The smells during my weekly grocery trip reached an all time (horrible) high. The smely combination of fish and freshly butchered meat almost caused me to be violently ill.
As I've mentioned any trip to Carrefour is an experience. It’s hard to put into words what a trip involves. During a typical trip you can see, hear or experience any of the following:
1. Carts being used as bumper cars as the phrase “Excuse Me” is rarely – if ever used
2. Demonstrations galore. Favorites of mine include the vacuum sealer and all the food samples
3. An amazing amount of workers on the sales floor including the 20 people that walk around mopping up any small smudge, to the man that stands all day watching the carts come up the escalator. I am convinced making payroll at these stores is not a concern/concept.
4. A screaming match at the produce weight stand (you go here to have your food weighted and priced)
5. The sound of butcher knives whacking apart pieces of beef
6. A man jumping in front of a line of 10+ people because he only has three items and thus feels we shouldn’t be made to wait.
7. And so much more….
On there own any of these items aren’t really things to find annoying, put them together and they can test your patience. Being in Carrefour tests my patience more than waiting at a doctor’s office.
I wonder what the locals would think of a store operation if it used the “Fast, Fun and Friendly” standards espoused by Target. I think though that even Target would be challenged in China. Despite the examples I listed above, I think a lot of issues are a result of the crowds --- there are just SOOOO many people in the store at one time.
I tried this week to capture my trip to Carrefour in pictures as they are worth a 1,000 words.
Use this link to access my pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/esjohnson80/MyWeeklyTripToCarrefour
4 comments:
Oh boy does that fish look so good I could go through the computer screen and eat a ton of it. I take it that is your buddy Pat?
i cannot believe how many people are in that store! wtf? while i knew China was super populated, i never thought about how it would affect every day. i'm not sure i'd have the patience to deal with those crowds. and how can Target NOT have a store in china? you need to talk to your sister about that. :-)
Yes the man in the pictures holding the fish is my neighbor Pat.
Yeah, life in a city with over 17 million people makes every day chores that much more interesting.
I can't believe I thought St Petersburg with its 4-6 million was bad....my perspective has changed.
I'm so fascinated by grocery stores in other countries, and this is certainly no exception. Thanks for posting the photos! Must have been a little weird toting a camera in the store, but we thank you :)
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