The joy of grocery shopping

This was taken last weekend when Martijn and I went to do our fortnightly shopping. When you don't have a car (anymore) and only do the shopping once every two weeks, it is difficult to get everything back home.

This is how we shop:

We begin The Shopping by getting a trolley (1st mistake). Then as we slowly fill up the trolley we are somehow able to convince ourselves that "this amount of stuff is easily carried home."

The trolley gets more stuff heaped into it.

By the time we get to the checkout with our full trolley, we are thinking, "okay, maybe we will need to buy an extra plastic bag" (yes, you have to pay for them here).

Then we put everything on the belt ... and you know the journey home isn't going to be alot of fun.

Shopping is also really stressful - Renee

The cashiers here just scan your item and "throw" the item away. It is your job to quickly put everything back into your trolley (later you have to unpack the trolley again to put all the items into your own plastic bags). Anyway, there is one cashier at the supermarket who's line I always try to avoid. This guy is fast. I mean really fast. I am still "throwing" things into the trolley and he is waiting for me to pay. I have to leave the task of moving items into the trolley and prepare myself for the ridiculous "money exchange" dialogue. This is how it is supposed to go:

Cashier: That's ........ alstubleift
Me: (give the money) alstublieft
Cashier: (taking money) dank u wel
Cashier: (gives change) alstublieft
Me: (taking change) dank u wel

My problem is that I always say "dank u wel" when I am giving the money and should be saying "alstublieft" especially if my task of putting items into the trolley again is not completed. I get really stressed. This puts the whole routine out. I am often so anxious about this little diaglouge that I start rehearsing it while I'm waiting in the line. I'm so focused on the "you say this, then I reply with that"... that if the cashier says something else (e.g. do you want the receipt?).... I can get a bit upset.

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We miss Safeway, 24 hour supermarkets and "dip shit".