They will never take our freedom!

[Varewulf]

Okay, some background first: to save money (and officially the environment) receipts are usually not printed automatically at our store. We have to push a key that makes the receipt come out after the transaction is closed. And this store-chain has its main office in Sweden, which will turn out to be important. /end BG/

So the stars here are Me as myself, and a crazy old guy as the SC.

He comes to my register with a medium amount of goods, he's courteous enough with the greeting and doesn't look particularly angry or anything, so I have no warning. He's maybe 60 or 70 years old, somewhere around that. Everything is going well until the point where I ask:

Me: Would you like your receipt?

SC: *gives me a look then says in a snooty tone* You're not supposed to ask about those, you're supposed to just give them to us.

Me: *mentally steeling myself* I'm sorry, but that is not what we've been instructed.

SC: *suddenly rises to a near-shout* Well, I'm instructing you! The customer! I'm telling you right now, we all want you to just give it to us! *then goes into a small speech about how the Swedes shouldn't tell Norwegians what to do, blah blah blah, nonsense and crap*

The other customers as well as myself are giving the guy looks that he doesn't seem to notice. Because I can't leave well enough alone, and am obsessed with things being right, I attempt to further explain as I hand him his receipt.

Me: Well, barely half of our customers actually want their receipt, so...

And that's all I manage to say as mister SC doesn't want to listen anymore, he just grabs his receipt, huffs and walks out.

I've never seen him again since, and still wonder what the deal is with those people who seem to think everyone else is just like them... curious. Oh hello headache. I haven't missed you.

Bonus

I'd also like to add a non-sucky, but amusing little story I heard from a coworker. It is becoming common to get questions about whether some product or other contains pork. I myself was approached by a worried muslim who had been told that our pastries were fried in pork fat, though I managed to assure him they were not.

My coworker told him though that another man had approached him and asked in broken English if the whale steak had pork in it. My coworker isn't the sturdiest in English himself, so he had to do his best to explain what a whale was, even though he couldn't remember the word for 'mammal'. He ended up saying it was a big fish.

~Wulf

[Flying Grype]

Welcome to CS.

Oh Scandinavia, you and your whalemeat. You know, if I were that guy I would just be asking if the steak was halal. And if I were you I'd keep flashcards of all the animals you serve. Oh man, that would be an awesome idea anywhere.

"Is there pork in this?" "No pork, only..." *shows picture of Moby Dick*

[thansal]

Is it bad that I view all of this as played by the characters of Scandinavia and the World?

Link for those not familiar: satwcomic.com

I admit, all I really know about Scandinavia is from that comic, I'm your traditional bad American in that respect :P

Also, I'm curious, do you think this the questioning about pork one, do you suspect it's just a cultural difference thing? or bad information filtering about (ala "Everything they sell has pork in it!")?

Ninja edit 2: The problem with asking if something is Halal/Kosher/whatever your dietary rules are is that most people don't know what they rules are, or (worse yet) think they do and really don't.

It's the age old one of:
A: I can't eat that steak, I'm vegetarian.
B: Oh, ok, here have the chicken.
A: I'm vegetarian, that means I don't eat meat of any sort.
B: But it's not beef.
A: It's meat.
B: Oh, ok, I get it. Here, I got you this fish.
A: *HULK SMASH*

PS: I swear, that happens regularly, even in fairly diverse places (I live in NYC). I didn't believe it for the longest time, but I have enough vegetarian friends that I eventually ran into it with one of them (for the record, I'm not vegetarian, I love my piggy).

[Varewulf]

Welcome to CS.

Oh Scandinavia, you and your whalemeat. You know, if I were that guy I would just be asking if the steak was halal. And if I were you I'd keep flashcards of all the animals you serve. Oh man, that would be an awesome idea anywhere.

"Is there pork in this?" "No pork, only..." *shows picture of Moby Dick*

Heehee, that would be awesome.

And Thansal, I'm not sure what the cause is... could be several factors. Perhaps they do indeed think we use pigs for everything, or it might just be that they're not that strong in the language yet so they'd like a native speaker to confirm that they're buying what they think they're buying.

To be fair to them, several of our cold cuts are mixed meats, and you have to read the ingredients list to find out what types are in there. So it could be another language issue. So long as they behave (and they all have so far) I don't mind answering the question.

As for Halal and Kosher... we have a few items marked that, so I simply assume that if it isn't marked, it's not either. Funnily enough I've never been asked about Halal or Kosher, despite working in grocery retail for 6 years...

Edit: And thank you for the welcomes. Realised just as I hit the submit button that I might be a bit rude... okay, everyone says Norwegians are really rude anyway, but it won't help if I just confirm it.

~Wulf

[RetailWorkhorse]

That guy was... really rather scary, come to think of it. Does he blow up like that if his newspaper is upside down?

Willkommen to the boards, Wulf! Someone's got Brainbleach, someone else has the booze, I got the bacon *HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS*, and someone else is in charge of cookies until EvilQueen comes back.

Is it bad that I view all of this as played by the characters of Scandinavia and the World?

I wasn't the only one! *Fistbump*

I love my piggy).

*Raises bacon in cheers*

I officially like you.

[Mikkel]

And Thansal, I'm not sure what the cause is... could be several factors. Perhaps they do indeed think we use pigs for everything

Pigs are used for a lot of things. For instance, the pastries may have been made with margarine and the margarine may contain animal fats.


Oh, and .

