would you like a receipt?

How to buy a soda in Chile-
Approach counter 1, ask for your soda, repeat yourself. Walk over to counter 2 while the attendant from counter 1 yells to counter 2 what you ordered and how much you need to pay. Wait while attendant 2 writes out at least two reciepts for your soda, stamps them, and hands them to you. Walk back to counter 1 (or sometimes a third counter) and hand the attendant your stamped reciept. Recieve something that is not what you had asked for, start process over again.
Seriously, the amount of reciepts you recieve in this country is ridiculous. The smaller stores don't use cash registers, so they have to write out each individual item they sell on a receipt. You even get a reciept when you pay 20 cents to use the restroom. Yesterday we saw a receipt pasted on the front of the bus announcing that the driver had taken a break within the past 24 hours. My bags are full of receipts, and if you try and rush out of the store without your piece of paper the attendant will call after you as if you have just forgotten your birth certificate on the counter. Why? Why do you need 3 people to do the job of 1 person? Why do I have to wait in several different lines to buy a coke?
Even at the big department stores, I will approach the counter with my item and my money only to be looked at like i'm an idiot and told "no, you have to pay for that over there" - clothing, accessories, and makeup are all purchased at different registers.
When I tried to join the YMCA, I seriously got dizzy from going around in so many circles to each different desk where each person had to do one little task to let me join the gym.
It is enough to make me go insane! But, then I just have to remember that in the US we have completely different priorities and concepts of service. In the US, we are obsessed with efficiency because time is money and we've got more important places to be. Here, i'm not sure, but it's a little different relationship between gringo-Chilean. It's possibly because they are now closer to our level economically, so they don't feel like they need to "suck up" or treat gringos with kindness, but almost every service encounter i've had here makes me want to cry sometimes. They can be so harsh, as opposed to the states where everything is answered with a smile.. So this is just a lesson for me in patience, and learning to take a deep breath and not let tiny little things like this aggrivate me. At least we have a Starbucks down the street here where they are super fast and super friendly and there is no nescafe in sight..