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In general Germany's reputation for efficiency is probably overrated. There is one thing I miss about my birth country though. We have the fastest grocery cashiers in the world. Nobody packs your groceries for you, it would slow down the whole process.
German cashiers will scan item after item with lightning speed, they memorized the location of each barcode and know most of the codes for items that don't have one. In order to keep up you need to sort your items on the conveyer in the right order.
Items that go in the bottom of your bag have to go in first, so packing can commence at maximum speed. Cashier and customer become one as you try to keep up with the scanning speed. It's a thing of beauty, two strangers working on a common goal.
For that reason, in Canada, I usually prefer self checkout, which is uncommon in German supermarkets. I must admit it even gives me joy to try to scan and bag as fast as possible myself. Today the unthinkable happened. Self Checkout was broken.
I have no choice, I need to do the regular checkout. I put my groceries on the conveyer, while thinking about optimal strategy. My train of thought is interrupted by a ''How are you?'' I'm shook but my Canadian training kicks in, I smile and respond in the appropriate manner.
They don't know that behind my smile, part of my soul is being ripped apart as we're having a short friendly exchange while absolute no scanning or packing is taking place. It's not their fault, they don't know that my culture shaped me to expect an epic cooperative race to bag.
They don't know that for over a decade I've been shopping at stores that having minimal space behind the item scanner, that if you don't keep at with a cashier going for the scanning world record, your items will likely be pushed off to the ground.
They don't know that in my culture, when you slow down this process you'll suffer the stares of the other customers who are ashamed of their fellow countryman who failed to fulfill his social contract. No matter how long I live abroad I think that part of me will always be German
