Anyone know Arabic? Need the word for marketplace.

Souk.

Damn you, wee ita!

Thanks!

meara lives above a 7-11 convenience store. The mind?

It boggles. A 7-11, for all the un-Americans, is the least romantic franchise-chain establishment on the planet. They specialize in selling chili-dogs (a concoction that makes English and German cooking look Good) and cigarettes.

Emphasis? On the cigarettes.

Meara does not have a life that is prosaic in the way that a 7-11 is prosaic.

I think they call this sensation "cognitive dissonance."

Actually, we have 7-11's in Australia too Gus!

As franchises go, I like 7-11's actually, it's comforting to know there's somewhere you can go to buy milk at 3 in the morning.

it's comforting to know there's somewhere you can go to buy milk at 3 in the morning.

You see, Gus? When I get home from my crazy cavorting at 1:30AM (like last night), or 5:30AM (like last Saturday), there's always a store open if I need a slurpee or some caffeine or a doughnut...it's most convenient.

Just went through an intensive immersion-style course in conversational German.

My internal syntax is at war with itself. Internal syntax is with itself warring.

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I am working a sad vibe behind the fact that 7-11 is everywhere. 7-Eleven for me is the primary token of dehumanised, franchised human interaction. The clerks are terrified of the customers (in the States), so they put on a "You best not be thinking of fucking with me!" attitude.

The food? Wonderbread and Rice-A-Roni. Coffee in a styro-foam cup, boiled down to its most bitter essence.

Microwave burritos.

Gah.

I don't think people in Australia really think of 7-11 as a dining solution per se! I imagine here the big sellers would be milk, cigarettes, phone cards, public transport tickets and chocolate bars, none of which really suffer through being sold in a franchised environment...although yes you can get the hot dogs and various microwaved delights too. I haven't noticed any fear in the eyes of the staff, although 7-11's obviously do get robbed sometimes here too.

I dunno, you occasionally read an elegiac article about how 7-11's are replacing the traditional family-owned corner milk bar, but to be honest traditional family-owned corner milk bars weren't that great, and anyway I imagine most 7-11's are family-owned too. Of the franchise plagues that the US has unleashed upon the world, I find Starbucks far more noxious.

Do the 7-11 clerks in other nations have the same attitude?

(I have a friend who's dad was murdered while working at a 7-11. . . so their attitude is completely understandable.)