Saturday, December 12

Well, we had two firsts today. At Bunnings, the big Home Depo type store, we were actually asked if we needed help finding something, and that is an absolute first. You could wander around for days and no one would ask you if you needed help, although they are very friendly and helpful when you do ask. Last week I needed help getting something down from a top shelf, and I waited patiently for the clerk to finish boxing up a Christmas tree for a customer. Although he had to have seen me standing there for at least 5 minutes, when he was done he just turned to walk away, and I had to go after him and ask him to get the items down from the shelf. He was very helpful and friendly but it never seemed to occur to him that I was standing there waiting for 5 minutes because I needed some help. In talking with an Aussie coworker and her husband who'd been to the US, they commented that one of the things that amazed them the most was the way clerks asked them if they needed help, as they just don't do that here.

Another thing Bunnings does that seems odd is that they water the outside plants in the garden area with overhead sprinklers, during the daytime while customers are shopping. Granted, today it was close to 100 degrees so when the sprinklers came on while I was looking at plants and I got soaked, it actually felt good. However, the last time we were there it was more like 60 degrees and getting wet wasn't so great. Just seems like they could either water before the store opens or after it closes. But hey, that's just my crazy idea.

The other first we experienced today is when we stopped at a fish and chips place and were charged an extra $2.00 for ketchup. Wow, just never been charged for ketchup before.

Here's some more Aussie slang, although I may be repeating myself because I can't remember what I typed earlier, and I'm too lazy to go back and read my old posts. Anyway, "daggy" is out of style or uncool, a jumper is a sweater, removalists are movers, bathers are swimsuits, rips are riptides, sunnies are sunglasses and if someone here is pissed, they're drunk, not angry.