My husband and I just ran to the local "big" grocery store in the village (and by big I mean Comptons on 21st avenue before it became a Harris-Teeter, which isn't really big but for this village, it is) for the Saturday afternoon "crap the stores are about to close and its Saturday and they won't be open tomorrow so lets go get some stuff" shopping. We wanted to get some ground beef so we could utilize either the taco seasoning mix or sloppy joe mix my parents recently sent (my husband has decided on sloppy joes) and some other various and sundry items, including milk.
For some reason, Greeks have some kind of huge issues with their milk choices. Granted, there are a variety of Greek milk choices, from ultra high pasteurized lasts for 6 weeks to fresh to some kinda crap I have no idea what it is, but these choices are really no different from American milk choices. Sure, you don't have your handy "gallon" packaging here (which would be a real accomplishment, considering Europeans don't have a freakin' clue what a gallon is), but milk is milk. You have whole milk, light milk, and 0% milk (which is just now starting to catch on here). There are a variety of brands here in Greece, we typically like to buy the local brand which is made here in the Pieria region. Of course, I don't begrudge anyone the need to check the dates on milk - but people act like its some kind of choice akin to choosing a new Pope (or in this case, a new Archbishop). They spend precious minutes (my minutes) trying to decide the perfect milk to put in their carts, despite knowing that there are people behind them waiting to get to the milk. Christ, people, pick your fucking milk and move on! I mean really, they don't seem to have the same problems with other food products, although occasionally there is a family that acts as if they have never been to a grocery store before.
Of course, this seems to go along with the general Greek attitude of impoliteness. Not that Americans are the kings of polite, but coming from the South, where people are polite even if they hate your guts, its a bit of a shock. Sure, there are considerate Greeks out there, and I don't think the intention is really to be impolite, its just the way people are here. I am a fan of the "my grocery cart is full, but you only have a couple of things in your basket, please go ahead of me" camp, and that seems to be a very uncommon thing here. People here will actually PUSH one another in a line to kiss some icon of the Virgin Mary that travelled all the way from Chuckukamucka Land. Every Greek seems to think that it is their God-given right to go first, even if they are the last ones to arrive.
Being the patient person that I am, I can sit back in wide-eyed bemusement, and leave it for fodder for this blog.
1 comment:
You've met an considerate Greek? Where? Have you informed the local authorities, we must track this person down and have them removed from our uncivilized society! :-)
Well first of all, I have to address your milk buying issues! It's a serious thing and I've learnt there are many pitfalls along the way that can come between you and your perfect glass of milk. OK so here's my story, let me set the scene, I was innocently doing some grocery shopping at my local AB Vasilopoulos store. I walk to the milk section and am met by this really stunning young lady shall we say who was promoting NOU NOU products. Now after speaking (or should I say drooling) with this lady for a minute or so, I somehow found myself leaving the store with about 27 liters of NOU NOU family long life UHT disgusting undrinkable milk! So believe me, the selection is deadly important! The moral of the story, keep away from women in supermarkets, they are bad mmmkay!
As for the being rude, now you've not lived in this country for that long so you can be forgiven for your views. I estimate a couple of years from now you'll be pushing in with the best of them! My ultimate moment for being a rude Greek was one time arriving late for a OA flight. When I got to the airport, I had to go change my ticket at the OA desk but there were about 50 people stood in line (surprise surprise, there'd been a 24 hour strike the day before), so what did I do? Did I join the line and wait patiently? Of course not, I went straight to the head of the line and got dealt with immediately! Remember in situations like this, you always have priority! Your need is always greater than everyone elses! Remember my words of wisdom and you'll not go far wrong!!
PS: You'll find a lot more comments on your blog! I'm enjoying it!
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