Left out and left behind

AOG, Madrid

Yesterday I was doing some shopping on the way home.  I had gone to the local supermarket with my headphones on and was looking to buy some dinner.
 

I noticed this woman fellow shopper as I went to the canned vegetables isle. I didn’t give her much thought since she looked very unfriendly and, quite frankly, these days I have zero time for unfriendly-looking people. 

I went about my business and stood in line to pay for a few minutes (it still amazes me how in Europe cash tills are usually kept at minimum with huge lines at any one time on any one register).
 

Suddenly, the angry woman in black rushed out of the supermarket with her huge over-the-shoulder bag.
 

The cashier was too busy and didn’t see her leave. The security guard was nowhere to be seen (maybe he was on a break). And the people in line in front of me where too preoccupied with having to wait for so long to pay.
 

So what is my gripe? Well, when I had last seen her, her hands were filled with items. When she saw me perhaps she got defensive that I had come to her isle when she was about to do some creative ‘discounting’ in her favor.
 

I did see her a couple more times in the store, and at all times she had her hands full.
 

So when she rushed out, I could only think the worse. Especially after, as I was leaving, the security guard came asking the cashier about her.
 

So why is this particular ‘potential’ shoplifter of any interest? Many reasons.
 

First of all, this woman was, in appearance anyway, middle class.  Almost trendy. She was well dressed and had an elegant manner to her.
 

Second of all, she was old. Maybe early to mid sixties. Although I know that people of all ages shoplift, it is true that she went against type. Middle class elderly women in Spain do not, as a general rule, shoplift. 

Especially not food.
 

But here it was, the real and ugly face of Spain’s current economic crisis.
 

The media in Spain, and I find this surprising, continuously go on and on about youth unemployment. With good reason, it is true. However, Spain suffers from a much more modern (yet antiquated in its inception) malaise. 

Unlike the US, or other more forward-thinking countries, in Spain, once you are past the age of 40, you may as well forget about working. 

In the labor market you are pretty much invisible and unemployable. 

And no, I am not exaggerating. 

Last year, about 40% of people unemployed in Spain were over the age of 40. The number is higher for those over 50. 

It is true that, generally, in Spain most employers prefer to hire younger and cheaper workers than those with greater experience. 

The first time I saw an advert which stated very explicitly “People over the age of 40 need not apply” I was shocked. That was 5 years ago, but those adverts have not stopped popping up. 

And yes, in theory, Spanish law forbids age discrimination. But this is one of those instances where the law is much more advanced than the society it is meant to serve.

Whereas in the UK such adverts would create an outrage, here they merely reflect the current state of affairs.

And I have another example. Years ago a friend of mine from Barcelona had just gotten back from the US. 

He is not exactly anti-American, but he does have that strange superiority complex which most Europeans seem to don whenever it comes to American culture and American practices and things they don’t know anything about.

He was telling us at a bar about his trip. About how wonderful it all was, how cheap things are in the US, and about how, in America, old people are exploited.

“I went to Wal-Mart, and the guy bagging my shopping was an old guy! Why do Americans exploit the elderly like that?”

Most people kept quiet and some laughed. Where he saw exploitation I saw respite from life and poverty.

And then I said that unlike in Spain, where old people are not even hired, at least in the US the elderly are not discarded and they are allowed to remain productive if they wish to be.

My friend was not convinced. Neither were the others, although some did say that, as usual, the US was more advanced than Spain in these matters and that Spain had “a long way to go still”.

But you see, in Spain, most old people don’t work not because they don’t want to, they don’t work because they are either retired, or they can't find a job. 

Of course, Spain being Spain, the family plays a very large part in this scenario. 

Most retired people in Spain have a state pension, and many financial benefits, however most does not mean all. 

When that happens, the family tends to fill in the gaps which the State leaves open (and there’s many of those). 

Although access to free health is guaranteed, many other things are not, and that is where most people rely on their families. 

For example, it is not at all uncommon for married couples to take in their elderly parents to live with them. Less so these days, especially in large cities like Madrid or Barcelona. 

