Since we arrived here I have had the opportunity to deal with varying different kinds of local businesses. There has been everything from the local Shivaji Market which handles all forms of produce and meat, to Big Ba
zaar which is the local form of Walmart. Of all these businesses our bank has had me the most frustrated. To make a very long story short, the bank linked our bankcard to the wrong account causing every transaction (besides ATM) to be declined. This makes buying anything besides groceries difficult because we need to always have cash on hand. (In general it is always good to have several hundred Rupees on you anyways just in case.) We have tried to get the problem resolved several times, and each time the bank tells us that it will be taken care of within a few days. Though, as far as I know it still hasn't been taken care of. what astounds me about all of the hassle we have dealt with on this issue is that in the U.S. I am pretty sure it could be dealt with the same day. If not it may take a business day to change over. As of right now we are sitting at three weeks since we first noticed the problem. Waiting for service is very common here. We had a problem with our internet the second week we were here. The call center said it would send someone out so fix it. That was around ten in the morning. (no one will give any kind of time frame for when they would actually show up) About nine-thirty in the evening the technician actually showed up. We wanted to do some shopping during the day but we had to wait around all day for him to show. Finally we were fed up and just went anyways. From what I understand this is how things are done here.
Another interesting difference between the U.S. and India is the sheer number of people that work on a particular job. At Big Bazaar and other shops you will commonly find not just one person or two working in a department or area of the store. These places will have anywhere from five to ten people working. I saw eight people pushing approximately ten carts back into the store. From highly trained first hand experience I know that one person can easily handle that many carts. especially when the carts are half the size of common shopping carts from the U.S. When I went to purchase a DVD player, I had six sales associates helping me. Granted I was the only one in the department at that time but the fact that there were that many people just staffing that area amazed me. If I walked into any random American store I would be lucky if I ran into one sales person when I actually needed them. Even in the little store front shops this is true. one shop that I stopped into a few times not only was crammed with way more stuff than I thought would ever fit into the twelve foot wide shop, but also had five guys working there. A sweet store several shops down had four employees just behind the counter. Actually,
all of this should not surprise me. with a population of around one billion it is not hard to believe that places can afford to pay people to work. And, of course, I am sure that the salaries being paid are probably not comparable to any U.S. wage. I know that a lot of people complain about minimum wage in the U.S., but if any random person here made seven U.S. dollars a hours I think they would probably faint.
Most of the shops I have visited would be very reminiscent of places in the U.S. in fact many operate seemingly very similar in set up and operation. Even the Shivaji market would remind anyone of a meat and produce market. Although it might be one from a hundred years ago. The market had four areas: Produce, which by far seemed the cleanest, Fish, Poultry,
and Beef, which I am pretty sure was actually water buffalo. The produce section was a pretty standard building where each person set up their table with there goods. It is reasonably clean and they have a pretty large staff that sweeps the floor constantly to remove debris from falling produce. Our cook did all the shopping while I just watched. We ended up spending the equivalent of eight dollars for four grocery store sized bags literally full of veggies. I am not completely sure, but I it felt like it weighed around fifteen pounds of stuff, maybe more. The poultry and fish areas were pretty standard too. the fish was in its own building and the fish mongers had their stuff all laid out so you could see exactly what you were getting. They had everything that could be acquired locally from Indian salmon to jumbo prawns, to small hammer head sharks. We didn't buy anything from there but we walked through so I could see it. The poultry sellers had their own separate stalls that where they prepared the chicken to sell. And, by prepare I mean that they killed, de-feathered, cleaned and cut right in the open. I have worked around meat rooms before so the cleaning and cutting is not new but I haven't been there for the beginning of the process. Needless to say it was "interesting". I really didn't have a problem with it though. mainly because I was pretty sure that the chicken was fresh. Of course for any vegetarian or free range proponent, I wouldn't recommend going to this area. The last section was the "beef" area. I am pretty sure that the cutting area would fail health inspections in at least forty-eight states. The other person that went with us to the market was an American that we met a few days before. He assured me that the meat was good and took me to the butcher he goes to. Everything seemed on the up and up. I just ate some today so we will see if everything works out ok. The meat was cut on very large sections of tree trunks. It looks like they have been there a very long time. Some had the trunks up on legs others had larger sections on the floor. Waste from the "beef" is put into bins for grinding or they might toss small pieces out the windows. I noticed this because a hawk came within a few feet from my head as it swooped down and picked up some bits of intestines. Overall, the market was a very interesting experience. I think I will go back. I know how things work here now. You can pay American prices for stuff just translated into local currency if you go to some of the western grocery stores. Or, you can pay the equivalent of twenty dollars for almost two weeks worth of groceries at the market. I am pretty sure I know which way I will lean towards.
