La Sirena Yellow Friday... never again!

May 29, 2006
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Went mostly for groceries, over an hour in checkout. 24 registers, 12 open. Like going to Walmart on food stamp day. Sale nothing special.

[video=youtube_share;HMVNgcGtKHs]https://youtu.be/HMVNgcGtKHs[/video]
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
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I was at the bank the other day. Line was from the tellers almost to the front door. 2 tellers available. One for deposits and one for withdrawals. Obviously lunch time for one of them. They closed their station and just walked away. 5 minutes later a new teller reappeared and we are back to full staff - two. Took an hour in line.*

The inability to plan for and even foresee a rush for services is incomprehensible. I know not to go to the bank at the end of the month and the first few days at the beginning of the month. Stay away over lunch time which seems to be 1-3 pm and never expect anyone who isn't doing anything important to open up another teller window to help alleviate the masses standing in line. I see the same modus operandi at Playero all the time - the more people waiting, the fewer cashiers available.*
 

london777

Bronze
Dec 22, 2005
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Stay away over lunch time which seems to be 1-3 pm
Funny, my strategy with BHD/Leon Pto Pta is the opposite. Half as many cashiers at lunchtime, but a quarter as many customers. Usually works for me.

Ban Reservas is a disaster most any time. Usually my bad luck that when I finally reach first in line, the person in front of me at the pulls out a wad of baby or holiday snaps and embarks on a lengthy "ooh-and-aah" session with the cashier.
 
May 29, 2006
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I need to get mi esposa to stock up for her business when the bonus checks come. Her spices aren't a luxury item, but they are very price sensitive to paydays and other blips in the cash flow. She always is happy when she sells out of an item, but then I tell her she lost 1000 pesos in sales. It's a very different way to think.

The cashiers were having to do price checks on everything yesterday. The way the receipt prints out, you have no idea if you got the discount. No one clearing carts causing more problems. Understaffed by half. If mi esposa wasn't with me, I would have left the cart as soon as I saw the lines. I was surprized at least the ATM worked...
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
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Went mostly for groceries, over an hour in checkout. 24 registers, 12 open. Like going to Walmart on food stamp day. Sale nothing special.

[video=youtube_share;HMVNgcGtKHs]https://youtu.be/HMVNgcGtKHs[/video]

here is where we are different. i walked in the door, saw the crowd, and left. i do not need anything that badly. if it had been my blood pressure meds, maybe. i am not waiting in lines that go all the way down the grocery aisles.
 

Celt202

Gold
May 22, 2004
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I popped into la Sirena at about 6:30 yesterday and it was jammed.

I needed to buy some essentials so I hung in. It took me a few seconds to figure out Yellow Friday. I went from "Yellow Thursday, Black Friday?" to "that's racism" to "Oh yeah, company colors."

I was amazed at the great discounts on common every day items and got through the checkout surprisingly quickly.
 

monfongo

Bronze
Feb 10, 2005
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I was at Jose Lois one time I bought some food and a local news paper, at the checkout the cashier picked up my newspaper and started reading it.
 

Celt202

Gold
May 22, 2004
9,099
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In dealing with DR chaos I've reached the acceptance stage on the K?bler-Ross model.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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dr1.com
We are off to Santiago to buy toys for children's day at christmas. Calle del Sol, La Sirena downtown, La Sirena on the autopista, Plaza Lama- not looking forward to either the road traffic or foot traffic in the streets or stores. Cheap parking on Duarte in the old section though, secure parking lot and about 60 pesos for the whole day, usually 30 for 2 hours.
 
May 29, 2006
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here is where we are different. i walked in the door, saw the crowd, and left. i do not need anything that badly. if it had been my blood pressure meds, maybe. i am not waiting in lines that go all the way down the grocery aisles.

It wasn't bad when we got there around 4:30. The crowds weren't in the grocery isles so we didn't notice them in household. There were maybe eight ppl ahead of us when we got to the line. That would have been fine save for the cashiers ground to a halt getting runners to check prices. Ten to fifteen minutes per cart. On the plus side, we now have enough canned milk to last a few weeks. Ten cans at 39 pesos instead of 55 at the colmados. Since they use the milk as a common loss leader, I hope we can stock up regularly now.
 
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zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
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The best is when the other teller bring coffee for the one or two who are working and chats them up along with coffee. Customer service is not a concept that has made it to the DR other than on Pedro CliSante *on Sat. Nite where a friend told me it's excellent.*
 

Seamonkey

Bronze
Oct 6, 2009
1,896
755
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Black Friday is overrated. No great specials on Amazon either. Just another marketing ploy that the sheep fall for.
 

