Posts by serafina

  • Bugs in the house!

    Our sidewalk is covered in giants ants. It is quite a sight because it just seems dirty on the pavement from a distance. They keep going from a street tree to under a tile. I always scroll my shoes when passing through them - God forbid if I took one home with me. I am sure the others would follow it.

  • The cost of eating out in Buenos Aires

    It’s both! We walk in a supermarket knowing we will be played tricks to drive us to buy stuff - the music, the layout, the package, the offers. But we need food so we don’t have much choice, plus the convenience of finding a variety of products in one single place.
    However, when you get to the cashier and the advertised product has not the same price as shown on the aisle, you realize your effort to compare prices and quality has gone down the drain… you are upset. add it to it that they have a plethora of staff dedicated to setting up the whole experience, from designers, to architects, economists, advertisers etc. and you have to “counter” all of this on your own.

    It is an unfair game alike to social media and the internet. We need it and we are preys besides users.

  • The cost of eating out in Buenos Aires

    Quote from Splinter

    The next time he tries that I'll be challenging him because it pisses me off/

    I get pissed off at Coto (where we shop for the most), when they ask to open our bags and purses, including shopping bags, and now even to lift them from the cart to make sure we are not hiding anything under there. To me, the mostly sell crap.

    However, I recently came across an article on an Italian newspaper where it reported that a 62 years old cashier in a supermarket in Italy was fired after 13 years of service. He failed an anti-theft drill. Basically, an undercover inspector hired by the supermarket itself, goes into the supermarket and tries to steal products, by concealing them among the regularly purchased items. Then they see if the supermarket staff notices it. If they do not, it means they are not thorough in their job and it is ground for termination.

    In this case, the cashier failed to notice that the inspector had hidden some small items (hair ties, eye pencils and facial masks) into a large box of beer bottles, using a opening on the side of said boxes (likely, to be used as handles to lift the 15-bottles box). There is no picture of the box in question. The cashier should have opened the box and checked under each bottle. It is insane!

  • Several Burger Kings and Starbucks join the exodus

    I don't get Starbucks, it is all marketing to me. As for fast food, I went to a Mostaza out of desperation the other day (I needed a place where to sit down and use my computer for a hour and it was the cheapest place) - they seem to be everywhere. For me, fast food all tastes the same, i.e. the sauce you put in them (mayo, ketchup, bqq). In fact, I don't get why they don't offer veggie burger by default and ask the clients to pay extra for real meat, when all you can taste is the sauce.

  • What are you doing this Christmas and new year?

    We only have one person with outdoor space, so that's where we are for each every family reunion. Be it a birthday, a holiday or a World Cup final. It is a very big house with a decent sized garden with a pool. You can go away from the crowd to relax on the sofa, or dance your heart out in the garden or simply hang by the pool. My BIL does all the cooking, everyone brings something. Some years I feel inspired and bring a lot of things, others we just bring wine or drinks.

    I like it the most when my BIL also invites over his friends, for a change of crowd. At 40+, we're the youngest most of the times and I can't stand talking pensions and small talk politics for too long, anyway. I think I will be asleep well before midnight as I am really tired already. The other day, I fell asleep while typing at the computer, which is a first.

  • The cost of eating out in Buenos Aires

    Truth to be told, in Italy we don’t eat out as much as they do in the Americas. But the solutions are many as supermarkets sell a large variety of fresh food, ready for consumption. Here, certain large supermarkets have a section of ready meals, but tower of foods let out in the open in a supermarket for hours don’t look appealing to me. I am thinking about empanadas, meat or vegetable mixes that have been sitting in trays all day, and that people could touch.
    If they were in sealed portions, refrigerated and wrapped, it would be different. The quality would be still low in comparison, but at least the hygiene would be preserved. It is not unusual to spot half eaten stuff among the shelves. I remember a piece of cheese with huge bite marks that I found in a frozen sections, or the half eaten fruits in the veggie section. Hard pass.

  • The cost of eating out in Buenos Aires

    We haven’t been out in a while, too. In part because of the outrageous prices for mediocre food, lack of variety and the random food poisoning or hard to digest food that will ruin my night’s sleep. We used to go have something at one of the local pubs in the past, but the food quality is really awful, except at Desarmadero, which is usually jam packed for good reason. However, looking at their online menu, I don’t think we will visit again soon… or ever. Half a portion of fries is $9100 or 6.40 USD.

    Coffee is also expensive, add a pastry or a slice of cake, and you are easily above 20k for a breakfast for two. Therefore, also our Sunday morning brunch is gone.

    I think the only reason I would go eat out right now is if I want to eat something special that I can’t do at home. We used to go out a lot in the past, just to get out from the house without having to fix dinner. However, the place worth visiting are lesser and lesser, either because distance, quality or price.

