10 Stocking the Konzum

Early to rise, we set sail for Šibenik, then Split, then Trogir. It was a special day as later that afternoon David and Donna would reunite with their son (Curtis), daughter-in-law (Cassie) and her parents (Loren and Val Toews). We must have passed through a half dozen tunnels along the autobahn. Croatians love their tunnels. One tunnel was over 4 miles long. Why go over a mountain when you can just bore straight through it?

With hunger pains setting in, we pulled off the beaten path into a large Konzun. Konzun is a supermarket chain along with Tommy and Korum stores. In the tourist parts of town these markets are mini-mart size. When located near the general population, they are about the size of a regular SaveMart. We passed by one called a Super Konzum. I followed a woman into the store who was returning her cart I think. Each cart had a funny lock on the handle. I never figured it out. The entrance into the main store was blocked by a motion sensor’d swinging gate. I suppose it tracked the shopping traffic. It’s strange to wander up and down the aisles seeing familiar cans and boxes with pictures of the contents but strangely different packaging … except for Coke-a-Cola. Pepsi was hard to find in Croatia. Another difference was the cashier. They sit down! Why don’t cashiers in American sit down?

The store had a good selection of produce but I was baffled on how to price it so I bagged my collection and handed my see-through bags to my cashier. She searched for a price tag but found none. She looked at me expectantly as though I had violated shopping protocol. I played my tourist card, “I’m sorry. I’m an uneducated foreigner who possesses advanced college degrees.” She smiled, locked her register, got up from her seat, did something in the produce section and returned with barcode stickers on the bags. On my next Konzum visit, I figured it out. You bag the fruit, plop it on a cutting-edge digital scale, type in the unique 4-digit code listed next to the produce bin and a neatly labeled barcode sticker spits out with the price … very cool. Wait! What if you cheat and type in a cheaper code? Such a cynical American. I came to appreciate that Croatians are a trusting people. They expect folks to take responsibility for themselves, to display good social behaviors, do unto others, golden rule sort of thing. I can live in a society like this.