买菜 in Taiwan when I was there

choi

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(1) I left Taiwan in 1984 and have no idea what has been going on since. But
back in good old days, wage earners in Taiwan, particularly those in public
sector (e.g., employees in governments and state-owned enterprises),
routinely slipped out to buy things/do chores in office hours. Yes, we had
refrigerators. But like Americans we preferred freshness. Anyway, few had
cars and thus unlike Americans we could not buy grocery lasting a week (it
would be too heavy to carry)--besides the refrigerator was not big enough (
Taiwanese then had lots of kids but, on average, less than one nowadays).
Most important, the prevailing thinking was: why not steal from your
employer when everybody else did?

I recall reading a report a handful of years ago about China, which said
Chinese in the mainland did the same.

I live in Boston and Taiwan's consulate had a secretary who was an American
white lady in her 20s. A few years back when I visited or called, she would
take a long lunch break, sometimes hours long. Once, it was for shopping. I
mentioned that to her boss (a Taiwanese diplomat), who did not seem bothered
. Perhaps she is Taiwanized.

(2) Then as well as now, 台灣 菜市場 was/is quite amazing in Westerners' eyes.

(You should search images/google.com or tw.yahoo.com (click 圖片 button at
top horizontal bar).)

I will talk about what I observed prior to my departure in 1984.

Meat was displayed (hung or on the table) in the open. Ice was rarely used (
Taiwan is hot and humid except in winter, so you can imagine). Flies
occasionally fly about.

Worse, 菜市場 was operational only in the daytime and closed early in the
afternoon. In early 1980s, the novelty of a supermarket arrived in Taiwan
but it was small and far between and located at the basement of, say, a
department store (and thus expensive); people distrusted it.

Also, 菜市場 in Taiwan generally closed on Sunday, by convention (the vendors did not want to work seven days a week). So if Taiwanese did not shop grocery in office hours, they would have no food on the table.
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