To be shocked at how dystopian going shopping feels now?

[GratefulLove]

Today I went shopping in my town centre for the first time since early March. I just could not process how different it all is now. Last time I was in town I remember picking up a box of paracetamol and some hand sanitiser in Boots "just in case" but aside from that it all felt normal albeit a little like the calm before the storm.

Today though. Hand sanitiser everywhere, one-way systems, floor markings. Obviously I knew all this existed from social media and the news but seeing my town, my familiar town so completely different has floored me in a way I didn't expect. Shops selling hand sanitiser and masks - I expected this in Boots and other pharmacies but I didn't expect Primark to have rows and rows of hand sanitiser by the tills. I didn't expect shopping to feel so clinical, it felt like a hospital visit.

I was in one shop and there were a group of young children playing and joking around with each other. They did not have masks on and seeing them playing around just looked so normal and then I looked around and saw all the adults with masks just looking expressionless and almost soulless. It just looked so frightening.

We are months into this pandemic and I still can't believe this is all real. It still feels like a film. I don't know, with the daily conferences now a thing of the past and headlines now involving more topics than just the coronavirus it kind of felt like things were slowly getting back to normal but this really cemented that they are nowhere near normal.

Also I just want to say how much I appreciate all retail workers.

[AdoreTheBeach]

I totally get you OP. When it was lock down, even driving restricted. It was certainly dystopian. I used to get so anxious just to do the food shopping I would be walking around Waitrose crying with anxiety. I felt very thankful to the staff and would say thank you for coming in to work. More than that, I saw a police woman sitting v in the car park having her lunch. I knocked on her window and thanked her, told her people appreciate what they’re doing for us.

[TracyBeakerSoYeah]

Re: Beauty stuff I don't know why retailers can't give put a bit of the product (foundation, lipstick, eyeshadow etc) on a paper/card applicator & then give it to you to try on yourself?
A pp poster said they were doing that in a MAC store.

[Arkenfield3001]

@TheLittleDogLaughed

Well we for one as a household don’t feel unsettled by it all at all. We just go with the flow of new regulations etc. It’s all much of a muchness here in the countryside.

Harvest happening as usual, cows being milked as usual. Roads nice and empty! School hasn’t been the horrendous experience everyone keeps prophet sizing either! My kids had an amazing term at school during lockdown - different but just as much fun at school !
I take my hats of to all the teaching staff for making it such great experience and for helping the children feel happy & settled ...

[Arkenfield3001]

The masks and the hand sanitizers don’t worry in the slightest! What used to get me in Tesco’s were people telling each other off for overtaking when you are allowed to overtake at safe distance and people flapping if they were stuck behind you when all you had to do was quickly and assertively overtake. It’s like common sense, calm and confidence went out the window to be replaced by panic & hysteria !

Like you I applaud the retail staff and also applaud the fact that your kids are wearing masks. If my 2 year old can so can we all !

[KatherineJaneway]

Unless you've been locked in a cupboard under the stairs like Harry Potter with no access to any of the above there is ZERO way you would be surprised by any of the stuff you've mentioned.

The reality of the measures can be very different to simply knowing what's in place.

[TheLittleDogLaughed]

I agree OP, it just hits you sometimes how strange things are.

A previous poster said they live in London and that things are as they were but with the addition of masks. Well shopping in my London borough is not like that. The shops are VERY quiet, security guards a lot more present, strict floor guidelines, hand sanitiser stations at every doorway. Lots of small independent shops have closed completely. People, especially older people, look stressed. And there’s, to me, a feeling that there is no end in sight to this massive change to our normal daily existence.

So although it’s not the Blitz etc., it is a very strange experience to be ‘out in the world’ right now. I can’t see how anyone could not find it unsettling.

[CharlottesComplicatedWeb]

sales are down

[CharlottesComplicatedWeb]

I went in this week. I imagine their sakes are down the toilet. Not a tester in sight. I wanted a replacement product so it was OK but all those little “just browsing” sales they’d normally take? Gone.

[HeIenaDove]

I love our local Boots. Unfortunately i havent been in there for three weeks because its stifling and will be even worse in a face mask.

[cherish123]

@cologne4711 I hate boots. A security guard once coughed in my face (pre-corona).

[CharlottesComplicatedWeb]

OP, you don’t need to apologise, it’s YOUR experience.

I never realised how much expression is lost with half of your face covered. I just go in, get what I need and leave. So much of the experience is lost now. Remember, for some people, that little bit of shopping is their only contact socially.

