I like shopping in foreign supermarkets. Much like eating at McDonalds, it is a standardized experience, unconnected to the local customs. It feels safe, like a break from the foreignness around you, a home away from home.
After a few initial adjustments (yes, those huge things with ground sticking to them are carrots, not turnips), I felt very much at home in the supermarket around the corner from my new home in Ukraine.
That is until a kopiyka or two was missing every now and then from the change I got from the cashiers. Cheating did not make any sense with this amount, and it happened too frequently to be a mistake. My Russian was not good enough to complain or inquire, but being German, I couldn’t let this disturbing incorrectness go. It puzzled me every time.
It was only by chance that I came across the explanation. One day I was counting out the exact amount that the cashier had asked me for. I was two kopiykas short! As I was reaching for a larger note, the cashier took the money without a moment’s hesitation. It seems that a permanent shortage in change has led to a more relaxed attitude towards the precision of payment, and that this wiggle space goes a few kopiykas both ways.
Although this may seem perfectly obvious, it’s completely unimaginable where I come from. So even in a nice, internationally standardized supermarket, local customs can intrude enough to make you feel lost, even if only for a moment.
Text by Alex Godde, Germany
Illustration by Anna Popova, Ukraine
