Did you get a stamp for that?

One of the most intriguing things about living over here is the obsession with stamps. I don't mean the kind that you get at the post office and put on a letter, but the kind you get that mark a document as official. Everyone has one and nothing exists without a stamp.

Yesterday, I bought Valerie a food processor for Christmas. We went to the local Media Markt (no, I didn't forget the "e", it is actually spelled that way), which is pretty much the same as Best Buy or Circuit City. We paid for it and then as we have become acustomed to, we had to go get a stamp. For some reason, your warranty is no good unless you get the official stamp. So, we had to go around the corner into this tiny little room where tons of people stood in line to worship the almighty stamp. Never mind that in a store like this, 80% of the people that buy something will need a stamp, you still have to go to the little room. It is pretty much a waist of time that they have 6 checkout lanes open because there are only 2 lines in the little room and pretty much everyone has to go there. Maybe some day, your receipt will be good enough or they will figure out how to give you the stamp in the checkout line.

Just one more chapter in the overseas adventure.