Shopping Experience in the States
I love shopping， even if it is just window-shopping1. Shopping in the States is always a pleasant experience. There are different types of shops that operate to cater to2 your different needs. To buy groceries， you can go to the convenience store， the supermarket or the mass merchandiser3 （such as Wal-Mart）。 To buy some clothes and big-ticket4 items， you can go to the mall or factory outlets5. I go to two places most often， the supermarket and the mall.
In almost every city or large town， you can find several big-chain supermarkets. They have more than a dozen checkouts6 and are one-stop shops7 since you can buy almost everything there： food， cosmetics8， clothes， medicine， etc. You name it. With the development of technology， some of these supermarkets have installed the automatic checkout lanes for customers. I was so thrilled9 the first time I used the automatic checkout lane. Most packaged goods have barcodes10 and you just scan them on the scanning machine when you check out. Some items， such as produce11 （vegetables and fruit）， do not have barcodes on them. You need to input their label numbers， which can be found on the list glued to the scanning machine. These automatic checkout lanes help the stores reduce their labor cost and increase their efficiency.
Every grocery store has promotions12 on different kinds of products every week. Usually you can find a store weekly newspaper with featured promotions for that particular week. I am a bargain13 hunter14， forward-buying a lot of daily products if I feel I need them in the future. Once， I saw a featured promotion on Panteen 2-in-1 shampoo plus conditioner15. Although I did not need it at that time， I felt it was a great deal. So I decided to buy 2 bottles. However， I could not find any such Panteen on the shelf. I went to a sales clerk and asked if he could find any for me. He told me that the store was out of the stock and it would not have any in until the next week. The unfortunate thing was that by then the promotion would be over. However， the clerk told me that I could go to the customer service counter and I would be given a rain check16， which would guarantee the promotion price for me on that particular item. In the following week， with the rain-check， I bought the products at the last week's promotion price.
Another time， I bought two bags of salad at a grocery store. When I scanned them， the screen showed a different price from what the store advertised. Out of curiosity， I went to the customer service counter and asked why. The lady who helped me went to the shelf to double-check17 the price. When she came back， she apologized to me， saying that the store did not scan the price properly. According to the internal policy of the store， if the customer found out a scanning problem， he would get the product for free as an award for him or a penalty to the store. When I left the store with the two bags of free salad， I marveled at18 the honesty of the store clerk. If she had not told me， I would never have had any chance to know that the store had this internal policy.
A shopping mall in the States is composed of many individual specialty shops and nationwide chain stores， such as Sears and JC Penny. What impresses me most when shopping at the mall is its return policy . No matter what you buy， shoes， pants or big-ticket items such as TV and VCR， if you find some problems with them or simply do not like them any longer， you can return them within 30 days. You won't be challenged at the customer service counter as long as you have your receipt. Of course there are some people who might take advantage of this return policy， especially when they need something for a momentary use. That's why you can always find a long line of people waiting to return their goods right after Christmas.
The cliché 19 that " the customer is God" rings20 true to me when I shop in the States. Sometimes I believe that at a certain corner of the world there is a god seeing to the benefits of the customer.
我喜欢购物，即便只是饱饱眼福而已。在美国购物总是一种愉快的经历。那里有各种各样的商店，根据你不同的需求而设。要买副食品，你去便利店、超市或者仓储市场（比如沃尔玛）。要买衣服和大件物品，你去购物中心或者厂家直销处。我最常去的地方是超市和购物中心。
在几乎每一个城市或者大城镇，你都可以找到几家大的连锁超市。它们有十多个付款出口，而且是综合商场，在里面你几乎可以买到任何东西：食品、化妆品、服装、医药等等，应有尽有。随着技术的发展，有些超市为顾客开设了自动付款出口。我第一次使用自动付款台时非常兴奋。绝大多数包装物品都有条码，你只需要在付款时将它们在扫描机上扫描一下就可以了。有些物品，比如农副产品（蔬菜和水果），没有条码。你需要输入它们的标号，这些商品的标号可以在贴在扫描机上的标号单上找到。这些自动付款台为商店减少了劳力成本，也提高了它们的效率。
每周每一个副食商店对不同的商品都有促销。通常你可以在商店的周报上找到那一周的特别促销物品。我喜欢买便宜的东西。如果我觉得将来用得着的话，还会提前买大量的日用品。有一次，我看到对潘婷香波护发二合一有特别促销。虽然当时我还用不着，但我觉得这很值。所以我决定买两瓶。可是我在货架上找不到这种潘婷。我找到一个售货员，问他是否可以替我找找。他告诉我商店没货了，要等到下周才有。不幸的是，到那时促销就已经结束了。不过，他告诉我，我可以到顾客服务台去拿一张推迟票，这张票确保我以后会以促销价买到那东西。第二周，拿着这张推迟票，我以上周的促销价买到了我想要的潘婷。
还有一次，我去一个商店买两袋沙拉。当我在付款机上扫描时，屏幕上显示出的价格与商店广告所打出的价格不同。出于好奇，我去顾客服务台问个究竟。为我服务的那位女士去货架上核实了价钱。她回来就向我道歉，说商店把价格扫描错了。根据商店的内部规定，如果顾客发现有扫描错误，他可以免费获得那件商品，以此作为对他的奖赏，或者说是对商店的惩罚。当我拿着这两袋免费的沙拉离开商店时，我对商店服务员的诚实感到惊异。如果她不告诉我，我决没有机会知道商店有这个内部规定。
美国的购物中心由许多像西尔斯和杰西潘尼这样的专卖店和全国性连锁店组成。在购物中心购物给我留下最深的印象是它的退货规定。不管你买什么，鞋子、裤子或者是电视和录像机这样的大件商品，如果你发现它们有问题，或只是不喜欢它们了，你都可以在30天内退掉它们。只要你有收据，顾客服务台就不会有人为难你。当然，有些人会利用这个退货规定占便宜，尤其当他们只是暂时需要某种东西的时候。这就是为什么在过完圣诞节之后，你会看到人们排着长队等着退货。
当我在美国购物时，"顾客就是上帝"这句老话在我听起来确实非常真切。有时候，我以为在世界的某一个角落里确实有一个上帝在保护着顾客的利益。
注释：
1.window-shopping n.浏览商店橱窗
2.cater vi.（与to连用）满足需要或欲望
3.mass merchandiser n.仓储市场
4.big-ticket adj.高价的，昂贵的
5.outlet n.（商品的）销路，市场？factory～厂家直销处
6.checkout n.付款台
7.one-stop shop一站式商场，综合商场
8.cosmetic n.化妆品
9.thrill vt.使非常兴奋
10.barcode n.条形码
11.produce n.农产品
12.promotion n.推销，促销
13.bargain n.特价商品
14.hunter n.追逐者
15.conditioner n.调节剂，护发剂
16.rain-check n.（商店在廉价商品售罄时对顾客的）下次优先供货保证； 货到优先供应凭券
17.double-check vt.复核
18.marvel vi.（与at连用）感到惊讶、好奇
19.cliché n.用滥的套语
20.ring vi.听上去，听起来
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