I am sure that I missed a few things about dealing with Indian businesses. But this is a pretty good picture of how things work. If you want something done you need to be patient. But eventually it will get done. And, If you want to save on food you need to be willing to go to the local markets. That's all for now. More to come later.
zaar which is the local form of Walmart. Of all these businesses our bank has had me the most frustrated. To make a very long story short, the bank linked our bankcard to the wrong account causing every transaction (besides ATM) to be declined. This makes buying anything besides groceries difficult because we need to always have cash on hand. (In general it is always good to have several hundred Rupees on you anyways just in case.) We have tried to get the problem resolved several times, and each time the bank tells us that it will be taken care of within a few days. Though, as far as I know it still hasn't been taken care of. what astounds me about all of the hassle we have dealt with on this issue is that in the U.S. I am pretty sure it could be dealt with the same day. If not it may take a business day to change over. As of right now we are sitting at three weeks since we first noticed the problem. Waiting for service is very common here. We had a problem with our internet the second week we were here. The call center said it would send someone out so fix it. That was around ten in the morning. (no one will give any kind of time frame for when they would actually show up) About nine-thirty in the evening the technician actually showed up. We wanted to do some shopping during the day but we had to wait around all day for him to show. Finally we were fed up and just went anyways. From what I understand this is how things are done here.Another interesting difference between the U.S. and India is the sheer number of people that work on a particular job. At Big Bazaar and other shops you will commonly find not just one person or two working in a department or area of the store. These places will have anywhere from five to ten people working. I saw eight people pushing approximately ten carts back into the store. From highly trained first hand experience I know that one person can easily handle that many carts. especially when the carts are half the size of common shopping carts from the U.S. When I went to purchase a DVD player, I had six sales associates helping me. Granted I was the only one in the department at that time but the fact that there were that many people just staffing that area amazed me. If I walked into any random American store I would be lucky if I ran into one sales person when I actually needed them. Even in the little store front shops this is true. one shop that I stopped into a few times not only was crammed with way more stuff than I thought would ever fit into the twelve foot wide shop, but also had five guys working there. A sweet store several shops down had four employees just behind the counter. Actually,
all of this should not surprise me. with a population of around one billion it is not hard to believe that places can afford to pay people to work. And, of course, I am sure that the salaries being paid are probably not comparable to any U.S. wage. I know that a lot of people complain about minimum wage in the U.S., but if any random person here made seven U.S. dollars a hours I think they would probably faint.Most of the shops I have visited would be very reminiscent of places in the U.S. in fact many operate seemingly very similar in set up and operation. Even the Shivaji market would remind anyone of a meat and produce market. Although it might be one from a hundred years ago. The market had four areas: Produce, which by far seemed the cleanest, Fish, Poultry,
and Beef, which I am pretty sure was actually water buffalo. The produce section was a pretty standard building where each person set up their table with there goods. It is reasonably clean and they have a pretty large staff that sweeps the floor constantly to remove debris from falling produce. Our cook did all the shopping while I just watched. We ended up spending the equivalent of eight dollars for four grocery store sized bags literally full of veggies. I am not completely sure, but I it felt like it weighed around fifteen pounds of stuff, maybe more. The poultry and fish areas were pretty standard too. the fish was in its own building and the fish mongers had their stuff all laid out so you could see exactly what you were getting. They had everything that could be acquired locally from Indian salmon to jumbo prawns, to small hammer head sharks. We didn't buy anything from there but we walked through so I could see it. The poultry sellers had their own separate stalls that where they prepared the chicken to sell. And, by prepare I mean that they killed, de-feathered, cleaned and cut right in the open. I have worked around meat rooms before so the cleaning and cutting is not new but I haven't been there for the beginning of the process. Needless to say it was "interesting". I really didn't have a problem with it though. mainly because I was pretty sure that the chicken was fresh. Of course for any vegetarian or free range proponent, I wouldn't recommend going to this area. The last section was the "beef" area. I am pretty sure that the cutting area would fail health inspections in at least forty-eight states. The other person that went with us to the market was an American that we met a few days before. He assured me that the meat was good and took me to the butcher he goes to. Everything seemed on the up and up. I just ate some today so we will see if everything works out ok. The meat was cut on very large sections of tree trunks. It looks like they have been there a very long time. Some had the trunks up on legs others had larger sections on the floor. Waste from the "beef" is put into bins for grinding or they might toss small pieces out the windows. I noticed this because a hawk came within a few feet from my head as it swooped down and picked up some bits of intestines. Overall, the market was a very interesting experience. I think I will go back. I know how things work here now. You can pay American prices for stuff just translated into local currency if you go to some of the western grocery stores. Or, you can pay the equivalent of twenty dollars for almost two weeks worth of groceries at the market. I am pretty sure I know which way I will lean towards.I am sure that I missed a few things about dealing with Indian businesses. But this is a pretty good picture of how things work. If you want something done you need to be patient. But eventually it will get done. And, If you want to save on food you need to be willing to go to the local markets. That's all for now. More to come later.
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