The cashier makes a somewhat measured, surly impression. Not normal for how you are treated behind the checkout at the supermarket in our beautiful Portugal.
Supermarket staff are often friendly and cheerful
But this one isn’t in the mood. My items are barely pushed through, I get a brief nod when I hold my app up to the All-seeing Eye, and like a well-behaved, well-adjusted fellow countrywoman, I ask for appearances’ sake: “Posso? – May I?” – as if she would ever say: “No! You wouldn’t dare!!”
She apparently is in a hurry. And it’s contagious.
I am quite an organized shopper (sometimes when I see people’s carts, I get the creeps) but now a big heavy mango is ending up on the bag of chips (ouch), and the bag meant for vegetables contains the yogurt too … anyway, it is so-much-comma-so-much-euros-please, and I am counting my bills. (because I’m a fan of cash.)
I get a five-euro note and a handful of coins back; she slams her drawer shut decisively, calls out something to her colleague two checkouts away, pulls the drawer out, and stands up. I just manage to save my broccoli, which was still lying on her swing door, because she is clearly ready for it. A break.
Maybe she really needs to pee. Just like me …
I push my cart, with the thrown-in content, to the side and dive into the restroom. It has just been cleaned, which is great, but where is the toilet paper? Apparently, they forgot it, so there I sit with my five-euro note still in my hand, because where do you put that so quickly? I have to laugh … do I have to wipe my butt like a cheapskate with a five-euro note now? That is a bit shabby, decadence-wise.
Inflation isn’t *that* bad yet.
Since thoughts can tumble everywhere, just like my groceries a moment ago, I have to think now about the text exchange I had with my sister a while ago. About toilets in the supermarket. You don’t have that in the Netherlands. Whaaat??? Not anywhere at all? Never thought about it. No way, public toilets are very scarce anyway. And you don’t show up at a café without using something.
Bizarre. She doesn’t even live in the big city, so you’d expect people in the countryside to be a bit more easygoing about those matters. But no. I remember from back in the day that you could use the toilet at the Hema (1), but that would cost you a quarter or something. Or maybe a dime. On the toilet lady’s saucer; that profession still existed back then.
Iater,you could use the toilet at the Big Central Library (we are in he heart of Rotterdam now), but from the late 80’s onwards, you had to go through a turnstile after inserting your quarter, and try to get everything sorted under a blacklight. Not because it gave you such a radiant smile, but more because the junkies couldn’t find their veins.
The toilet lady had long gone due to budget cuts by then
Just a wistful digression in this train of thought – there was a toilet lady at the Campanhã train station in Porto. The senhora had placed a small table in the hallway in front of the toilets, with a vase of flowers and a cushion on her chair. With a floral saucer where you could leave your contribution. She was wearing – naturally – a sleeveless checkered apron, and she sang, and chatted with everyone: “Aqui amor, este está limpinho – Here, darling, this one is clean.”
credits to: https://toptypetjes.nl/typetjes/typetje-toiletjuffrouw/
I was allowed to pee for free once because I only had a big note that she didn’t have a comeback for. “Não faz mal, amor, fica para próxima – Never mind, darling, next time.” Since I still had to wait an hour for the train anyway, I went for a beer afterwards, got some change, and was able to pay off my debt after all.
Budget cuts. No more flowers, singing, polishing, or chatter when I was there the other day
I suspect she landed a job with the cleaning crew at Porto airport. Because there, in the ladies’ restroom, in the two corners by the sinks, stands a modest little vase with flowers.
Or it’s the Ghost of the Toilet Lady.
(1) Hema: very famous store in the Netherlands; used to be very popular with the common people.
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(Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired of the keyword stuff and Google’s dictatorship. So here they are, and I’m also hoping for the cleverness of AI in this matter that it will still be found and read, but that I don’t have to force myself to use the right terms in the title and headings. #peeing #supermarket #toiletlady )
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal. We started to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa.You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere. Since Covid we rent the houses for a longer period of time, not as holiday houses anymore.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation.
In the weekend we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.