7-11s aren't exactly national in Oz. I just had a quick look and there are none listed in the SA phone book, so they don't exist over here. However, some of the petrol companies have taken up the slack and now a large number of BP, Caltex and Shell stations also have 24 hour fast food and "mini-marts". On the way to my parents' place, I can stop at one Caltex petrol station that has a McDonalds combined with it, while on the way to work, I can stop at a BP servo that has a Wok-in-a-Box built into it. (yummy noodle dishes!)

There is a Borders Books in Minneapolis about the size of stadium. It has a Starbux in it that is so long that they need two separate service counters. It gives the impression that there is a Starbux concession inside the Starbux concession.

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You see those nine-franchises-in-one-deals in Outback Wisconsin a lot. My favorite is the Pizza Hut Subway Laundromat Post Office.

My favorite is the Pizza Hut Subway Laundromat Post Office.

It's only a twofer, but in SF we've got a barber shop/fire safety supply store.

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

Not in my experience, they're mostly quite pleasant. You're more likely to strike an Apu-like guy who owns the franchise and is perhaps slightly crazed by spending every waking hour there. (We don't call them "clerks" here either, we call them shop assistants...a clerk is someone who does clerical work, duh!)

I love the BP convenience stores in the Netherlands. Racks of fresh pastries! Hard-boiled eggs in clever packaging! Interesting sandwiches which actually appear fresh and well-made!

Racks of fresh pastries! Interesting sandwiches which actually appear fresh and well-made!

...And which contain absurdly high levels of benzole! (Don't eat bread bought at a filling station if you can help it. It's not healthy).

Gus, I can sympathise. As can my son, one of whose favourite expressions is, "I want it not!"

I was astonished that of all the places to have 7-11s (which have a vaguely sketchy connotation to me, as opposed to the Circle-K) in Europe, they're in the cleanest, most futuristic part-- Scandinavia. Talk about dissonance. Unfortunately, they didn't have a soda fountain or slurpee machines, which means they are not real 7-11s.

We don't have 7-11 here in Lancaster, we have Turkey Hill. Which has better coffee and really good iced tea, but is otherwise indistinguishable. There's one about a block from my dorm, which will be handy at 2 AM the day before midterms.

Do you have WaWa there, Holli?

Not that I've seen. We have a Waffle House with karaoke, though.