- Michael M.: Too much going on. Life in flux, etc..
- Sunshine: Wow, I was soooo happy to see a new post in my rss reader. I was hopping this is already the comeback! :(...
- gandalf: Did you only get caffeine through Dr.p or did you drink coffee as well? I’m interested, since...
- neeka: nine kilos… wow… :) happy holidays to you, michael, and to all your loved ones! veronica
- m: It was a bargain. No strings attached.
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
• AlienMelon
• Burger.si
• Heck
• Izklop
• si.blogs
• Sloblogi
• Blogorola
• Natalija Verboten
Maribor’s castle square at night. Photo by Igor R.
Salespeople here are already surly through most of the year; when X-mas rolls around they can be downright hostile. The Slovenian Christmas shopping experience can be distilled into the following:
Customer: "Hey there, I’d like to give you money in exchange for goods and services, thereby ensuring your financial livelihood and that of your business."
Salesperson: "Suck my balls."
That’s why I try to do most of my shopping online and avoid local stores. In the few instances where I was forced to shop here, I got the usual "What-the-hell-does-this-jerk-want-from-me-and-why-doesn’t-he-have-exact-change?!" treatment.
Regardless, here’s hoping everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year. The Glory of Carniola will return, gloriously, in 2005. Hope to see you then!
Comments
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Cheers for a lot of laughs in 2004. I look forward to many more in 2005. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Meryy christmas and a happy 2005 to you too Mike!
I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year 2005 too, Michael!
Merry X-mas and a safe, happy and prosperous 2005!
Merry Christmas to everyone and a happy
2005
Merry Christmas, Sretan Božić!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone that visits and especially Mike!
Time to hit the mulled wine booths downtown…
(Stupid spam comment deleted)
ravnic: why did you have to spam this forum with this bullshit? Can you explain that to me please?
Michael, I think you are being too critical of the Slovenian stores. You expect the store to be there to serve you and treat you nice just because you are a customer. I understand that this is what you would expect in good stores in America. But here in Slo, the logic is a bit different, and I actually like ours a lot better. You as a customer are not God. You need the service of the store. That’s why you went there in the first place. You should be happy that the store exists and that you can use it. Yes, clerks sometimes aren’t friendly, but I actually prefer that over fake intrusive friendliness that you can sometimes find in American stores. At least they are being sincere. About asking for the exact change: yes, that’s a fact of Slovenian life. Get over it. Carry some change with you and offer it to the clerk, and that will solve the problem.
Nicholas:
But the problem is, that the stores here aren’t doing very well. Not even in Europark - with the exception of interspar and some others. So one would expect some clerks to be a little frendlier. No more, no less.
We have bad clerks here too in some of the
discount stores. Who chew bubble gun and tell
you to f.o. I never really encountered
rudeness in Slovenia and I do hate the false
friendliness in the stores here. Clerks on
8 dollars an hour having to smile and dress
in the lastest fashion.
I encountered TERRIBLE service at Interspar (LJ) when I was there a couple years ago.
A cousin and I purchased and ate Lasagna inside, then threw out the plastic fork and knives and paid for the lasagna at the front cash. As soon as we left the cashier we were intercepted by a security guard who treated us as CRIMINALS for not being aware we actually had pay for the freakin’ throwaway eating utensils too. How we got away without paying for the napkins, I’ll never know…
Nicholas: Companies that don’t provide decent service will lose out on business to those that do. New companies with better business practices will eventually enter the market and squash any current company unable to adapt in time. Interspar has already lost all business it ever would have had from me.
Oh yeah…
Happy New Year!
Throw-away utensils are not common in Slovenia. It is unusual in Slovenia to throw away utensils after a meal in a restaurant. I realize in some other parts of the worlds this is common (such as North America), but not in Slovenia. When you threw away your utensils, it was likely (incorrectly) interpreted as negligence on your part. I realize you had all the best intentions, and probably just didn’t know, but really, many Slovenians would find it unusual to throw away utensils. The reason is probably that plastic utensils are not that common in Slovenia to begin with, and people mostly prefer to use metallic cutlery. And those are not throw-away. Also, using plastic utensils degrades the quality of the meal a bit, at least in Slovenia. It’s also not very friendly to the environment to produce that much plastic.
About companies with better business practices squashing the old ones: this would be great, and to some extent it works, but not always. Even in the States, stores with dubious business practices sometimes survive due to their lower prices. And, good local stores often go bankrupt because big chains push them out of the market. Also, having better business practices doesn’t necessarily imply a better product. An example is McDonalds.
I payed extra for catsup at the Celje
McDonalds and was really surprised but
was told its typical.Like some said earlier
shopping online is better. Its odd but at
Blockbuster Video here service is wonderful
and I know they arent making a fortune.
I wouldnt tolerate rudeness on a day to day
level so maybe I couldnt cope in Slovenia
on a long term basis
Happy New Year!
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!
Connie, people in Slovenia are not rude!! This is very unfair to be said from you. They are people just like everywhere else. Catsup is not for free in Slovenia, yes, and why should it be? When you travel in a foreign country, you have to adapt to the local culture, and not get upset by the little details that are different from your home. Otherwise, yes, there is no way to cope on a long-term basis, but the problem will be you, not the locals.
Nicholas, it’s nice that you are content with the crappy service. But telling others that they should deal with it and keep coming to the same stores is not too bright. Mike and others have dealt with the rude clerks - we took our business elsewhere.
Crni - flogging a dead horse in 2005!