Spkg of which Stacy…I agree about the overpacking! I always try to bring these big reusable bags from Tamimi (Tamimi, btw has the best reusable bags, they r huge, sturdy, have snap closures and the handles have rods in them) and I have a lot of heavy items and stuff and I gave the checkout guy the 3 big tamimi bags and asked him to use those and ofcourse to use plastic bags if anythingt doesnt fit. Well, the guy stuffed EVERYTHING into TWO of the bags! yeah, didnt even use the 3rd or put any into plastic bags. I was dumbfounded…Sure there is the assumption that Im going to have someone carry those bags for me to “the car” and ofcourse take them “inside the house” and someone will maybe even unpack those further, so I wont have to bother with them.
BUT, reality is, I have to lug those suckers onto a compound bus and then walk them to our apartment and up to the 2nd floor! hah and DH is on Hajj, so It’s just me and my son lugging them up.

So I inevitably had to repack everything so each bag was reasonably weighted.

yeah the bag packing skills are atrocious here, what can I say to get them to pack everything reasonably and not just stick everything and the kitchen sink in 1 or 2 bags?

Ohhh, the gum thing NOW makes sense!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was always like? what? gum? why?

I can tell the whole extra bagging thing is going to become a constant annoyance for me. They obviously don’t realise that I have to then carry those 15 bags upstairs to my apartment!

Its funny tho because an often annoyance in Aus is the cashiers putting the wrong things like your meat and washing powder in the same bag. Here they’re very well trained not to put any two items that aren’t alike in the same bag. heh.

as for you being charged for the unloading, that seems really odd. i would definitely go straight to the customer service desk on that one before leaving the store! i know sometimes the receipts can be difficult to decipher if it is in arabic but carrefour will provide you with an english receipt if you request it. and it is worth it to review the receipt before leaving the store or sometime later at home to ensure u weren’t overcharged on particular items. i have been overcharged many times but it was actually due to the cashier scanning items one too many times or items not ringing up at the advertised price. just do what i do and keep your eyes glued to the screen when they’re ringing up your things and stop them immediately when you see a mistake. also, did u know they can add a “sadaqah” or charity charge to your bill? they usually do ask you first and it is clearly noted on the receipt if that were the case.

hope u get it sorted………..

I would just tell him something like… “la, la enta. ana oreed. mafi mishkalah.” It’s very simple…just, no no. I want. no problem.

And I do not believe the bills should be altered in any way as to whether a checker assisted or not.

I do have a question though, okay so at the Hyperpand…not all, but 2 I’ve gone too, when I’ve gotten up to the checkout with my cart the bagger tries to unload my cart. This irritates me because…I’m not incapacitated in any way, I can obviously unload my own cart. Maybe because of the abayaah and niqab they think I’m Saudi and so wouldn’t want to unload my own cart, but I’m not…so I’ll do it.
anyway…what then happens is like a minute of back and forth where I gesture to the guy to stop unloading my cart and me saying “la, la” over and over… The first time this happened I almost fought with the bagger and then just gave up, but I’m pretty sure the checkout guy added a few extra riyals to my bill for the bagger unloading my cart. ??

Its VERY aggravating. I dont need help unloading my cart…

This hasnt happened at Carrefour, Tamimi or the other Hyperpanda in the area

anyone have any clues as to why the cart unloading? Also what can I say in Arab to make them refrain from doing a cart unload?