  • Argentina state support for those over 65 and no contributions - PUAM

    Quote from Splinter

    The next part took about an hour and the lad was clearly new at the job, but the exit from the country in June 2017 was fixed, but re-entry to Argentina in Jan 2020 couldn't be fixed. Luckily I took copies of the ferry ticket (I initially rode around vis Fray Bentos but took the ferry back from Colonia with my wife) and also Used Google Timeline. She was registered as leaving Uruguay and entering Argentina but not me.

    You were extremely well prepared, Splinter ! I am in awe.

    On the other side, you could have avoided paying taxes from 2020 to today, then?

  • Inflation in Argentina

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    To be honest, I can't think of one thing that has only gone up by 30% in the last 12 months

    It is very hard to justify these numbers, both in the sense that there is no reason to have such a high inflation, and because its effect, i.e. registered prices, seems to be set based on feelings rather than on objective factors.

    My massage girl went from 35 to 51 in a year, tofu went from 6000 to 9000. However, cigarettes didn't increase that much. One thing is for sure: prices have kept going up in pesos (sometimes slowly, but steadily, others changed more steeply), while the exchange rate didn't change much.

    That said, the same item in different store on the same block can be sold for 30-50-100% more, which makes it hard to assess the actual value of things. Perhaps it is the resellers who have a stilted view of the market and price items out of fear.

    I have been keeping an eye on the maple de huevos prices, and they go from 5500 to 9000 in the same neighborhood. Flour can be 1500 or 800. When on sale, Morixe can go down to 650. I don't understand the wide range of price for the same item, especially for those with a long expiration date.

    In a normal market, you'd say the price difference is because of different quality, but we all know how quality is here.

    Empanadas are another price point I keep an eye on. There is a small, independent empanadas take away place one block from here. One empanadas is $2300 and they are mediocre (to be generous). The parrilla next door has fried empanadas with meat for $1800. Another empanada place from the North of Argentina (so they say) has empanadas for $2500 upward, depending on the filling.

  • My extraordinary experiences in state owned banks.

    Quote from UK Man

    I drive the missus mad when I ask her why they do things in a certain way here. Having lived in the UK for many years she knows only too well the difference in how they operate here stinks in comparison. Especially in the retail industry.

    Well, today I stopped at a Carrefour Express to buy a drink. The cashier was the same as last time, and I remembered another episode.

    You know that at carrefour they give you those coupons when they have no change? And that they are worth twice the change you were due? Well, I had one on me for $31 (total waste of paper, if you ask me), which was thus worth $62. I bought something that was $2075, handed $2000 and my $62 coupon.

    However, the bill came to $2044 and I asked why was that if the coupon was worth $62. The cashier had me repeat the question, and I added "just for curiosity, it is just $30". His reply was: "It was indeed applied a $62 discount". I mean, even math doesn't compute the same in Argentina.

    In the end, he simply forfeited my $31 by rounding down the total to $2000.

    Anyway, today, the same guy was there, and I was hoping I wouldn't get another coupon (they tend to fall off my wallet and I always forget to use them). While I was waiting for my change he dropped a silent but deadly FART. So your comment is spot on, UK Man "how they operate here stinks in comparison". I run away and he had me come back to pick the change ($100). Which I did out of courtesy. I walked into a fart for $100. I hit a new low today!

  • My extraordinary experiences in state owned banks.

    Questioning things in Argentina is never any good. It is a hard reality to accept, and I am still struggling with it.

    To this day, after 11 years and counting, I am still getting a fit whenever I visit a supermarket where you ask your DNI just to use your loyalty card. There is no point accrual, no credit line, just some discounts applied to those registered with them. Which could be anyone on the planet Earth (provided they have a DNI, but that's another discrimination story).

    I could only imagine the schemes one could pull off when using a 20% discount on a packet of tissues or on a 6 pack of beers. And even if someone was buying at a discount and reselling, why would it be so bad? It's not like they can actually buy so many as to empty the supermarket's stock, and I don't see why running out of a product could affect them -- this happens plenty of times, and not because one person bought too much of it... but because someone didn't restock/planned well ahead. Just writing this makes me outraged.

    Isn't the whole point of a supermarket SELLING stuff? If so, why make it so complicated? Not to mention when something is on offer and you can't buy more than X items per person. Again, if the point of offering a discount is to encourage sales, why do you then limit sales?

    I was challenged at Coto for trying to use my husband's loyalty card without his physical DNI and him present. Aren't loyalty cards just an excuse to collect your data and do targeted marketing?

    Makes no effing sense to me!

    Today I will be back at DHL with my loose sheets. It would have been much easier to have the envelopes prepared at home, where I can go over them as many times I need, instead of arranging them on the DHL desk while on a hurry because there is a teller waiting for me, and clients behind waiting for me to be done with my stuff.

    What harm could it be to give me 2-3 envelopes beforehand? Are they worth so much? Yet, it is not exactly that you can shop around. There are only 3 major couriers and the best price is only one...