With all the rules these days, my wife and I still like to get out for some fresh air and do our own shopping errands. Last Friday, in balmy weather and bright sunshine, my wife said ‘let’s go.’ It is becoming something of an adventure in this world of the coronavirus.
One of our stops was at a branch of our bank. I needed to make a deposit and get some rolls of coins for our apartment building’s washing machines. My wife decided to come in also, as she wanted some personal cash from her account. The only spot where it was difficult to maintain social distancing was at the front door where three employees were grouped, making sure that only a few customers, at a time, came into the bank.
I went immediately to a teller behind a new plastic screen and my wife waited for another teller. I then heard my wife called over to the next teller by her first name. It was obvious from the look on her face that my wife was not sure who the woman was but she had obviously met her somewhere.
What surprised me was that this woman, who might have been 25 years younger than my wife, started to berate her for being outside of her home. From what she said, it was obvious that the woman knew my wife has a non-virus-related health condition. My wife stood, mouth open, in surprise. I jumped to her defence with a flip remark. All that got was the woman’s ire directed at me. She thought I was irresponsible for being outside at my age, as well.
As we doubted someone like that would be working long at the bank, we completed our business and departed. When we came out of the bank, we found a line had formed across the front of the bank and around the corner—all respectably separated by two metres.
But we did enjoy our drive in the warming sun.
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Copyright 2020 © Peter Lowry
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