ANDRE BEGIN

After a busy morning of running errands, the thought of making my own lunch was less than appealing, given the dip in energy I could see on the horizon. I decided to treat myself to a visit to a local sandwich shop that ever-so-kindly offers gluten-free buns to accommodate my food intolerance.

It appeared that others must have had the same idea, as the sandwich shop was pretty busy. Nonetheless, I got in line and patiently waited for my turn.

A few moments after arriving, a woman and her elderly mother joined us and stood in line behind me, discussing what they were going to order. I gathered that the elderly woman was not a regular, as she had no idea what she wanted. She articulated that she needed a good look at the menu offerings on the electronic display to reach a decision.

However, a few seconds later, she started complaining that she couldn’t see anything on the board and needed to get a closer look. I thought that was a fair point given the angle at which she was attempting to read the board.

The next thing I knew, without as much as an “Excuse me”, she had wedged herself between the young lady in front of me and me, exploring the many offerings on the display like a bobble-head. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to be making much progress in the decision-making department, as the next complaint to fill our airspace was that she needed her glasses.

Normally, I wouldn’t have experienced a “personal space” issue, but the elderly woman’s hacking cough that she didn’t have the courtesy to cover up was spewing mystery aerosols into our shared space. Clearly, the two-metre distancing rule from our pandemic days was a thing of the past.

I backed up a couple of feet to give her the space she had stolen away from me by her bold move. But regrettably, her daughter behind me hadn’t taken the cue to move back a bit herself. I’m not generally claustrophobic, but this conundrum would be a good opportunity for such a condition to kick in.
Fortunately, after about two minutes of considering her options, she had made up her mind and returned to her position in line behind her daughter.

But as the line moved forward, when we got to the station to select our sandwich toppings, the daughter was suddenly so close behind me that I could feel heat on the back of my neck and my discomfort level rising.

When the server handed me my sandwich, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was free to go. As I left, I felt a deep sense of nostalgia in missing the pandemic-era dots on the floor telling people where to stand to maintain adequate personal space between fellow shoppers.

Either way, I just thought that the whole situation was a little surreal, feeling sandwiched between customers at the sandwich shop, by individuals with no sense of boundaries when it came to personal space.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André