie department but they were short staffed or something so it wasn't operating. But really - whoever it is that makes the decisions about where to place tills in these department stores, don't they realise how personal the purchase of lingerie is for a woman? Do they really think it's reasonable to expect me to show such items to a man I don't know?