Shopping Culture Shock

I'm back in the states for a month, and after 5 days of working my way through jet lag I made my way to the grocery store. Thank God our daughter was able to have the house stocked with food until I was ready to venture out! I made my way through the grocery store observing all the things we take for granted that I missed in China. Wow! What a Disneyland of food choices! And no faces or feet in the meat department! As I approach the checkout line I'm struck with guilt because I didn't bring my own bags with me. Yes, I own some, but I've probably only ever used them twice. After living in China I have a whole new appreciation for the fact that I really SHOULD carry my bags in with me. Honestly, how hard is that if you just leave them in your car? Anyhow, as I get to the checkout line I realize I don't have my stupid Fry's card with me. There are 2 clerks standing right next to me deep in a personal conversation. At no time did either of them even look my direction or give me the time of day. Even as I stood there looking right at them trying to get their attention. Nothing. I finally had to say "excuse me". They stopped and looked at me like "what could you possibly want?" I asked if there was a way to check out without my card like using my phone number or something. Aggitated, and as briefly as possible, she told me I could select alternate ID and put in my phone number. Since it was new to me I wasn't sure what to do, but figured I could figure it out. Which worked out well since they were right back to their conversation. No looking to see if I needed help. I had to interrupt them again (they were standing right beside me and I was the only person in that part of the store) to ask if I was supposed to click on the first screen or how I started. Wow! Can you BELIEVE I interrupted them again!? I got a quick one word answer and right back to their conversation. It's a good thing I was in the self checkout line! I'd still be standing there.

Now flash back to a week earlier in China. A world where they have a bazillion people, but they fall all over themselves to help you. We were shopping for a blender in a Wal-Mart like store. There were 6 people falling all over themselves (and between me and the shelf) to help me. I really wish I was exagerating the number of people for illustration sake, but I'm not. You can't do anything in a store without a whole team of people jumping in to help you - or following you all around the store as you show - even if you assure them you're just looking. It's really astounding the contrast in the level of service in stores in the 2 countries. What's even sadder is the pay difference. The people in the country with the poor service make SO much more than the people that are grossly overboard with the service. Go figure. At the risk of giving any fuel to the "this is why other countries hate America" crowd, we could certainly stand some improvement in the service area here. And I can't help but be struck by the thought that there must be a balance somewhere between these 2 service levels. I want to be left alone when I shop, but it would be nice to have some amount of assistance when I want or need it.