For months it has been advisable not to stay in shops longer than necessary. Stefanie Hentschel finds this particularly difficult.
Since bookstores in Hamburg have been allowed to reopen after the corona-related closure, posters in which I often buy books for myself and my two daughters have been hanging, with information on correct anti-corona behavior: mouth protection, no shaking hands, sneezing in the crook of my arm, Keep your distance, all right. But it also says: "Please do your shopping as soon as possible." Sip.
Fooling around was yesterday
I know it's childish, but I immediately felt rejected somehow: So they don't want me to be there any longer than absolutely necessary. I am not stupid and KNOW that the employees do not want to expose themselves to the risk of infection longer than necessary, which is understandable, but I FEELED something else. And in a bookstore! Where rummaging and rummaging is part of it, take a book in your hand, leaf through it, put it aside, take something else in your hand … But of course that was all before Corona, including the one with the hand-in-hand and – lie down again.
"As soon as possible, please." This straightforward sums up what we had to get used to in these times apart from hugs: junk. Fooling around. Delinquency. Especially when shopping. We keep our distance from others. But if the other one stops in front of me to look at her cell phone, to look for small change in her pocket or to chew gum out of her child's hair, and I can't get past her due to the lack of space, I have to stop and wait , and that annoys me. I think to myself: "Don't stand still, ey. Please do as soon as possible. Is that too much to ask?" And I don't think it's nice that I think that way. Because I am a friend of the leisurely.
In large supermarkets I can stay for a very, very long time, if my time allows. I carefully choose between variants of what is needed, forget something, go back, do not find my parked car again, discover a new product, just read the list with all the ingredients out of interest, taste a sample of goods, meet a friend, hug them (!) , chat me up. Of course, this is no longer possible. (And it's also less fun with a face mask.)
The dawdling will return
Ichiro Matsui, the mayor of the Japanese city of Osaka, apparently only knows women like me, because in April he suggested that only men should go shopping during the pandemic. It would take women just too long "while looking around and hesitating to buy this or that". For me I can say: Isso. (The men I know always buy only a fraction of what you need, and in the end the woman has to go out and get the olive oil again.) But it would be very painful for me not to be able to shop anymore . I try to go a little bit faster and simply grab one of the three coconut milk yogurts on offer, instead of weighing up the pros and cons of each of the three brands for a long time. OK?
But because I firmly believe that we are on the right track regarding the pandemic, I trust that the dawdling will return. If you can push yourself close to someone who doesn't like to choose between two universal cleaners while crouching in the narrow drugstore aisle, you don't have to think irritably: "But I saw that faster!", You just pull it Belly and squeezes through calmly, and everyone lives on according to his or her pace. I'm happy for that!
Stefanie Hentschel misses spontaneous hugs. And all the lessons in school for her two daughters – because children need community to learn.
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