Rest-posten Laden (shop for all kinds of unsold ‘leftovers’ from other shops)
Me, holding a slim white folder at the checkout: Any chance you have any more of these folders?
Cashier, without really looking up: Only what’s on the shelves, sorry..
Me: Ok, no problem. Do you know if you’ll be getting any more in? I could do with another boxfull…
Cashier: Nope. We find out about deliveries maybe half an hour before they deliver..
Me: Wow! That’s not a lot of warning! Crazy.
Cashier: Yeah.. Hang on – how many did you say you wanted?
Me: a boxfull..
Cashier: How many’s that?
Me: 16? 20? Not sure..
Cashier: If you’ve got a minute I’ll go and look in the store room..
Me: sure! That’d be great, thanks!
Cashier, a couple of minutes later: I can’t see any….but I’ll scan the folder again..[prints a receipt type slip of paper with the folder-info on] ..if you leave your name and number and how many you want on there I’ll phone you if we get any in..
Me, writes info: That’d be amazing 🙂 Thank you so much! 🙂
Cashier: You’re welcome 🙂
Isn’t that cool?! 🙂
Supermarket
(Same day as the RPL)
I was shopping just before closing time. I originally wanted to return my collection of plastic bottles and get some milk, except the fridges had already been closed for the night (they’re open-fronted during the day and huge thermal blinds are let down overnight). I wandered around looking for something else I could buy, since I was already there..
Supermarket guy, already in going-home-clothes: Hey! Did you want anything out of the fridge?
Me, feeding plastic bottles into the bottle crunching machine: Yeah, milk…but you’ve already closed the fridges.. I’ll come back tomorrow.
Him: No problem, what kind were you after? And how many cartons?
Me, slightly stunned: Full-fat organic.. two, please..
Whereupon he re-opened the fridge-blinds, took out the milk for me and re-closed them.
Him, putting them in my trolley*: Here you go!
Me: Delivered directly to my trolley! Well that’s service! Thank you ever so much!
Him, laughs: Yeah.. You’ll have to carry them home yourself though..
* Trolleys are mandatory. Even if you only want to buy a couple of cartons of milk..
Garage
I was out walking and remembered that I’d run out of yellow council binbags and that I’d got my last lot from the garage, so I went to get a roll.
I’d forgotten to take my mask though (walking generally doesn’t need one), so I tapped on the late-night service window. The cashier motioned to use the main door. I mimed putting on a mask and shrugged. She motioned again and started walking towards the door.
I stood in the doorway and she stood in the middle of the otherwise empty shop.
Turns out they only handed out the binbags while the council buildings were closed for the Corona-lockdowns and now that they’ve opened again, the garages no longer have any.
So good to have the chance to talk, maskfree, without the officiousness so often found elsewhere.
People are so helpful 🙂
You must be carrying around a lot of Karma points. It’s awesome to have so many positive experiences in a row. What country are you in? I like the concept of your plastic bottle crusher. We throw ours in a recycle bin that gets taken away and probably dumped in a landfill.
Maybe 🙂 and definitely 🙂
I’m in Germany. They’re pretty good at recycling here (in theory, although there are always stories of less-than-ideal realities…). Houses have recycling bins for plastics and tins (with the yellow bin bags I was hunting), paper, compost, and there’s communal glass recycling, plus most bottles have deposits on them.. the glass (and some thick plastic) bottles get refilled and the thin plastic ones get recycled..
The funniest thing about the machines is the bottles have to be in near perfect condition when you put them in or they won’t be recognised (not all bottles are accepted). Once they go in they’re crushed or cut up..
Having a recycling bin is a good start.. seems dumb to separate rubbish and then landfill it all though 🤔
A good start to the New Year. May it continue!
We can hope! 🙂
Great start to the Nrw Year or end to the old whichever it was! Happy 2022.
Happy 2022!
(The first 2 were the the of last year, the last was at the beginning of this year, so both 🙂 )