[Trustarch]

@GratefulLove - don’t apologise for fin ring it all quite strange. It IS strange! But I agree the first time you feel the starkest difference. It’s the carefree-ness of the BC before corona that I miss.?

[Trustarch]

Can’t stand Boris... Ineffectual twit. My 8 year old would do a better job. But I’m not sure that’s relevant to the weirdness of going shopping in COVID times and wearing masks??

Bit fed up of trying to convey a smile with my eyes. Also anyone else finding it hard to breathe through the mask at the same time as walking and talking? I’m wondering if I’m just claustrophobic and I’d never noticed? Surely not?!

[GratefulLove]

I went out again today in a different town and it all felt a lot more normal and pleasant. Maybe it was just my hometown, maybe it was because it was my first experience of shopping but I still stand by the fact that I found my experience on Monday quite unsettling. I will not apologise for my opinions.

Also obviously I knew all of the measures in place from seeing it all on the news and social media, but as I wrote in the OP actually seeing it all in my hometown which is familiar to me is different to social media photographs of random towns and cities.

I just also want to add for context that I have a heart condition and other health issues that contribute to why I feel a lot of nervousness about going shopping so that probably contributed to why I found it so eery.

Anyway I'm not going to respond on here again as apparently me feeling anxious just "spreads [my] problems to others" so I apologise for that.

[cologne4711]

I find shopping utterly depressing now. Every shop has the Prefect giving a little lecture as you go in, all shops the Prefect says something different, you cant try anything on and you have to queue for far too long everywhere

I've not experienced this. The not being able to try things on is silly, as you can try on at home and they just quarantine the item. So I can't see why you can't try on in the shop and they quarantine it.

The retail sector have spent years developing shopping from a functional activity to something pleasurable and a leisure activity in its own right and it is sad that it feels as though Covid has wiped this out and shopping is functional and a bit depressing again

I would dispute that shopping was pleasurable before this. Either you were hassled by staff or ignored. And even if they were ok they didn't have what you wanted. Online shopping is much more convenient unless you need something right now. When I do food shopping, I don't queue as I time my visits for when it's quiet.

Do people writing risk assessments think the virus can be absorbed through your arse and two layers of fabric

Goodness knows, but we had the "thou shalt not stop and sit down on your daily walk" during lockdown too. There's a thread elsewhere on crazy rules - worth a read: www.railforums.co.uk/threads/the-most-over-the-top-restrictions-introduced.206878/ (not just to do with rail it's a general section).

[VinylDetective]

I wouldn’t go as far as dystopian but it’s vile. I detest it so much I’m basically still in lockdown. A trip to the supermarket as infrequently as I can manage and that’s it. I have no desire to shop for clothes, cosmetics or anything nice at the moment.

[FelicisNox]

Is this a joke?

OK, you haven't been out since March but this info is on literally all forms of social media and on TV, not to mention endless whinging about hand sanitizer, 2 meter queuing and face masks on MN since the pandemic started?

Unless you've been locked in a cupboard under the stairs like Harry Potter with no access to any of the above there is ZERO way you would be surprised by any of the stuff you've mentioned.

I call BS on this one. Big, attention seeking BS.

[Knittingsavesme]

I’m with you OP. I keep thinking I’ve been asleep and woken up in some dystopian world. It’s freaky.

[Mumgonenuts2020]

It’s just like Ikea!! I do everything on line! Saves on diesel and going to three supermarkets to get what you need! I have not been to primark since I have had children, Delivery of clothes is in bulk and you keep in budget! The down side is being anti social and more stressed when you do have to go out! I keep forgetting my mask in the car...

[Crunchetta]

None of them were open 2 months ago, I agree shopping a horrible experience nowadays, not fun at all!

[Alwaystired90]

Under his eye, honey

[starlight13]

Only temporary in the grand scheme of things. I quite like my privacy behind my mask and I love the fact that people are encouraged to stay away from each other. Puts those who ignore personal boundaries right into touch and long overdue.

[Furries]

@Komacho

Shops selling hand sanitizer is dystopian?

Maybe calm down a bit.

Blimey p, there’s always one - and you have the honour of the first reply. Seriously, the OP was just expressing how weird it is that the way our shop visits are supposedly the new normal, but it still doesn’t feel normal. Nothing wrong with OP expressing the fact that current day to day life is a bit surreal.

[likeafishneedsabike]

@BoxhillBertha

Not at all. It's calm, less rushed, less busy and I'm not at all bothered by masks.

^this! I love this clean new world. What a pity that it took a global pandemic to raise standards of basic hygiene and organisation.

[randomer]

Hoorah! begone Covid, Waitrose is emptier. Result.