I think Americans need to understand how normal it is in other countries to have extremely limited hours of operation to ensure the sanity and health of workers are kept in tact. We are so accustomed and entitled to demanding people’s time that we forget that they’re… y’know… people
Being in Germany was really humbling because legit the GROCERY STORE would straight up close for almost 3 days because of how holidays would line up and the hours were already limited to literally be from 8-8 because people need to go home and live their own lives
It is very common for places in Spain to straight up shut down for 2-3 hours because people take siestas seriously since it gets hot and people deserve to take a nap
The world is not going to end if you’re inconvenienced by just… coming back later. We’ve been spoiled with immediacy and technology that we forget there was a point in time in human history where a person had to trek 20+ minutes down to the village bakery only to find it closed because of some family emergency and that just meant there would be no bread that day- and that’s okay!!
The discourse surrounding labor is so sad because we should not demand or expect things to be open 24/7 because we were not designed to be constantly moving machines. We need to relearn how to plan better since downtime is a wonderful opportunity to reflect and enjoy the moment. Not everything needs to be done with gusto and fervor. Sometimes it’s fine to pivot and just enjoy the moment for what it is and try again later. Touch more nature. Bask in the sun and rain. Breathe.
