On buying soap in Chile

Sure, you could just go to the mega-mart (Líder, now owned by Wal-Mart) but if you wanna do it Chilean style - and get a better price - this is how it goes.

1. You find a store that looks like a drug store or a Dollar Tree except that all the products are behind counters, stacked on shelves against the wall.
2. You push your way through the crowd until you identify the product you seek. The product is probably something like mascara (normal CoverGirl or Maybelline, nothing fancy) or soap (St. Ives or Dove, for example). One of the sales clerks gets the product for you. You ask some questions, they give some answers, you pick what you want and hand it back to the clerk.
3. You go to where the clerk scans the item. The clerk then passes you a receipt.
4. You go stand in line at the registr (the Chileans tolerate waiting in line).
5. You pay and receive another receipt.
6. You go back to where the first clerk scanned your itme. With your ticket in your outstretched hand, you squeeze your way alongside all the other people with their tickets in their outstretched hands and wait for someone to take your ticket, put your product in a bag and hand it to you.

It´s an event unto itself!