price and prejudice

Current books read: Disclosure by Michael Crichton

Today, I went to a vegetable store in Wandsbek, near where a friend of mine lives. I neeeded onions to make Bratkartoffeln. So I started looking for it out of the store nearby the mushrooms, broccolis, Blumenkohl, but it's not there. So I went in the store. The owner was attending another customer, but she was leaving. So he said "Guten Tag." to me, and I answered back.

I was walking towards the onion, but the store owner asked me what did I need. I said "Mmm.. Zwiebeln." while pointing and moving to the stack. Normally in stores like this, you go yourself to the stack, put what you need in plastic bag, and bring them to the cashier to be weighed and pay the price. But instead he asked me, "Wieviel?". Since I didn't know, I said, "Umm.. Fünf Stücke?" Then he put the amount that I think is more than five pieces. Since I'm eating salad tomorrow, and I like red onions better in salads than the normal one, I asked, "Haben Sie auch rote Zwiebeln?" He looked to the case that looked empty, and asked "Eine reicht?". I said yes. He put everything in a paper bag and said, "Fünfzig cent." Really?

The price for the onions was 1.99 Euro per kilo. And I believe I just bought more than quarter kilo. And he added up the red onions. I said how generous..

But then he asked whether I needed tomatoes. I don't eat tomatoes, normally. Most of the time, I hate it. If it's on my plate I eat it, but if it's not, I don't want them anywhere near my plates. So to make the story short, I said no. He said one Euro for all of this, while he handcupped some. I insisted to say no. Then he said, "Fünfzig cent." Hmm..?

You know, vegetables are unfortunately expensive in Germany. Cheap vegetables can be acquired in Hamburg for example in Fischmarkt, but rarely that you can get 100% of them in 100% good condition. Sometimes 60% of them are 100% good, sometimes 70% of them are more than 90% good, sometimes.. you do the math this time. But it's surely cheap.

So I was thinking, did he do the Fischmarkt trading tactics here? And to make matters worse, the other vegetable store nearby (possibly they are in competition) closed recently.

I went home and started cooking my Bratkartoffeln. Two of the nine (nine!!) onions are 60% good, the rest, 100% good. The red onion, 100% good.

Is it just me, or prejudiced world has also gotten into me?

Have a nice weekend, lads.