08 November 2005

superstore

the writing is getting a bit easier, linked to a newfound arrogance that involves me acknowledging to myself that I actually do know this stuff and have a mastery over it, despite its breadth and general insanity. I am halfway through and have worked in the Maori tattoos, Robert Smithson, the Norse stuff, the Stele school of Chinese calligraphy, Bierstadt, Indo-Caribbean performance, Hawai'ian quilts, and the Elgin marbles.

more importantly, however, is that I have placed my first on-line order for Tesco, grocery superstore, to deliver groceries to my door this evening. specifically between 9 and 11 pm. I will report back on the outcome. I am currently debating whether or not to tip the delivery person, and if so, how much. I'm leaning towards yes, and £2...thoughts? too chinsy? makes the person feel cheap to tip them? hm.

4 comments:

fronesis said...

You live in the UK now...£2 is WAY too much!!! (You've already paid for delivery, and workers here actually receive a real wage.)

Transient Gadfly said...

You could always ask the dude if he feels it's appropriate to tip him. I recognize in the US this would be an absurd thing to do, but as you would point out, it's Wales! Wales, people!

Tarn said...

Tess-a-go! That's the thai way to pronounce the wonderful name by the way. Tesco is the fuck-the-little-people-mart of Thailand, a growing plague, an invasive non-native species of gargantuan Super grocery stores that has gotten into the country, strangling the local markets of nearly every province. Yeah, John and I went there too - the only place to get a "good" selection (any selection) of western merchandise. In fact, we had a random stock boy deliver things to our house by enticing him with 200 baht. That's 5 US buckaroos! Almost your 2 quid, but considering the fact that this guy was sneaking out of work to throw the stuff in the back of his pick up truck... well, we probably should have given him more.

tekne said...

ah yes, it cost £3.99 to have the order delivered, and the man was very nice. And it was very impressive to have groceries delivered at 9 at night. Sam tells me his students also speak of Tesco's all-encompassing spread across cities far and wide, comparing it to Wal-Mart...which I get. Although I imagine that workers get paid a living wage at Tesco, and that cleaning personnel aren't locked into the store at night in order to make sure they don't steal things. And most of the produce items are UK grown (okay, so they have two potato aisles!) so that's different than Wal-Mart.

The other side of this is that enviro types tell us if you're going to shop at a supermarket it's better to have the groceries delivered, because it saves gas and lowers pollution. One truck (probably diesel) going around to folks' houses in a circuit versus each of them going back and forth in their Hummers. Okay, so no one has a Hummer here and I take the bus or walk to Tesco, so it's a "moo" point, as it were, but still....

plus. fun! hee hee