Leith supermarket staff treating me like Hollywood A-Lister (despite my wonky ears) – Susan Morrison

Susan Morrison finds shoppers being greeted with a lovely smile and an elegant wave at a local supermarket in Leith.
If Bobby can manage a face mask surely Susan can too (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)If Bobby can manage a face mask surely Susan can too (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
If Bobby can manage a face mask surely Susan can too (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Scots love to kick off at anything looking like authority, so it’s remarkable how good natured most people are about the need to stand and wait politely to access the frozen food aisle at Lidl.

Tesco Duke Street has a seriously efficient queueing system that’s working well.

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Matters are helped immeasurably by the staff, who are rising to this challenge like a new emergency service, starting at the very door.

On the days I’ve been forced to forage for milk and fruit, there has been a fantastic young woman marshalling the queue with a lovely smile, apologising gently to customers and thanking us for our patience, then ushering people on with an elegant wave, like we were red carpet A-Listers being moved into the Oscar ceremonies.

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I sported a mask for the first time. There’s clearly a knack to this. Another reason to admire the NHS and all our caring staff.

For one thing, I didn’t realise I could adjust it, so it kept falling off my ears. I have never realised that I have one ear slightly higher than the other. I managed to get it to stay on, but obviously, in a wonky manner.

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As a result, every time I breathed out, hot air rose and steamed up my glasses. I lurched about the fresh food aisle until I collided with the iceberg lettuce. Given that this was, in fact, the anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which I know a lot about, I felt this was appropriate.

I settled for holding my breath.

My lovely neighbours have handmade some new ones, I’ll give them a bash.

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