But it is not uncommon, nor unheard of, nor strange. Nor is it strange to go on vacation with the entire family, grandparents included. 

Personally I find this one of the more endearing traits of Spanish society. 

There was a story in the papers a couple of years ago which talked about an elderly couple, one of whom (the wife) had been made homeless when the building they lived in was about to be refurbished. They had been living there for over 40 years. 

“There” was a one room studio apartment the walls of which could be touched at the same time if you stretched out both your arms. 

In Spain this is known as “infra-vivienda”, or substandard housing. Unfortunately they are not the only couple living in such conditions. 

On the one hand you could blame social services, but on the other you can also blame these people’s culture.
It is unsightly to ask for help, or complain publicly. Or at least it is for their generation. Younger people do complain more, though there is not much of a culture of asking for help. Ironically, there is a culture of demanding a particular right.

This I usually put down to their rights being trampled during the Franco dictatorship. 

So when that elderly woman left with, probably, some shopping in her bag, it dawned on me just how bad things are beginning to get. And although Spain’s economy is much larger than Greece’s (and Portugal, Ireland and Iceland put together), if things get worse, then people’s lives will suffer because of it. 

Although there is a large underground economy in the country, it is obvious that not everyone participates in it. 

That lady last night did not seem to be participating in it.

Peculiarities of the Spanish streets

AOG, Madrid

One of the things that strike me most about livig in Spain, is the amount of old people on the streets. Used as I was to seeing a few OAPs (Old Age Pensioners for those of you not British) in London here and there, mostly in Post Offices, or at the corner shop, in Spain, you come accross hundreds of older people at all times and in all places. many of them work. Yes, some old people in the UK also work, but here, some of them run shops, or drive taxis, or work as waiters, well into their old age.

When you walk the streets, there they are, hand in hand the women, side by side the men. When you take the underground (subway), the bus, when you take a stroll. They are everywhere I go. Their lives don't just end in Spain. They don't hide and wait for the end. Like little ants they scurry forth, at their pace, probaly as they always did. I guess in Spain you are always you well into old age. Perhaps they don't realise they are old? And by this I mean that compared to other countries, the elderly strolling the streets appear to be very energetic.

They also appear to have a devil-may-care attitude. I am not saying they are aggressive, but most (certainly not all) do appear to be quite able to tell you off should you cross them. Perhaps it is defensive.

The kind old lady stereotype is a little bit harder to find in Spain. Of course, there are kind old ladies in Spain. I would venture that most are kind. But their number is certainly challenged by very straightforward ladies who will -sometimes- tell you to get off your seat on the bus and let them use it. Some will just look at you hoping you'll get up.

Others, and remember that animals work best in packs, will, if with a friend, start to tell their friend in a loud voice that some people today have no manners; that it is incredible how some people are rude enough to occupy a seat; etcetera. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the person they are alluding to wil get up and apologise, then the old ladies will apologise too and one of two things may happen, they will sit down (if there are two of them they will have a small argument over who should take the seat) or they will remain standing because they are either getting off at the next stop, or for some other reason. Perhaps pride. I think this is what keeps the running. Pride.

But not only old people roam the streets of Spain. Everyone roams here. I have seen more blind people walking the streets than anywhere else in the world I have visited. Of course in Spain there is an organisation called ONCE which provides many blind people with jobs, and they have a weekly lottery which provides them with funds. The blind are also very likely to appear on television. Participating in game shows, or very often, in the news. Not as newsreaders, but to illustrate their plight. And this is not an infrequent affair.

Not a day goes by that I don't see somebody with a deformity, or in a wheelchair, or in crutches, or with a medical condition they choose not to hide, or missing a limb (well, these are a bit rarer but they do exist), out in the open, living life to the fullest. They do not get hidden away as perhaps they do elsewhere. They seem to have an abundance of spirit in this country that permeates most everywhere and affects most everyone. And everyone is polite to each other when they take public transport. And if you are pregnant, all the seats are yours! Everyone gets up.

Of course, I am sure that many people in Spain do get hidden away. You hear stories about people being locked up for years. But you wouldn't know it by just walking up and down the streets in any Spanish city.