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Taiwan Diary: Rewards Card
Dec. 10th, 2022 06:23 pmToday I walked over to one of the small grocery stores near my apartment. I had a simple goal: pick up some Doritos and maxi pads. You know, fun weekend plans. 😄 Anyway, I made it through check out and was about to leave when a sweet cashier stopped me and asked me if I had a rewards card. The cashier was very sweet and spoke English very well and clearly wanted to help me save money, so instead of running away, I said sure!
What followed was 10 sweaty minutes (for me) standing at a till as the line next to me got longer while this really lovely lady tried to help me set everything up. Which required: downloading an app, creating an account, taking pictures of the front and back of my ARC, uploading the photos, trying to set a username, being unable to set up a username, and finally getting to leave. I appreciated the gesture. The lady was very nice, asking if I was a teacher (easy guess for white ladies living here), why I was so sweaty (😷 because I was hot and I'm a sweaty lady!). In the end, I think I have an account that will let me earn points but maybe didn't get the VIP savings? I didn't really understand, and I was eager to get away.
And we all know what this experience means.
I can never go back to this store again.
Thankfully there are other grocery stores within approximately the same radius from my apartment. And I did have a little victory before heading home. I stopped at CoCo before heading back and ordered some strawberry tea. I looked up the word for strawberry, which is 草莓/Cǎoméi, so I could at least attempt to order without pointing wildly at the signs. The young man working at the counter was very sweet. He was very encouraging and I think he spoke some English, but I was happy I could make myself understood with minimal pointing and got my delicious strawberry tea.
What followed was 10 sweaty minutes (for me) standing at a till as the line next to me got longer while this really lovely lady tried to help me set everything up. Which required: downloading an app, creating an account, taking pictures of the front and back of my ARC, uploading the photos, trying to set a username, being unable to set up a username, and finally getting to leave. I appreciated the gesture. The lady was very nice, asking if I was a teacher (easy guess for white ladies living here), why I was so sweaty (😷 because I was hot and I'm a sweaty lady!). In the end, I think I have an account that will let me earn points but maybe didn't get the VIP savings? I didn't really understand, and I was eager to get away.
And we all know what this experience means.
I can never go back to this store again.
Thankfully there are other grocery stores within approximately the same radius from my apartment. And I did have a little victory before heading home. I stopped at CoCo before heading back and ordered some strawberry tea. I looked up the word for strawberry, which is 草莓/Cǎoméi, so I could at least attempt to order without pointing wildly at the signs. The young man working at the counter was very sweet. He was very encouraging and I think he spoke some English, but I was happy I could make myself understood with minimal pointing and got my delicious strawberry tea.
