Monday, July 03, 2006

2nd post for today.... phew.....

well... i just couldnt help but to post on a few other issues that have been on my mind...

first, our dryer is being installed today and i'm tickled pink! i have tons of clothes to wash, since i hate hanging them on the line to dry - didn't mind this in the States but don't like doing it here - in the States, if you live in a good place/town, there's always this nice smell that comes w/ hanging clothes on the line... but not here. not that it's terrible or anything, i just don't like it. i think the big thing is you don't get the same smell.... and then the sun tends to bleach things out, which i'm not found of. but hopefully today i'll go home and have a nice dryer to use. i can hardly wait.

two... last night i made a stop at Al Jazeera supermarket and something that always miffs me is the way the girls throw your food when checking you out. i don't mind regular items being thrown but what gets me is when they throw my fruit. i take a lot of care to pick out just the right pieces of fruit... making sure there are no bruises and such or bad places on the fruit AND it never fails... when i get home, my fruit is bruised. same thing last night. i get home, start putting away groceries and my nectarines are bruised. a few of them have major places in them. it drives me insane!!!! aarrrghhhhhh!

you know, i always tell them not to throw my fruit or not to throw things on top of my fruit, but they don't listen. why is this? why don't these ppl care about what they're doing? they just toss the food to the place where you bag it w/out a care in the world. they look at me in a crazy fashion when i tell them not to throw my fruit. sometimes i make a point of telling them before they ever get to the fruit... but still, it makes no difference. do these ppl have training? do they buy their own groceries? do they enjoy eating bruised and damaged fruit?

and then the baggers... some have no clue when bagging groceries. for the most part, i have no probs w/ them, but some of them i want to slap. when i go to Al Osra/Spinney's in Sa'ar, i don't notice this as much - the baggers seem to be a lot better there. at Al Jazeera they all seem to have issues.

most of the check-out girls have a bit of an attitude and seem to dislike their jobs. which, is their own business... but... i really wish they wouldn't throw and bruise my fruit! what is it about throwing your items after scanning them? it's as if they can't be bothered and how dare i say something to them.

i can't help but to compare things to the States... and i'm doing it once again in relation to this. never have i had a prob in the States w/ the checkout ppl throwing my food and fruit. they slide it to the appropriate place to be packed in bags. the baggers place your items in the bags nicely and neatly... never damaging or flattening your bread (which happens a lot here!)....

i don't know... maybe it's a cultural thing.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out ladies = horrible...unless you say hi to them and sort of become friends ;) That's what my mum has done over the years with the checkout/bagger staff at Al Muntazah Markets, we get treated quite nicely. Also always a good thing to tip the guy delivering the stuff to your car. It may not be much, but come next time, you'll be treated better.

Um Naief said...

I agree... tipping is good. I highly believe in tipping and we always give tips when they take the stuff to the car. I am sociable to the girls but I've never really tried becoming "friends", persay. hmmmm... maybe I should try this approach.

Munther said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Munther said...

know exactly what you mean, after finishing my degree in the uk where obviously I had to do my own shopping (parents do it now):P I was shocked by the way the staff in most big supermarket treat the goods !!

Olivia said...

This drives me mad too!

When I was growing up in London about 20 years ago, they used to do the same thing, and they'd throw your money too. They always had this look on their face like they would rather not be there serving you.

In the US, it is just as you say. Everything is packed and handled so well, along with a smile and more often than not, a fun chat too!

Sinced moving back to England, it has changed a lot and I was at first pleasantly surprised - Munthera, be glad you were here recently - store managers were actually sent to the USA for customer service training.

It's SO much better now - ok, this level of service in the US would be worthy of an official complaint - but for the UK it's a vast improvement. They don't do packing for you here, but some shops offer to pack your first bag for you and they do that well enough.

The people at the checkouts put the money in your hand, slide the food, smile, even ask you how you are, thank you when you pick up your bags, and sometimes you may even exchange a few comments!!!

The Moody Minstrel said...

In Japan they're usually very polite, soft-spoken, but efficient. People tend to be very touchy about service here, so the check-out clerks wouldn't dare throw your groceries. Most of the time they scan them and place them back in your baskets in careful arrangement.

However, they make you bag and port them yourself.

My Japanese in-laws were actually freaked out when they visited a supermarket in my Oregon hometown and a great big guy carried their bags out to the car. Dad-in-law actually worried for a moment that the poor guy was trying to steal our groceries!

vampyregirl said...

the baggers here at my safeway SUCK! I usually try and bag my own groceries, but then they get all hostile like I am trying out for their job or something.

Um Naief said...

vampyregirl... lol... that IS funny! i cant stop laughing. i have had very unpleasant ppl in the u.s. but not usually. much better than here, that's for sure! you know... i noticed that Kroger started hiring mentally challenged men to sack... i was pleasantly surprised at how good they were at sacking, and really nice.

munther... i think a lot of ppl here don't want these jobs and they just don't care. i know lots of ppl that don't do their own shopping (not mother and dad) but w/ me.. i like picking my own products. i'm picky that way.

olivia... these ppl here need training. the guys who sack ur goods just throw everything together. i hate for my laundry stuff to be mixed w/ food and they're ok w/ that, sometimes, but they smash my bread a lot. i wish the checkers gave a care about what they're doing. it does make a difference to have a friendly attitude and a smile.

moody... so they put the stuff back in the carrier? wow... interesting. i can't imagine shopping there and what it must be like. ur FIL sounds funny. i'm sure it was a HUGE culture shock!

in a lot of places here, if it's quiet in the store, you bag your own stuff, which i prefer. i find the most trouble at the really big places like Geant. their sackers are terrible and are so busy chatting that they get carried away w/ things. i also hate when they stack bags on top of other bags w/ fragile stuff and i get home and things are smushed.

Olivia said...

Oh yes I noticed that about Kroger too - I am glad it give them something to do, and some income. And trained properly, they do a good job.

Moody - As much as I want to visit Japan (have lots of Jp friends) and I am intrigued by the way of life, I thnk I would be nervous at first, worrying if I'd broken some unspoken rule or breached some female protocol.

Leilouta said...

Al Jazeera supermarket ?????????

LOL!! Al Jazeera has a supermarket?????!!!!!!!!

Leilouta said...

TechZ said...
Check out ladies = horrible...unless you say hi to them and sort of become friends ;)


Yea right :) I tried that in Tunisia, it didn't help much:)

Anonymous said...

"Al Jazeera supermarket ?????????"

lol, yeah, but not the TV station :P

tooners, I guess there will alwaye be those nice checkout ppl and the horrid ones, my mum even picks the counter she's going to use based on who's there, she knows some of them are just plain rude/obnoxious...

Olivia said...

Yes I wanted to ask - Al Jazeera seems such a common name, what does it mean?

Um Naief said...

don't know what Al Jazeera means... maybe TechZ can answer that or my husband. i'll ask him. :)