[thansal]

Hehe, SatW is really most of my knowledge of Scandinavia (you know, out side of Bjork and Ikea) :P

I'm curious, is Norway having a boom in Muslim population? (curiosity, thy name is thansal)

As for not having people ask you about Kosher or Halal, it's likely for what I said, they don't expect people out side of their version of their faith to know if something is properly Halal or Kosher (the rules vary about a good bit). That's how my friends that keep Kosher are at least.

PS: I wish more stores would give the option of not printing a receipt. I mean, I would hate to work at a store with that policy (as I would expect hoards of people like your SC). However, the qusi-green in me likes the Idea. I mean, I don't need my receipts for small purchases, and I'm fine with companies doing the entire "Hey, we can go "green" and save cash!", like hotels that will not take away towels you hang up.

[Varewulf]

Thanks for the further welcomes. I hope I won't need any brain bleach, but some bacon would be appreciated.

I'm curious, is Norway having a boom in Muslim population? (curiosity, thy name is thansal)

Not exactly a boom, but they have been steadily growing since the 80s when we had an influx of Pakistani refugees. Now they're starting to get settled in and having their own kids, so in that way it's a boom, I suppose. If you look back 50 years, Norway was rather mono-cultural, but we're slowly adapting. I personally think it's good that the options are there, even if only a minority use them.

We started the voluntary print-out scheme some four years ago, and it's spread to most chains these days. In that time I've only encountered three people who actually complained about it, and this last one was by far the worst...

[ApolloSZ]

There may be no Pork in the whale steak, but if you get a really bad customer let them know there may be Dork in it.....
(Linky - Definition of 'Dork')

[Sapphire Silk]

It's the age old one of:
A: I can't eat that steak, I'm vegetarian.
B: Oh, ok, here have the chicken.
A: I'm vegetarian, that means I don't eat meat of any sort.
B: But it's not beef.
A: It's meat.
B: Oh, ok, I get it. Here, I got you this fish.
A: *HULK SMASH*.

Well, it doesn't help there are so many different kinds of vegetarians: ovo-lacto's (will eat eggs and drink milk, no other animal products), to those who will eat fish and sometimes chicken but not other meats, and those who eat no animal products whatsoever (vegans).

Most of us carnivores don't keep track and get confused.

We also may not get that keeping Kosher/Halal is more than not eating pork. It's also about how the food was prepared. If it doesn't say Kosher/Halal on the package, it probably isn't.

[Flying Grype]

@Panacea, I think it's a misnomer. People who eat seafood or chicken are not vegetarians. Classify it by kingdoms -- flora, fauna, protista, etc.

Honestly, these days I use vegetarian as an adjective, not a noun, since I've started traveling in the US for work and it's hella difficult sometimes to get veggie food. I will occasionally eat shrimp if it's what's there and there's no veggie entree or appetizer combo. I am not really a vegetarian anymore but I eat vegetarian food most of the time.

[dragon_wings]

There may be no Pork in the whale steak, but if you get a really bad customer let them know there may be Dork in it.....
(Linky - Definition of 'Dork')

Ot: but definition 2 is why I can no longer use 'dork' to describe anyone. ^_^

[fireheart]

Thanks for the further welcomes. I hope I won't need any brain bleach, but some bacon would be appreciated.

You have to tackle it away from our pony first

We also may not get that keeping Kosher/Halal is more than not eating pork. It's also about how the food was prepared. If it doesn't say Kosher/Halal on the package, it probably isn't.

General rules for Halal (from my Muslim friends);

-Any meat prepared needs to be slaughtered in a certain way which lets the blood drain out of the animal. A prayer is also said. (the method is a cut to the throat that slices through everything else apart from the spinal cord)
-No pork, blood, animals slaughtered in the name of anyone else but allah, carrion (roadkill), any animal that is strangled, beaten to death, killed by a fall, fatally gored or savaged by a beast of prey (humans excluded), food over which Allah has not be pronounced and alcohol.
-Halal-meat and non-halal meat are not allowed to mix together, which means no cross-contamination.
-The rule for slaughtering does not apply to fish or most sea life.

A lot of products sold on campus are halal and to a lesser extent, kosher. Kosher isn't as common in Adelaide since we have a very small Jewish population. (we have one primary school for students)

[Varewulf]

You have to tackle it away from our pony first

Ooohhh, can I just have the pony instead?!

There may be no Pork in the whale steak, but if you get a really bad customer let them know there may be Dork in it.....
(Linky - Definition of 'Dork')

I suppose I could tell them the chicken is actually rooster...

[Jester]

A: I can't eat that steak, I'm vegetarian.
B: Oh, ok, here have the chicken.
A: I'm vegetarian, that means I don't eat meat of any sort.
B: But it's not beef.
A: It's meat.
B: Oh, ok, I get it. Here, I got you this fish.

I have gotten a similar version of that with my drinking habits. Convo that I have dealt with more than once:

THEM: "Hey, we're doing Jagerbombs!"
ME: "I don't drink caffeine, but I'll do just the Jager."
THEM: "Well, just have the sugar-free Red Bull!"

Okay, what part about me not drinking caffeine makes you think that a sugar-free energy drink will work for me?

...everyone says Norwegians are really rude anyway...

I have to disagree. All my experiences with Norwegians (and Swedes, for that matter) have led me to the belief that, as a group, they are amazingly polite and courteous.

...those who will eat fish...

Sometimes such people refer to themselves as pesco-vegetarians, or pescatarians, i.e., those who will eat seafood, but no other kind of flesh. I have a niece that falls into this category.

We also may not get that keeping Kosher/Halal is more than not eating pork.

Keeping kosher is about far more than just not eating pork. I can outline the basic rules if anyone's interested, though as a descendant of Jews but the parents of atheists, I'm not sure I'm the best one to do that.