It’s been a while since I remarked about the idiosyncracies of living abroad. I don’t often think about them…at least not until I am faced with one of them head on. Point in case: the grocery store.
Comment #1: Shoppers take their goods out of their carts, place them on the conveyor belt for scanning, and then bag (themselves, mind you) their groceries. Actually, that is technically not correct: they “re-cart” their items back into the metal grocery cart, only to wheel their cart out to the car, and then unload their items one by one into sacks, baskets, or boxes. What gives?
I suppose I’ve lived too long in other countries, and the "assembly line” mentality is well entrenched, but that seems to advocate the unnecessary double/triple handling of the items. Inefficient, not to mention the fact, that the Budman and I can walk to the car, put our sacks of groceries into the trunk, and speed away, leaving our fellow shoppers still unloading their carts for the second time. Yes, we are observed by fellow shoppers at both the checkout and parking garage as “three-headed monkeys”….bag your groceries at the checkout stand? What a concept….
Comment #2: Related to the first comment, the Budman likes to “get the checkers going” on this whole sack issue. OK, so no other shoppers are bagging their groceries at the check-out line, so obviously no need for the “paper or plastic” discussion. Still, Budman likes to open the sacks we’ve brought with us, place them in the cart as open and wheel the cart past the checker just as the employee begins the scanning.
Without fail, the checker about has whiplash trying to peer over the counter, into our cart, and bags…in the off chance that we are trying to sneak a bag of potato chips through without paying. Not that we would, but it is fun to “have a little fun” with the checker.
Comment #3: Finally, fresh spinach leaves for a nice grilled chicken salad. I’ve just waited over a year. Enough said.
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2 comments:
I have always wondered about stuff like that but never asked. I saw a show that was in Paris at this open market and they said everybody buys fresh daily. Do they have those in Germany? I can't imagine going to the store every day, but can see how they eat better that way. I guess there are no Super WalMarts over there!! HA! Good luck in getting more fresh spinach! :) TH
I suppose there are people who do that. Bakeries, in particular. We don't though. One thing is for sure, there are not the same type of preservatives in food in Europe. Food does not last as long as in the US.
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