They live with the way things are

I have found that the French and other socialist states are content with living with the way things are.  They don't think about how to change it to be better.  Changes might put someone out of a job, or if you do something that is not your job, you are taking away the opportunity for someone else to do his or her job and gain satisfaction.

That means that they work around everything.  For instance, in the markets they have the same small baskets that you carry and the small carts that we have in the US.  They also have some in-between sized rolling baskets (like a small laundry basket on wheels).  You leave the carts at the check out and during the busy hours they stack up.

People were just moving around an empty cart sitting in the middle of the small path to the register.  I watched 4 or 5 people struggle to reach over the cart to place their items on the counter and shuffle past it.  When I got there, I just moved it out of the way, into an empty space by the unused register next to us.  Something so simple, yet it was not an apparent option to anyone else.

There are some differences in the supermarkets that I like.  You must weigh and tag all the vegetables and fruits with a tag like the deli puts on your package.  That way when you get to the cashier, they are already to be scanned.  All of the cashiers are seated and can scan items and take payments.  I also like their credit cards.  It is a PIN and CHIP system that is a debit card.  But, your card is always in your possession and you must enter a PIN code with every transaction.

They also have the saying that "you can't have everything" which to me is the completely wrong attitude.  You can have everything, but you have to work for it.  I just assume that we can have it all and it is up to me to decide how much effort, or money, I want to expend to achieve it.