The trouble with cheap groceries

Freak out

Going to Carrefour is a stressful situation. Every time I know I need to go, I have to spend several hours psyching myself up for it.

It’s like the WalMart of Western Europe (or maybe just Italy and France). As much as I’d like to not support their crappy quality groceries, it’s cheap and I’m a college student. 

That’s really the only thing Carrefour has going for it in my book. It’s farther from the metro and my house, and half the time I go there I can’t find what I need, like decent deodorant. Plus every time I go there, I leave feeling like a complete idiot (How will you be paying? Cash, credit, or self confidence?). 

99% of the time, the same cashier is there. She always yells at me for unloading my basket of groceries in the wrong place. Since there are only 2 possibilities/flat surfaces at the check out, I try switching it up each time, but each time she scolds me because I’ve done it wrong. Last time, the woman actually took my basket from me before I could unload it and started scanning and throwing stuff around. My bread ended up squished under a bunch of bananas. This does not please me. Was it her vengeance for constantly misplacing my items? How am I supposed to know this?  Maybe it’s all about the personal preference of the cashier? Maybe she hates her life? Maybe they like to mess with my head?

Maybe they remember me from the first time I went there- the awkward American girl who somehow managed to almost choke herself with headphones while at the check out? I suppose I’ll never know. I no longer wear headphones while shopping there, though. I don’t want to give them any ideas for the next time I put my turkey breast on the wrong countertop…