It reminds me of that wonderful West-Indian grand-mother who'd lived in London most of her life. Did any of you see the Video of her shouting at kids rioting in London last year. Shouting something like (excuse the language):
If you are going to f****ing riot, do it for real principles, not for f*****ing flat screen TVs (toasters or sandwiches). If out of all the things that need improving, shopping is at the top of your list, what a sad indictment. Hopeless with U-tube - could anybody savvy find it and put it on here- that woman is fabulous.

I'd be the first to want to fight for better working rights for women, better childcare and a more open education system, and so many other things that I found to be much more liberal and open in the UK-
but shopping hours just wouldn't be my priority When all the villages here will be dead like those around where I lived in the UK, no public transport, shops, PO, GP, no school- some of you youngsters will be perhaps happy to live in soul-less dormitories, travelling for hours to work and shop. Many won't, and I hope it will not happen (wishful thinking perhaps).

Buying lunch at lunch time is hardly ''last minute''

You know, I am not Swiss, but I feel exactly the same way. Actually, I've had no problems so far with opening hours - all the places I shop at open either really early in the morning (including fresh markets) or until 22pm. Early in the morning is awesome because I then have plenty of time to run home before heading to the office, or, if on my way to a client, take my groceries to the office and put them in our fridge altogether. Plus I like to chat about food with the vendors at the market Two things I think could be improved are: 1) it would be nice if banks were open on Saturday morning for a few hours - although I do most transactions online, for certain type of investment advices I still prefer to discuss with my advisor(s) face to face. 2) Certain service companies, like dry clearners, etc. could have a bit more longer hours, but usually they are also open early in the morning, or I can pop in at lunchtime if needed. Anyway, these are minimal part of my time, so no huge discomfort.

Regarding the "if you don't like it, leave" argument...in principle I don't like it, and I agree with jerallie that it is fair to bring up valid points and propose new solutions. However, if the people in a particular place are dead set against it, you need to make a judgement call: is this something that I can live with, or not? And if not, then it's either you go crazy, or you move.

Example: I absolutely loved living in Tel Aviv, one of the best, most liveliest cities in the world IMO. I got on wonderfully with the locals, made new friends, loved my job, etc. I even started learning the language. However, living in a place where, if planning my future in the medium-long run, I would never be 100% sure that I would be returning home every evening, and not blow up on a random bus, was something that I could not imagine living with. So I moved, end of story. Obviously, this might be a more extreme example, but the logic is the same. I just cannot see why I would willingly torture myself in a place I dislike, just for the sake of...what? Good luck!

Only in Switzerland would anyone make that kind of a statement, no offense. I am 23 and have been working full-time since i was 15, and I am studying in my ''free'' time. Yes, i do have an extremely strict work schedule, as does everyone my age I know back in North America.

yep, fam protection n all that... fair point. but what do shop owners think to close down 12- yxz? why not 1-xyz? his one hour... wht difference does it make apart from catering more people with sanwiches=more business?

I haven't ever seen a 24h shop or grocery in Athens, so I wouldn't either call Greece a "fitting example" at all. Things in Southern Europe are not that US-driven. To me, for instance, it makes perfect sense that shops are closed on Sundays.

As for the rest of the week, okey, supermarkets close at 21:00 on weekdays and at 20:00 on Saturdays (just 1-2 hours extended) but still, it's far from 24h. Only restaurants/bars/deliveries stay open until late at night.

The lunch break indeed seemed initially strange to me. But still, it's better than having Public Services working at 12, but shutting down completely at 13:30 - 14:00. Or having the secretary of your university working only 11:00-13:00 every day. The way things work here seem like heaven, for the time being.

So, for me, things here are just an offset by -1 or -2 hours, as I've never experienced the "convenience" of having 24h services.

