City Gross is the 7th circle of hell

I typically love to go grocery shopping, especially in foreign countries. I love trying to find replacements for food you want but cannot find and I love trying new things whose labels I cannot read, but whose images look tantalizingly tasty. Well it started out this way here, but has quickly changed from a "fun" time to "stab myself in the face with a frozen sausage" time. Allow me to explain....

I came to sweden under the auspices that Swedes, while reserved, were a generally kind and generous people (free healthcare? year of maternity leave?) who would bend over backwards to be sure they didnt offend or trouble you in any way. Obviously this is a slightly exaggerated generalization, but you get the idea. I was wrong.

I have met many swedes who are kind and generous, yes, but I assume that just like every other swede, the second they grab their cart and pass through the little gates into the bowels of the grocery edifice they...change. They become the meanest, most self centered and single minded creatures this world has ever known. Example...

I was browsing through the meat section, looking at, but not really SEEING the meat for sale. Really I was just perusing until I came to the one and only meat I could identify in any language, ground beef. I finally reach the ground beef, but as I do I sense a disturbance. I look to my right and out from this little door comes a woman dragging a large speedrack filled with meat to stock. Instantly she is SURROUNDED by every swede in a 10 meter radius. Seconds before there had been noone in the meat area and now I had to struggle to free myself from their meat-groping arms. I finally got out of the melee, stood back and watched the chaos. As soon as they swooped in they all flew away and left the meat cart in shambled. The silence was broken by the sound of one package of ground beef falling from the cart onto the floor with a satisfying splat. I bent to pick it up for the meat-lady who had stood back just like me to watch the chaos. As I placed the meat back on the cart she began explaining to me how to pick the best ground beef in English.

I hadnt said a word so I am led to believe that my non-participation in the meat brawl was a sound indication of my lack of Swedish blood.

They only other thing that brings this part of the Swedish subconscious to life is driving. Swedes drive cars like they drive their grocery carts. They pause for nothing and will NEVER let you cross their path. They would sooner tag you with their cart then run the risk of letting you get to that freshly packaged ground beef first....

Oh, and City Gross is the name of one of the MANY Swedish supermarkets. There is also ICA, Netto, Lidl, and many others. I find that City Gross' prices represent the median in groceries. If you pay more you are shopping at Kvantum and are a fool. If you pay less you are shopping at Lidl and buying the products noone else could sell.