It might be familiar to those who had experience of changing places.
I like this era of supermarkets. One can wander through goods as long as you want and nobody is going to disturb you and ask what is it they can do for you? I always understood this question as "What's up? Either buy something or get the damn out of here..."
I know it sounds a bit sick, but people disturb me. I go to the shop and want to buy a piece of bread. In order to buy a fresh Semmel one needs to start a conversation, say hi and indicate what is it that I want. And once in a while even this small effort is too much. I speak too low when I'm tired, or forget the words or articles in my second foreign language, so I need to repeat what I said over and over again. Or maybe it is just twice, but it is enough to make me feel embarrassed. I take her time, I don't really know what do I want or don't remember how is it called in German. I stand in the line next to the counter, look at all these people in front of me and behind me, and decide to buy dried bread. Or rice waffles. They don't get bad. Because I don't need too much bread, so if I buy larger package it dries out, and I can't buy one piece of bread without human assistance. It's not good to throw away dried out bread, when so many people are hungry. It's a waste. Thanks god they made these fresh bakeries when one can take croissants straight from the baker, but indirectly through a wall of small compartments. The baker opens his side and loads bread, and I on the other side take it out. End of the story. No communication necessary.
Next I go to the shoe repair store. I know what to say and how to express it in German. But suddenly I see a piece of cat hair on the shoe laces and I get stuck "Sorry, my shoes are not very clean", I want to say, but forget what is "clean" in German. So I say the beginning and then chew down the rest, hoping that the right word comes to me, but it doesn't. Oh well. I simply continue my previous program: here is money, it is going to be ready on this or that day, thank you, goodbye. And he will never know that I actually cared to bring him clean shoes. Can you imagine working as a shoe repair guy? What if everyone would just leave their dirty smelly shoes? He needs to earn money, so he is going to take them, of course. But most likely he doesn't care at all. All he wants is to earn his living.
