At Aldi (or any grocery store, really), to use the shopping carts, you have to stick a coin into a thing on the cart that disconnects the chain holding all the carts together. They have this in America too; you generally use a quarter. When you bring the cart back, you put the chain back in, and get your quarter back.
Now, here in Europe, they don't have quarters. The Aldi carts will take a 50 cent coin, a Euro, or a 2 Euro, making them a bit more valuable. I went grocery shopping the other day, but I didn't have any change on me. But I did have a Canadian quarter, because things like that just hang around in the pockets of my jackets. So, I put that in the coin slot. And, lo and behold, it worked.
I happily went off to do my grocery shopping, a task which has gotten decidedly easier since I moved to Berlin junior year. These days, I actually know the names of the foods I am buying and have some idea of how to put together a meal, which is very helpful when buying food. Anyway. I got to the checkout and discovered some ridiculously long lines. I checked out, bagged my groceries and went to return my cart. There weren't any carts there so that I could put the chain in and get my quarter back. And there was a nice old German lady wanting to trade me a Euro for my cart.
But, you see, I hadn't put a Euro in my cart. And I had conveniently forgotten the word for "coin". I tried to explain that there was a Canadian coin in there, and so it wouldn't be fair. In the midst of my bumblings, another lady came up to see what the confusion was and to try to get the cart. Because my cart was still the only cart at the Aldi entrance. After a several minutes of "It's from Canada! It's not a Euro! It's not fair!", the old lady took my cart to the front of the cart line, where there is a chain hanging from the wall. She pushed it in, popped my quarter out and put in her Euro.
As I walked out, I made sure to show the other lady my Canadian quarter, so she didn't think I was that crazy. I'm not sure if it worked. But, hey, I got my quarter back.
I'm usually too cheap for a cart, baskets are where it's at.
ReplyDeleteOr you can just do what I see basically every German do at some point or another, carry everything at once and somehow manage not to drop everything. I can't do this, and the women who work at my local grocery store know it.
This is too funny! Never try to argue with old German ladies!
ReplyDeleteJohn - I usually get a cart at Aldi because it's easier to keep up with the cashier ladies throwing my groceries into a cart. Though sometimes I try the carry everything at once method. It mostly works.
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