And it's not that they don't "need" or "want" the option, it's that they never "had" the option. It's the same argument as "It's the way it's always been done" By that argument, you wouldn't have cell phones, the internet, or a lot of other things in Switzerland that you take for granted. "Why, I don't need that Internet! Taking the train into town and using the library there has always worked fine for me and I get to drag my family along for some quality library time and then it's off to church for more quality time and then it's back to the cat sand mine in the mountains for more quality time!"

I can see your f* point. I will not tell you to f* move away if you don't like it.

What I really f* wonder is why the f* expats who know to run a f* business and know how to do it better than the f* swiss don't open a f* business. As a f* owner of a f* business you are allowed to f* work whenever you f* like. And as you are f* better you will make a f* lot of f* money.

For f* sake.

To make lunch for the kids when they come home on their lunch break?

Tom

Yes, I can see how your experience back in North America is relevant. Do augment the report when you find out what most people ages 15-26 do in Switzerland.

If the plan is to spend more time with family, why don't ALL the parents run home at lunch time?

ok, i had lunch at school. but i doubt that at my local volg the 50 yrs plus ladies (4 of them) have kids in school they need to make lunch for...

It use to horrible 5-7 yrs before. In last few yrs the situation has improved a lot. Now atleast there are many shops open in afternoon and in evening till 19:00-19:30hrs. I think soon Switzerland will also have 24*7 shops.

Around here, most do!

Tom

Same here. And that does NOT mean that women do not work. They are well organised, that's all. It would make NO business sense to open between 12 and 13.30, as nobody would choose to shop at that time.

There are a lot of foreign students here who have to work and study at the same time. They don't share the local mentality that a person can not / should not do anything useful unless they have a Master's degree, or they are shocked by the high prices here, and that's why they work.
So I don't buy that most people ages 15-26 in Switzerland don't work as you implied in your last post; I do buy that most Swiss ages 15-26 don't work though.
According to good old ''wikipedia'', of the 11-20 age group 19% are foreigners, and of the 21-30 age group, 29% are foreigners. Is it safe to assume that a good percentage from these age groups works 9-5 or something similar? I would say so.
So I don't care what if the Swiss youths like to f*** around, I care that there's a good percentage of foreign youths here that have a different lifestyle and would like to shop for groceries at convenient times and buy lunch at goddamned lunch!!

Chill man - and go and buy lunch in a proper 'lunch place, Café, restaurant, Migros, Coop, wherever - but NOT in a small village bakery there is more to life than 24hr shopping, honest. If there isn't, well it is very sad indeed

We have truly great students at our school....and yes they come from great places......I am sorry that so many people think that where they come from is the only place to be. Truth is, most places in the world have something amazing to offer. While some places may have corrupt governments, high crime or other negatives, but amidst all that a plenty of good people that have a lot to offer if given the chance......so yes there are 50 great nations and probably a lot more than that.....

Hurrah, at last we agree, on something much more important than shopping. I taught all my adult life in inner city multicultural schools in the UK - and I can assure you I do not believe that CH is the navel of the world

Fight for real battles- and never mind about your sandwich, much bigger fish to fry, truly.

This is EXACTLY what I am trying to get at. Just because I question some of the business practices here by no means signal that I hate it. On the contrary, I am elated to be here. I wake up to a view of Alps panorama from 1000 meters up. Live in safety and make a great wage. But I would be a poor contributor of this community of I didn't question why things are done. That is how things get improved. It is a common business practice for a company to get employees together and say "what is working and what can be fixed?" Let people share ideas. I machine if you spoke up in a meeting as said that you wished that the ordering system at your company was easier to understand. Do you think the boss would say "If you don't like it, go back to your old job?" if he did, it would be a toxic place to work. We improve as a society by questioning the status quo. One thing that no one has really asked me is what I would change about the US? If you gave me two lists to make and I had one with issues about CH and the other about the US.....my US list would be 5 times the length. But that doesn't mean that some of the things done there can be examined here. Progress is made by asking if things can be done better and by questioning the people who simply say "That's the way it's always been done" Cyclical Redundancy is the reason why some places and business are behind the times.