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.

I think your perspective, as someone who hasn’t been shopping since March, is interesting, and I can see why the change might feel slightly dystopian if you’ve been confronted with it suddenly rather than gradually,
Also agree with the observations about masks and non-verbal cues. My instinct is to take it off at the point where I’m communicating with someone (e.g. at the till) so that I can smile at them, which would rather defeat the object!

Im with boxhillbertha on this one. Get a grip.

you ain't got a lot of choice on this one

Distopian

Really?

adjective
1.
relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice:
"the dystopian future of a society bereft of reason"

I've almost never been on a shopping trip for fun, and certainly won't start now. I can see that the changes in shops must seem quite extreme if you regard shopping as a pastime and social experience. For me, it's mostly a way to obtain items I need, so perhaps the changes seem less dramatic.

@Aridane

Distopian

Really?

adjective
1.
relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice:
"the dystopian future of a society bereft of reason"

Or even Dystopia, n An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible.

We definitely ain't there yet. It doesn't take much imagination to think of ways things could be worse!

Everything is so fucking miserable now. I used to go 'shopping' once or twice a month - meet a friend, have coffee, mooch around the shops, buy stuff that I didn't need... I went yesterday and bought nothing. I won't go in shops where I have to queue to get in. I hate the one-way systems that seem designed to bring you into more contact with other shoppers than not. I hate hate hate wearing a mask.

You can't touch anything, or try anything on - you have to take it home, then bring it back if it doesn't fit - why not buy online, in which case? Save yourself the petrol and parking charges.

Death of the High st, right there.

I went to a shop yesterday and saw a tiny tot, about 4yo, in a tiny mask. Why, in God's name, WHY? Is she protecting me?

Primark have always sold hand sanitiser by the till.

Not RTFT but do you know what dystopian means, OP?

I think the mad bind is when clothes shopping you cannot try anything on so I just stick to online shopping and keep shopping in person to an absolute minimum.

I recall the first time I went to the local pharmacist it felt very unreal with them in their full medical masks. The same for the staff in Boots.

@KatherineJaneway

It's never occurred to me to blame Boris Johnson when I have to wear a mask.

We'd never have to wear them if Corbyn won, dontcha know

In Labour run Wales we don't have to wear them unless we are on public transport. .

plenty of people wearing masks in Wales!

@BoxhillBertha

plenty of people wearing masks in Wales!

Yes, of course some people are wearing them but my point is that unlike England it's not mandatory to do so at the moment unless on public transport.

Where ! am (South Wales) maybe 1 in 10 people are wearinm outside of a public transport setting.

wearing them!

In Labour run Wales we don't have to wear them unless we are on public transport.

I'm not in Wales

I agree with the slightly dystopia feel that now prevails.
All those posters saying don't be over dramatic.. If you read many dystopia novels things start with little public liberties being "removed" under the guide that this is for the good of the people.. To keep them safe.

Mask wearing was made mandatory with NO review date. There is no legal requirement for the government to review the need for masks.. So.. This is likely to stay in place.

I am another person who will now not be mooching about the shops, buying new things just because... I won't be going to the cinema or a museum.
I have halved my credit card bill easily.

And the absurd mixed messages from the government... You can go to the pub and sit mask free, go up and order at the bar, stand next to strangers etc... But I can't sit in a sd cinema without a mask.. I have lost faith in them

I understand you completely, OP.

I keep thinking, suppose in some bizarre time-glitch I arrived in 2020 from this time in 2019 - went into Tesco and everyone is wearing a surgical mask, with posters about 'social distancing' and hand sanitiser all over the place - I'd think I'd arrived in a disaster movie.

In Scotland it's on public transport and in shops. Most people are wearing them and I haven't experienced the 'soulless eyes' etc. I work in non essential retail and we can still have a laugh and joke with customers and I can absolutely tell when someone is smiling - eyes, tone of voice, posture etc.

People need to smize more.

Did you just tell people they need to smile more?

I think it's worse if you havn't been out for a while. A big bonus for me is that Tescis was really quiet yesterday and their one way system was gone...thank god so felt lovely.
It is a bit dystopian though.

I agree the whole experience is a bit wierd and tedious. Took my 2 DD’s on Saturday for a few clothes went to Costa. All fairly normal except for masks but it’s such hard work! The masks make me loose my peripheral vision and then I couldn’t hear what the girls were saying we all got hot and cross with each other. I wear one at work but it seems different when out and watching kids.
The little one had a funny turn in Costa and came over all sick and pale she hasn’t worn a mask for as long before and it was hot.
It was just shit and lots of shops in our town centre were gone or still closed. Managed to get a few bits from H and M and spent a fortune in Waterstones.
I just can’t be bothered with it and what we used to do for a bit of a treat every few months is now a chore. Youngest said she would rather get stuff online next time.

Yes @WhentheDealGoesDown I can't stop thinking about The Handmaid's tale either. Especially when I see people in black masks. I have stopped going out apart from what I can't do online, I find it stressfull and definitely not pleasurable.

There are places where there are fewer masks -and I think people have been dancing around irach other checking out who is relaxed about pit and who is uptight and zealous about masks and SD.
I go to those shops where there are decreasing mask wearers and the pubs where the staff have stoped wearing masks and taking temperatures.
Maybe will polarise completely into two types of establishment over time -those for the the sane and those others for the obsessive coronaphobes.

Shops are fine. Not as much queuing. I never stopped going out though.

I was in Wales at the weekend and weirdly I felt very vulnerable as they don't have to wear masks in the shops there, we did, but in Cardiff in some shops it was as if the pandemic had never happened! No social distancing, no limit on customers, no one way system.. - yes Typo, I'm talking about you - I couldn't get out of there quick enough!