The Deli Counter
There are a lot of things one could complain about such as our erratic trains, the crisis in Burma, or the worm. Lately, my number one gripe has been the deli counter.
In a perfect world, a person rocks up to the deli counter and takes a ticket from the ticket machine. Eventually, both visually and audibly your number is called and you are served by the deli person. It’s a simple and efficient system that even our own government successfully uses around the country.
In our world, well at both Safeway and Coles locations in Melbourne anyway, staff refuse to use this remarkably easy to use system. While I understand it seems pointless to have a ticket system in use when there is only 1 person waiting for service, there is a high probability of multiple persons showing up for service after. Without any system or line the deli counter becomes chaotic.
- People go to the ticket machine and take a ticket but little do they realize the ticket means nothing.
- First come, first serve then, right? Nope, there’s the oldies and the greedy who think they deserve first serve. It’s not my fault they say, the system let me down.
- You think one deli person is going to know who is first out of 15 people waiting? I certainly have a hard time telling myself.
- Seeing as there are loads of people waiting on the honour system, a decisive employee turns on the ticket system creating “The Tickets vs. The I was here firsts”.
- Finally, you get your turn but be sure you have your order exactly correct, don’t order multiple things or make the deli person go all the way to the fish section as this will only get you dirty looks from other customers.
At one local Safeway, there weren’t tickets in their ticket machine for at least 2 months! Either serve people with a ticket only or lets form some kind of orderly line.
P.S. Why the hell is the exact same chicken breast $3 cheaper a kilo from the deli counter?
Picture via Tshirtstudio
Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Deli Counter, Deli, Safeway, Coles
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Some of the cheapest meats one can find is in Queen Victoria Market. I head there once every other week to purchase meat in bulk. Commercialised supermarkets i.e Coles and Safeway sell their meats at least 40% higher. I say this as I did a lot of price research in my first year here. Getting used to the new country, you may put it.
Also, don’t purchase the seafood marinara from the Coles/Safeway deli. The fish portions are thick, which requires a lot of cooking. The variety also leaves a lot to be desired.
I find myself purchasing a lot of meat or seafood - on weeks I have not gone shopping in QVM - from the local butcher RIGHT NEXT to Coles/Safeway. Not only are they of better quality, they are several dollars cheaper per kilo. Oh, and fresher too.
Yeah, I try and buy all my meats from Vic Market or a butcher but Coles/Safeway do the cheapest chicken breast 9.99/kg (11-12 at QVM)and the lighter deli meat (Light Leg, Triple Smoke).
I happened to flick by and watched a bit on ACA about delis selling expired seafood marinaras. Dodgy. Always got to check expirations.