9. Packing your own groceries
Americans are spoiled, yes they are and God bless them for it! When you enter a market in Germany you will be greeted by an emotionless cashier, who will swipe your groceries at break-neck speed, throwing your groceries as you play catch and hurriedly place them in your eco-cloth bag as quick as you can. However, you will always be beat by her quick speed and while you are scrambling to put in the last eggs and bread in your bag, you must pay the cashier while others glare at you in line. Even German grandmas are better at it than you. If you dare take too long, the whole line including the cashier will impatiently glare and wait till you finish packing your goods as not to combine the groceries that are coming down the treadmill. Whew!!! This takes practice, speed and technique. Some groceries even have shelves to pack at your own pace, just dump everything in your cart, take it over to the shelf and start your own brown bagging. Except there are no brown bags here or even plastic bags, unless you pay 25 cents to 2 Euros for the special heavy duty bags. I learned quickly and carry 2 cloth bags with me at all times. If you shop at a customer friendly place like Aldi don’t expect any customer service don’t ask if they have anything cause if it’s not out there they ran out and they will always run out that’s why I have to go to more than 5 different markets to go food shopping in Germany. No kidding, no exxageration it is difficult to find green onions or spinach sometimes. That means Kaufland, Asia Market, Japanese market, Aldi, Metro, Penny Markt, Tengelmann, Rewe...