comp strikes again!
I was just thinking this morning that I was being a waste of skin since I have not really done anything academic, and then I went to the grocery store.
Grocery stores in the Netherlands have so far been trips of confusion for me; maybe it is the small aisles, maybe the products in a language I still do not understand, maybe it is that one has to bag his/her own groceries while the cashier rings up the next person. I feel rushed and overwhelmed each time I enter our local store.
And I think I have figured out why -- it is all about classification and how the grocery store here has identified its customer. In an American store, the first thing is usually a flower stand or the produce section, or, a bakery. Since NL has shops specifically set up to cater to these, the first thing you encounter in our local grocery store is prepackaged foods and canned goods. It is set up more like a convenience store than a grocery store. Also, there are no signs identifying the aisles -- so if you are looking for something, you really have to look around the entire store, shelf by shelf, until you find it. Stores are also only open during business hours, so they cater to the person who has time during the days to spend time looking from shelf to shelf. Yet, at the same time, the system is not set up for browsing. Milk is still in the back of the store, but seems hidden in ways that we don't see in the States. But, milk is also in the coffee section.
There are three different areas for cheese, but not necessarily together, and snacks seem distributed throughout the aisles. Sliced cheese is in one location (but not near deli meats) while blocks of cheese get there own end-cap by the bakery.
To do a big weekly shopping is nearly impossible, not only because the registers only hold the contents of your basket on the belt, but also because the selection and placement actively discourages browsing. I searched the entire store looking for trashbags and shaving cream -- I am pretty sure I have seen both items there before--and had less than success. Another example: the toilet bowl cleaner is next to the toilet paper, and not with the other household cleaning products. I am hardwired to think chemicals go with chemicals, and not chemicals go with function. I had to ask for assistance in finding the toilet bowl cleaner; the clerk brought me to the aisle with the toilet paper and pointed to the bottle with 'toilet' in giant writing. Along the same idea -- pita bread and wraps are not in the bread section, but next to the jarred Mexican and mediteranian sauces.
So, while the Dutch operate in some kind of pragmatic way, I still operate in having things in categories of like items.
Either that, or I have had a stroke!
Grocery stores in the Netherlands have so far been trips of confusion for me; maybe it is the small aisles, maybe the products in a language I still do not understand, maybe it is that one has to bag his/her own groceries while the cashier rings up the next person. I feel rushed and overwhelmed each time I enter our local store.
And I think I have figured out why -- it is all about classification and how the grocery store here has identified its customer. In an American store, the first thing is usually a flower stand or the produce section, or, a bakery. Since NL has shops specifically set up to cater to these, the first thing you encounter in our local grocery store is prepackaged foods and canned goods. It is set up more like a convenience store than a grocery store. Also, there are no signs identifying the aisles -- so if you are looking for something, you really have to look around the entire store, shelf by shelf, until you find it. Stores are also only open during business hours, so they cater to the person who has time during the days to spend time looking from shelf to shelf. Yet, at the same time, the system is not set up for browsing. Milk is still in the back of the store, but seems hidden in ways that we don't see in the States. But, milk is also in the coffee section.
There are three different areas for cheese, but not necessarily together, and snacks seem distributed throughout the aisles. Sliced cheese is in one location (but not near deli meats) while blocks of cheese get there own end-cap by the bakery.
To do a big weekly shopping is nearly impossible, not only because the registers only hold the contents of your basket on the belt, but also because the selection and placement actively discourages browsing. I searched the entire store looking for trashbags and shaving cream -- I am pretty sure I have seen both items there before--and had less than success. Another example: the toilet bowl cleaner is next to the toilet paper, and not with the other household cleaning products. I am hardwired to think chemicals go with chemicals, and not chemicals go with function. I had to ask for assistance in finding the toilet bowl cleaner; the clerk brought me to the aisle with the toilet paper and pointed to the bottle with 'toilet' in giant writing. Along the same idea -- pita bread and wraps are not in the bread section, but next to the jarred Mexican and mediteranian sauces.
So, while the Dutch operate in some kind of pragmatic way, I still operate in having things in categories of like items.
Either that, or I have had a stroke!