So I bought some flowers today, and waited in line while the folks ahead of me had their plants elaborately wrapped in cellophane, tied closed with floofy bunches of ribbon, and held together with various stickers.
When it was my turn, I gave the lady exact change for the bouquet and tried to leave. "Wait," she said, reaching for my flowers. Thinking there must have been a bar code on the sleeve or something, I handed them over. But she didn't scan them; she started to roll them up in paper. "Oh, it's okay," I said quickly, trying to take the flowers back. "I don't need them all wrapped up."
She stopped dead and stared at me as if I had just addressed her in Spanish. After a moment's perplexed, slightly miffed staring, she demanded, "Why not?"
Huh? What did she mean, why not? "Because I'm just going to take them home and put them in a vase," I replied, attempting to sound reasonable, rather than surprised and annoyed. "I don't need it gift-wrapped, it'd be a waste of paper."
Her firm, brilliantly-reasoned explanation (as she continued to roll and wrap): "But you must."
Me: "I must? The thing is already in a plastic sleeve, does everything have to be double- and triple-wrapped in this world? We're creating garbage by the ton every day, why must we make even more?"
She didn't respond, she simply added tape to close the top of the huge paper cone that had now enveloped my "fair-trade" flowers (irony, anyone?) and shoved it unceremoniously back at me. I shoved my Euros unceremoniously back at her and left the shop, tearing off the paper as I went.
Okay, so to be fair, she probably wasn't prepared for the question and didn't have the presence of mind to explain to me whatever Official Flower Shop Code dictates that all flowers be smothered in a non-permeable wrapping before leaving the premises. Maybe it's to avoid aggravating other people's allergies or something. But if that's the case, then how come the bouquet I bought was selected from a huge display of plants erupting several square meters over the street in front of the shop? I just can't think why I "must" accept my flowers rolled up in paper and taped closed -- over both sides, mind you, including the top -- before I can leave with them. They already had a plastic sleeve and rubber bands to keep them together and from any potential shedding.
All I can think is that this is one of those employees who is obsessed with "the way things are done" for the sheer sake of "the way things are done." I can understand Ordnung and all that, but when people become automatons instead of thinking, rational creatures, it frustrates me a little.
When I told all this to Bert after he got home, he sighed, exasperated. "You mean like the lady at our post office?"
Haha! Yeah, I guess we know a few of these. :)
5 comments:
I think it's time to vote with your dollar and pick a shop that gives you less wrapping. That's what capitalism is for; use it.
Good idea..... I wonder if you'll find one. :-)
I guess when you ask most people to step out of a comfort zone, they get uncomfortable. Even if they don't like the rules, they may like the fact that the rules exist. You probably took a brick out of the wall, though. Progress!!
Ha ha! Well said, everyone! I think that's exactly what it was; and I will certainly be sure to buy my flowers at the weekly farmer's market in the future, where they care about both the environment and customer satisfaction.
All the established flower shops, on the other hand, seem to obsessively adhere to the same regulations... which is an interesting attitude to compare with my very brief experiences in Greece (especially if driving traffic has anything to reveal about a culture!). The two are like mirror images. Greece has its rules, of course, but equal weight seems to be given to individual, case-by-case scenarios, as well. The guidelines are just that: guidelines. Whereas in Germany, it seems everyone is so obsessed with having hard and fast rules that they don't often stop to think about what they're for: having the rule is its own justification.
To each, the other seems crazy: to the Greeks, the Germans appear to be mindless automatons; to the Germans, the Greeks appear chaotic and unprincipled.
(I'm not sure I'm personally aligned with either of these extremes. Certainly somewhat more toward the middle; although if I think about it, I suppose my natural tendency is indeed a bit German, although with a desire to be more Greek... It's all relative, anyway, depending on the culture by which you're orienting your comparison!)
Amy, Trompenaars deals with this dimension a lot in his book. Reeeeeead, reeeeead...!
Sarah: Have you ever heard of Fons Trompenaars' "Riding the Waves of Culture"? Fascinating dissection of what culture is, what composes it, and the various lines along which these components vary (individualism vs. collectivism, direct confrontation vs. indirect, universalism vs. particularism, etc.)
Of course any discussion of cultural tendencies is simply the placement of the middle of the bell curve along some axis. You can't pull out any one individual and claim that because he's a member of a particular culture, he must automatically and perfectly match his pre-fabricated profile. But when certain tendencies *are* observed more than others, it's amusing to catch an example of one and go, "Ah ha! Look at you, being all universalist!"
(Says the American, who is sick to DEATH of being stereotyped by everyone who meets her!) ;)
Thanks! I will get me to the library!
I could tell my "oil spot" story again... but it has gotten so hyperbalized by now that it goes more like this: "the entire village was evacuated, because my car left a 3 inch spot of oil on the ground."
HaHaHa!!!
Or my "registration..." story. Anyway, you're right. balance is so important. In life and governance.
LOVE YOU!!!
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