Taiwan Diary: Rewards Card

[wrote_and_writ]

Today 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.

Comments

[magpie_fngrl]

These experiences are universal, aren't they? Idk how it happens, but every time one thinks it's a good idea to register for something, there'll be a queue behind, it will take forever to do, something won't work, etc etc. I do think, though, that they should warn people it'd take that long to register for the points/whatever it was. Last time I got a loyalty card at a supermarket here I signed a leaflet, added a couple of details, and off I went. Apps make everything harder.

I don't see why you can't go back though. Think of all the points!

[wrote_and_writ]

All the little day-to-day bits of modern life, things that are easy enough to manage in your native language, but they are so stressful in a foreign language. This experience (teaching abroad) has really made me more sympathetic to and impressed by people who live in multiple languages every day.

(I do love my hometown grocery loyalty program because you can just type in your phone number. And you get 10 cents off per gallon of gas every time you spend $100 at the store. It's one of those all-in-one grocery/pharmacy/home goods stores with a gas station, and my mom and I share the number, so we easily get the gas discount a few times a month.)

[clevermanka]

Strawberry tea sounds delicious!

[wrote_and_writ]

I am addicted! It's got strawberry puree in the bottom. I love it so much!

[umadoshi]

I was happy I could make myself understood with minimal pointing and got my delicious strawberry tea.

Count every victory! And yum!

[wrote_and_writ]

Indeed! I'm addicted to that strawberry tea, and I'm pretty sure it's seasonal, so I will be sad when it's gone.

[naye]

Haaaaaaaaaa, rewards cards were still physical paper cards when I lived in Japan, and they had them for everything, and the savings were like... 10% off your 50th purchase! And that's if you remembered you already had a card and didn't start a completely new one. And that still sounds easier than dealing with apps. But hey, strawberry tea!

[wrote_and_writ]

The only thing I really want is the Starbucks app, which is annoyingly region-locked and my iTunes is also region-locked. So irritating.