Newcomer to Canada meets her match
Image credit: Bruno Bučar on Unsplash
By Sunetra Iyer
On coming to Canada, we discovered price-match, whereby you shop at one store but can apply the special sale prices – or even regular prices if they are better – in effect at some other stores.
What a great idea, I thought, as it saved one the time and effort it required to go from store to store to stock up on essentials at sale prices. But still, I was hesitant at first, and slightly embarrassed at the idea of pulling out several weekly flyers and asking the cashier to match the price.
But when I saw many others doing so in a very matter-of-fact manner and not being treated any differently, I gathered the confidence to do so myself. Once started, I did it often and saved a substantial amount of money this way.
On one occasion, I needed only a few items and so went to the fastcheckout lane where I requested a price match for olive oil. The young cashier asked if that was the only price match I had that day. I said yes, surprised, because you can match as many as you like. Then a woman behind me said very loudly, “You are not even supposed to do that in this lane”.
I was so embarrassed, but also upset at how shirty she was. I hastily put the olive oil back with the other things and apologized profusely.
The cashier was sweet, and said the sign advising shoppers that price matching wasn’t available at that checkout wasn’t even that obvious and that many people make the mistake, etc. I was so worked up that I left without even checking the receipt as I normally do for any errors. I was upset that I had paid a good deal more for the olive oil than I had meant to and couldn’t help wishing that I had been calm enough to return it, saying I didn’t want it if I couldn’t price match.
When I got home, I saw my receipt – the cashier had done the price-match for me.
I continue to price-match to this day, but never at the fast checkout lane.
What’s your story? Every newcomer, no matter how savvy or where he or she comes from, has a Fresh Off the Plane (FOP) story to share about their early days in Canada. Do you want to share your story? E-mail it to us at canadaboundimmigrant@rogers.com