CristoRey

Welcome To Wonderland
Apr 1, 2014
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I went to La Sirena on Black Friday in centro here in Santiago. Bought a mosquito racket. Paid 195 it was 5 pesos cheaper the tienda Denny's which normally has the lowest prices in town. Rather than wait in a very long line, I paid for it at the hardware counter was in and out of there in less than 15 minutes. I did save money at Vitasalud yesterday. Probiotics are normally 315 with discount. Yesterday they were only 273.* I did notice several items were priced much higher than normal before the offered "discount" / sale price.*
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
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Black Friday is overrated. No great specials on Amazon either. Just another marketing ploy that the sheep fall for.

Mi girl fren asked me yesterday why it was called BLACK friday???I didnt answer her, the concept of the large stores getting out of the red into the black, was way beyond my patience...........Doc.......
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
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Mi girl fren asked me yesterday why it was called BLACK friday???I didnt answer her, the concept of the large stores getting out of the red into the black, was way beyond my patience...........Doc.......



That's not the initial origen of the term.
 

oldschool

Active member
Oct 9, 2004
536
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I always try to plan my shopping, bill paying and bankng between 12pm and 2pm during the week with the 12:30 - 1:30 time period being optimal.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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Depending on the time/day/phase of the moon....lasirena check-outs tend to be overcrowded.
And yes they have 260 tills but only 4 people working......same as back home now that i think of it.

I go to lasirena in santiago, the 1 just off autopista from navarette.
Well hadnt been for 6 months ( i was out of country ), and i only go once a month or once every 2 months to stock up on "goodies ".
So i do get a lot.
Well the point of this is the "oldest" bagboy ( who is only around 30 ) recognises me*every single time.
When i finish shopping he takes my trolley ( or 2 ;) ), *does his thing at the check-out/till.
While I go and pick up the items i forgot, or while i go and eat a donut at the pastry counter.
Then he takes everything to the car and packs it for me.........
What more can I reasonably ask for !!!!! I love it !!
He even puts the cold stuff in iso-thingy bags I bring along, and the frozen stuff in the picnic chest thingy........
Him alone beats hands down *all customer services in every single supermarket i have ever visited in any single country.

And no he doesnt sneak extra items into my trolley.
And no he doesnt rob anything out of it either.
Hell he doesnt even get a big tip. Only 75 pesos or 100 pesos. ( please note nothing compared to the 20k i drop for my shopping ).

So be nice, tip a little and the most important engage in conversation as if he was an equal ( *not that he isnt, mind you ).
Works wonders !!!

Obviously it only works cos i am a "gringo", so easily recognisable. I guess.
 
May 29, 2006
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Same as back home? You haven't been to a Wegmans. 30 registers with 60+ ppl working and cashiers are rated by how many items and carts they process. The can scan faster than most ppl can load. Slow at Walmarts bc they know they have low prices and don't need good service. Meanwhile, ALDI's(German chain) has fast cashiers who start at over$10/hr.

The thing I hate here is when they have to send someone to check prices at least once per cart. Reminds me of the AMES chain...they went out of business.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
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Same as back home? You haven't been to a Wegmans. 30 registers with 60+ ppl working and cashiers are rated by how many items and carts they process. The can scan faster than most ppl can load. Slow at Walmarts bc they know they have low prices and don't need good service. Meanwhile, ALDI's(German chain) has fast cashiers who start at over$10/hr.

The thing I hate here is when they have to send someone to check prices at least once per cart. Reminds me of the AMES chain...they went out of business.



I remember Aldi having no prices and no barcode scanner at the end of the nineties. Cashiers were supposed to know articlecodes by heart and type them in the cash register system.*

One of the better supermarket chains in the Netherlands have fast cashiers , also rated by their speed but without losing a customer friendliness that doesn't look fake. I worked a while for the corporate office of that retailer as a consultant and looked at the procedure manual for cashiers which has details like: when you're dealing with a customer and a new customer arrives behind that customer, look at him/her and nod as a sign of having seen him/her.

Another example, for the shelf fillers: if someone asks you for the place of a product, you never tell them where it is, but walk with them and show it on the shelf.

In DR they mostly say: 'pasillo 3', or 'no hay' without even knowing or checking, since it's easier to say we don't have it than invest time and effort to find out.