Job Discussion Forums

[moonraven]

The best thing about "Perdita Durango" was Javier Bardem.

"Vera Cruz" was made in the 50s--1954, I think.

I don't shop at WalMart.

[MixtecaMike]

Darn it, once again I find myself in a town with no Walmart or MacD's.

Still, as LG, Samsung and a couple of other Chaebols own just about everything in ROK I can rest assured my won are going to support some big business or other.

I'd bet my money on Walmart over Mexican building regulations or machete wielding campesinos any day, and fully expect to enjoy a McFlurry around the Oaxaca zocalo when I next find myself in the tierra de nunca jamas.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

With the cost of prime (and even not so prime) real estate through the roof in the city where I live, who else other than the big corporations can afford to build and develop? A few years ago a big combo Walmart/Suburbia went up on the main tourist strip. Another huge shopping mall opened, and without some of the big chain stores, there wouldn't be much in it. The newest businesses around the Zocalo include a 7-Eleven and a Mr. Banderas restaurant-bar. There have been a McDonald's and a Burger King within a block of the Zocalo since before I moved here. OXXO convenience stores are almost everywhere in the city. Office Depot opened a couple of years ago. There's been a Sam's Club here for years.

For some reason most locals seem to prefer the big-chain, foreign-owned super-stores over Mexican-owned businesses. Many locals believe the quality of imported products is much better. (It's hard to argue that one.) If a person points out the negative aspects of foreign-owned businesses -- low pay and bad treatment of employees, putting small store owners out of business, etc. -- their response as customers is that they believe foreign businesses are still better than Mexican-owned businesses in most aspects.

[moonraven]

Ben Round:

The folks you have described are called "vendepatrias".

Mike:

So you're still whining. Why am I not surprised....

Sorry to disappoint you, but the conscious citizens of Oaxaca killed the McDonald's on the Zocalo caper in its tracks.

[MixtecaMike]

[moonraven]

Couple of holes in your thinking, Mike: McDonald's already has a presence in Oaxaca--just not in the z�calo--so the local junk-food junkies are not being deprived. The folks who eat in the restaurants in the z�calo are, in the majority, not Mexicans--they are tourists from other countries.

You prefer a small town atmosphere, huh? Can't believe that one, given all your anguished complaints about Huahuapan.

Good luck--whatever you do.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

Something that still somewhat amuses/amazes me is that when locals take their kids to Burger King to eat, they parade them around downtown wearing those cardboard Burger King crowns as a status symbol or something. Look where we took our kids to eat! For less money people can have really good meals at family owned and operated cocinas econ�micas.

[moonraven]

Blame that on the media, Ben Round. All the "foods" advertized on tv are pure junk--saturated fats, sugar and chemicals.

I hear heavy breathing. Is that you drooling over my shoulder, Mike?

[Ben Round de Bloc]

The last time I ate at a local Burger King was years ago. I'd decided to go to a movie, had a half hour to kill before it started, and a Burger King was close by. I made it almost halfway through the movie before I accepted the fact that it wasn't just heartburn that I was feeling. It was definitely food poisoning. It wasn't just a little case of stomach cramps and a couple of hours of dancing the Aztec Two-Step to the nearest ba�o either. I felt like I was going to die long before I got home! Later, I discovered that it was during the same time when Burger Kings throughout the USA had been ordered to stop selling hamburgers and dispose of all of their frozen meat in stock. Most if not all Burger Kings had received contaminated beef from their supplier. Either the mandate hadn't reached Burger Kings in Merida or managers chose to ignore it. I vaguely recall riding a bus home from downtown that night -- a 20-minute ride that seemed to last for 20 hours -- feeling as though I would explode from both ends at any moment, pain throughout my entire body, sweat pouring off of me in rivers, and so dizzy that I thought I would pass out. (Sorry about the graphic description. ) By the way, I was not wearing a cardboard crown. Some little kid had grabbed the last one before I could get to it!

[moonraven]

A miserable experience.

The only episodes I have had of food poisoning here in Mexico were both 12 years ago--when I was dragged into VIPS--and later, Sanborns by some folks who were nervous about eating in very Mexican-appearing restaurants (whatever that means). Both VIPS (owned now by WalMart) and Sanborns don't know their limits in regard to some basic concepts such as refrigeration. I happily eat in the street without problems. And I stay the hell away from any US chains or wannabees a la Mexicana.