Dragon of Death

            Today is Children’s Day here in Korea or known back home as Cinco de Mayo so instead of celebrating I went to the grocery store.  There are plenty of neighborhood grocery stores here but most people go to HomePlus to get the more familiar necessities.  There are a couple of HomePlus’s in Gwangju but I go to the closest one to where I live which is at Gyea Nim Dong.  It’s a three story building that’s basically a Korean Wal-Mart.  Each floor has different supplies on it, for instance the main floor is the grocery floor, the second floor is clothes and appliances and the top floor is for anything else the other two don’t have.  One thing that is pretty cool is that when you're going to the different floors you use escalators that are ramps, not stairs and are magnetic.  It's such a great innovation and is perfect to go up or down the different levels in the store.

            The shopping itself isn’t really different from home but they do sell wine, liquor, beer and cartons of cigarettes in the store.  There are no liquor stores in Korea so they throw it all together and put in the corner of the store.  After getting everything I head to the checkout counter and prepare to dual with the Dragon of Death or otherwise known as the HomePlus cashier. 

            Now the HomePlus cashier is nice enough at the start, they say hi and start to swipe your groceries but that is where their front ends.  Because after swiping your groceries they take your money and then stare at you.  None of them will bag your groceries or help whatsoever.  You have to ask for a paper bag, maybe you’re suppose to bring a bag on your own, just to get your stuff organized.

An example of my frustration with this is made clear when today my cashier pushed my groceries out of the way so the next customer could get his batteries, his batteries!  I about snapped at him I was so insulted. I mean he wouldn’t have to try and hurry me if someone was helping me bag the damn things.  It isn't lazyness to me, it's much more efficient and aren't Koreans about efficiency?

On the little girl's national holiday she's bagging her groceries.

            So after you deal with the Dragon of Death cashier and you have a lot of groceries you have to put them in cardboard boxes that you pick out, assemble together and then put your groceries in.  Oh and you’re doing this with 10 other people around you trying to do the same thing.





Picking out your box(s).



Assembling, stuffing and taping the boxes.

Dealing with the crowds.  You can see the escalator in the background.

            I don’t understand it at all because Korea might be big on recycling and reusing but they also do not have outside trash cans or recycling containers.  Instead they have piles of trash that are taken away by senior citizens so they can earn some cash.  It’s the Abbott and Costello of garbage and recycling.  Anyone know why this is case?  I can’t think of a Korean or Asian reason for the Dragon of Death’s actions.

The people in the bright vests are the senior citizens collecting the trash.