Category: Everyday Life

I just want to pay the proper price!

The first day

Oh-oh. No good. Two new-looking part timers came on shift at the check-out…
So we thought as we stood in line, carrying the discount stuff we’d picked up after seeing it listed in the post-renovation opening sale flier at a neighbourhood supermarket. It was around 5:00 p.m. Even though we don’t like shopping at the busy time, we went to get stuff there at a nice price.
The product price is read by a machine, but it didn’t seem to be easy for the new part time worker. He tired it a couple of times, and finally he input it manually.
I always check the prices for stuff I buy, and not only in that shop, because people or machines often make mistakes. As far as I could tell, I found two prices were too high, and one item had been charged twice. The total of all the mistakes was still under ¥100. But I want to pay the proper price! Finally, the new part time workers felt the pressure of the people in line behind us, it all went up in smoke, and we had to give up on two out of three of our complaints. Shop workers might come to dislike customers like us.
We felt gloomy and went back home.
After that, we got some dried fish from our neighbour and we felt better.

The second day

We who never learn went to the same supermarket again to get some goods at a nice price.
It was morning. The cashiers were two ladies who looked like housewives.
This time the price of cabbage was too high! When I asked them about it, one of them went to see how much it was, but there were three kinds of cabbage on sale. She went to check a second time, and we could get the proper price and an apology.

I heard there are people called ‘claimers’. Basically, they make complaints at shops and try to get a cheaper price than the proper price, or try to get more points on their card. I worry a little bit about getting a reputation as a ‘claimer’ in our neighbourhood supermarkets.

I just want to buy something at the same price I see in the flier or on the price tag at the shop! This isn’t a story about the same shop, but when we were buying a case of beerish drink, the cashier didn’t noticed that the bar code reader only caught a single can’s price. We told her about it, and paid the proper price for a case! She thanked us. (This has happened to us a couple of times.)

–YS, 27 May 2006

27 May 2006