Berlin FAQ Blog

Just returned from an urgent pre-holiday dash to the local supermarket for a couple of emergency tins of cat-food (for the cat, of course - I'm not anticipating a major food crisis yet). And to my fiscal delight I noticed they were on offer at a third off the normal price, so grabbed a couple more for frugality's sake (tinned cat food keeps almost forever) and sped to the Kasse, aiming to beat the 10-minutes-before-closing-time rush. And just after I'd handed over payment, I noticed I had just been charged the old price, and this is 80¢ difference we're talking about here.

Aware of the growing queue behind me, I pointed this in my best "but surely there's been some mistake" voice to the (single remaining) cashier. "No, that can't be so, the pet food offers start next week". Ahhh. Now I remember seeing a supermarket worker in the aisle slowly working through stack of yellow special offer prices. But hey, the supermarket was plainly making me an offer to purchase aforesaid kitty vittles at 39¢ a tin, and that is the price I was going to pay. Not my problem if they're not able to put up the new prices after closing time (I worked in a supermarket in the UK once and I remember they were very strict about this kind of thing, though to be fair they had also mastered the art of having people work in the store after closing time, which solves a whole lot of problems Teutonic supermarkets are still grappling with). Supervisors are called, and a short but heated discussion ensues under the withering glares of a growing queue of last-minute shoppers.

People, I am striking a blow for the rights of the German consumer here. Be patient.

Finally all four tins get rescanned in a complex maneuver which involves the intervention a supervisor's barcode card and also the ritual sacrifice of a small child, and I get my 80¢ back. And half-a-glare, and a distinct lack of best wishes for the fast-approaching holidays. I just managed to restrain myself from making some sort of apology for all the trouble I caused ("sorry, I should have realised they were next week's prices"), and make my escape into the night before I am attacked by the impatient crowd and bludgeoned to a bloody pulp with chocolate Easter bunnies.

I'm just glad I didn't follow my initial urge and snap up a whole basketful of the tins.