It Just Makes Me Tired All Over!

I had an experience while shopping today and I realized that THIS is why it can be so exhausting living in a different culture. What should have been a 30 minute shopping excursion turned into a 2 hour EVENT. Let me explain.
We have several stores over here in Malaysia that are not unlike Wal-Mart or Target--you can get groceries, clothes, etc. The one I went to this morning I have been visiting since we moved over here 18 months ago. I was on the 2nd floor and paid for a clothing item, then went to the first floor to do my grocery shopping. When I got to the register the young man rang up my purchases, then just stopped and called a manager when I handed him my debit card. I asked what was wrong but he didn't respond. The manager came, she talked to him in Bahasa and started walking off with my debit card. I told her no, she wasn't leaving my sight with my card and asked her where was she going. She said she had to call the bank and verify it was my card, because the card doesn't have a chip in it. I showed her my earlier purchase from the 2nd floor and said they took my card. I also informed her that I have been shopping this store for 18 months and they have never had a problem with my card. She said now they would need to call every time I make a purchase and confirm it is my card. I told her that would not be necessary and I walked out of the store.
Next I went to ANOTHER Wal-Mart wanna be down the road and did my shopping there. I was having difficulty finding the food storage bags (like Ziplocs) and asked one of the MANY sales people standing around. She walked me down the isle of the garbage bags and pointed and smiled. I tried to describe what I needed and she just smiled and said OK and walked off. No Ziplocs. I went to the produce department and over here you bag your own bulk produce, take it to a weigh station and they put a price on it. I stood and stood at this weigh station when FINALLY someone points to ANOTHER weigh station on the other side of produce (the point meaning, go to that one; this one is not manned by the MANY employees standing around talking).
I get to the check-out stand and, I am not exaggerating, there are 32 check stands available. I stand in line for 20 minutes because they only have 3 that they are using at the moment. I FINALLY got home with my groceries and when I am putting up my milk I notice that one of the quarts has been opened and there is probably a good couple of swallows missing from it. Isn't THAT special??
I guess the point of this blog is to answer a question I get asked OFTEN: Pam, what do you DO all day??? I would love to say that today was an unusually difficult day for such an easy task as shopping for a few items, but this is just my life EVERY SINGLE DAY. I've said it before to people, but everything takes a long time to do over here. I'm not sure whether it is because I am in a foreign country and I don't do it "right", or whether this is just life. All I know is that I might just slap the next person back in the states that asks me that question:)