While doing some afternoon grocery shopping today, I had a quintessential interaction that illustrates how maddening living in a different culture can be. I would usually blame this on Chilean culture at large but, the more I think it as a larger issue, the more I'm convinced that it's the result of group-think... and that's not unique to Chileans.
I was fishing for money at the check out when I got the feeling that I was up against a difficult situation. The bagger was a guy in his late teens. 6' 2" 250lbs and was sporting a really nice mullet. On his right were a couple of his bagger friends, hanging out and chatting. The lady running the register was about 75 years old. It just didn't feel like a good mix. Knowing that I needed to make my preference clear for a single bag to hold my ham, bread, olive oil, can of peppers and sausage, I focused on getting this guy's attention as she started to scan my items. I had to interrupt their conversation with a polite "joven". This is the word for youth and yet it's how you're addressed as a male until someone decides you're wearing adult diapers. In my mind, it's awkward to address someone as 'young man' as I'm trying to hold onto that one myself for as long as possible....but I promise it's normal.
So I successfully get his attention and ask for the one bag. He does a legitimate double take and then, a lightbulb goes off. Ahhh, you want this all in one bag....double bagged! NOOO my mind screams. I can see that I'm now going to be involved in a game of wits with this monstrous teenager. His friends will provide his audience and the cashier will soon be barking questions at me in Spanish. I politely say "no thanks, just the one bag please". He stops with a bag in each hand and, confused beyond repair, interrupts the cashier. Now ,she's a cagey old lady and knows exactly what's going on. She looks at him with one eye while continuing to scan the bread and tells him to double bag it, lest it breaks. She comes back to me now.... challenging me with her all knowing 'grocery store eyes of wisdom'. We then engage...the three of us... in a maddening back and forth about whether or not the bag will break! Finally consenting, the kid puts my 5 items in the one bag and starts making fun of me with his friends. One of them walks behind me as if to venture out into the store and turns around as he's passing me and pushes his nose up in the air. The girl next to our fine bagger calls me fi-fi, and the group giggle begins. After the game of 20 questions with the cashier concerning whether or not I'm a member and how much I want to donate to hungry children....I finally pay and leave. A couple facts. The bags they use are already the thickness of 3 bags from the US. The baggers aren't store employees and work solely for tips!! Ughh.
I was fishing for money at the check out when I got the feeling that I was up against a difficult situation. The bagger was a guy in his late teens. 6' 2" 250lbs and was sporting a really nice mullet. On his right were a couple of his bagger friends, hanging out and chatting. The lady running the register was about 75 years old. It just didn't feel like a good mix. Knowing that I needed to make my preference clear for a single bag to hold my ham, bread, olive oil, can of peppers and sausage, I focused on getting this guy's attention as she started to scan my items. I had to interrupt their conversation with a polite "joven". This is the word for youth and yet it's how you're addressed as a male until someone decides you're wearing adult diapers. In my mind, it's awkward to address someone as 'young man' as I'm trying to hold onto that one myself for as long as possible....but I promise it's normal.
So I successfully get his attention and ask for the one bag. He does a legitimate double take and then, a lightbulb goes off. Ahhh, you want this all in one bag....double bagged! NOOO my mind screams. I can see that I'm now going to be involved in a game of wits with this monstrous teenager. His friends will provide his audience and the cashier will soon be barking questions at me in Spanish. I politely say "no thanks, just the one bag please". He stops with a bag in each hand and, confused beyond repair, interrupts the cashier. Now ,she's a cagey old lady and knows exactly what's going on. She looks at him with one eye while continuing to scan the bread and tells him to double bag it, lest it breaks. She comes back to me now.... challenging me with her all knowing 'grocery store eyes of wisdom'. We then engage...the three of us... in a maddening back and forth about whether or not the bag will break! Finally consenting, the kid puts my 5 items in the one bag and starts making fun of me with his friends. One of them walks behind me as if to venture out into the store and turns around as he's passing me and pushes his nose up in the air. The girl next to our fine bagger calls me fi-fi, and the group giggle begins. After the game of 20 questions with the cashier concerning whether or not I'm a member and how much I want to donate to hungry children....I finally pay and leave. A couple facts. The bags they use are already the thickness of 3 bags from the US. The baggers aren't store employees and work solely for tips!! Ughh.
The editorializing of this subject could go on for pages, as the use and overuse of plastics is one of my favorite issues to discuss. I'll just recommend the video above as a concise and enlightening introduction to why we should be altering our behavior ASAP and that the scale of the problem is larger than most would imagine. I saw a presentation on global warming the other day that said glacial melting is "the canary in the coal mine" for climate change. With plastics, it's even more dangerous. These plastics, and the toxins they pickup, enter our bodies indirectly through the food chain and directly through the containers and packaging we use every day. Unfortunately, the canaries in the coal mine for this one are birds, fish and us. You don't know that you have cancer until it's there...and you've already eaten the fish.
1 comment:
yeah right?? what's the deal with all the plastic? why are you a snob if you don't want to bathe yourself in additional toxins?? i mean, chile doesn't necessarily stand out as far as forcing plastic down your throat but it does stand out as far as INSISTING THAT YOU TAKE IT!!! unbelievable.
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