Index – National – At least companies have air in their masks

Is it really possible to sit on the terrace of a cafeteria and have a coffee? I never thought this would seem like an incredible thing someday, but for a while I didn’t even think it would be possible. It is true that outside of Budapest and its area of ​​influence it is as if there was another world: if I do not go there, I do not think so, but I saw with my own eyes in Székesfehérvár that people sit at the tables of the restaurants on the pedestrian street , the real waiter comes out, an order made through sounds, then you take out the food, you put it on the table and the people there consume it locally.

Afterward, they can even eat ice cream at the patisserie, and it’s not even impossible to go to a real bookstore in the building and buy tangible books there!

Even after three o’clock, but it’s already really amazing, I’m also afraid that the reader may greet these fabulous stories.

Well, if we deduce the mask used in stores, the salary cuts, the layoffs, the concern that if until now a company has not had an income due to epidemic restrictions, now it will not be enough because it has run out of purchasing power if we do not expect Summer traffic will greatly miss foreign tourists and it would not be on everyone’s mind that a second wave of the epidemic could come and, with it, new restrictions, then almost.

In any case, the first day was quite good, mainly because it coincided with the graduation of literature, after which a large number of 18-year-old high school students went to the restaurants in the center of Fehérvár.

“Graduation, well, it was pretty primitive,” said Adam Arany, almost disappointed, who just celebrated with a beer to take the exam out of his little finger. Advanced math maybe more serious, hopefully this year’s Latin OKTV winner said. Apparently, the preparation did not consume all his time, he knew what the data of the county of the infection are like, that the county of Fejér is the most infected after the capital and the county of Pest. It may be strange that there is a passage between the strictest capital and the most restrictive parts of the country, or it shouldn’t be, or the rules should be the same, he said, but overall, Adam said it was time to relax.

If you open it, it will crash

“It is a great relief to us, even if an average day is a fraction of today’s traffic. But at least it is,” said Perte Bistro, manager of Main Street. According to Balázs Szollás, it is already a great relief to be able to cover the salaries of the employees with this, because at the end of March there was someone who had to be sent, as well as many other places. They were far from being able to offset income with delivery, so it’s important that now, even with a mask, they get air and maybe have a chance to rehire some of the former employees.

Balázs Szollás is the store manager of Perte Bistro

Photo: István Huszti / Index

“If the weather is good, there will be guests, it used to matter, now it will be, after we can finally open it,” said an employee of the Wine Pharmacy a few hundred meters away. The Harczi Rolands escaped the layoffs, only two take over the store. Admittedly, he still thinks about striking a balance early, the first day is promising, but of course it’s a matter of what will happen in the summer when foreigners also take the traffic, which is quite unlikely now, unless someone is Trapped here during quarantine as Andrew Ackland-Snow, he is the art director for the Harry Potter films, having previously worked on the filming of two James Bond and Titanic films.

He was in Etyek for filming the Halo television series when work was stopped due to the epidemic. “Whoever knew it went home, luckily I didn’t,” he says. Ackland-Snow is very happy with this later, he can move much more freely in terms of epidemic than if he were in London. He would have considered it almost insensitive to his returning colleagues if he paid for a pint of beer on Fehérvár’s seafront. It is only foam in the beer that the resumption of work can be seen in Etyek.

Even if you are not as satisfied, the manager of the main street bookstore is also optimistic. The store rented by Lira closed on March 27 in accordance with the decree, but luckily no one was fired. Although the salary was reduced, according to Attila Köntös, it was worth it in exchange for protecting jobs. That when the return of the salary to the previous level is another question, but it is obvious that when the traffic will return. Buyers were already on the first day, but Köntös does not expect traffic before September to be similar to the previous one. Nor did he personally complain about the quarantine. “I love being at home, I finally had more time to read, but I know that the confinement was difficult to carry for many,” he said, strictly wearing a mask.

Without bra, without money

Péter Dolezsár was also waiting for the clients with a mask, which he was not forced to close, but the relief did not relieve him as much. He runs a haberdashery shop, so the most important period of his traffic is coming to an end with good weather and holidays, he should have formed a reserve so far, which in turn has been mined for the past month and means, medium.

The demand for gum for masks has increased, it’s hard to get these days too, but that doesn’t make up for the loss of income. Several of his employees have converted part-time, and he himself takes the opportunity to pay contributions later. However, he doesn’t expect too much help from the government’s economic protection package: paying low wages is also not very profitable with income, even if they are promised budget support. “Providers are more patient if we pay later, and it also matters if the rent is reduced.” This has also happened in his case, he says that it matters more than the “good words” heard by the government. “But this is how most entrepreneurs feel.” In talking to her clients, she found that the promise to “rebuild” her 13-month pension was also not an absolute success. Those who receive it are few, since they still do not have a monthly pension, who do not benefit, feel that others should receive help now.

Dolezsár’s store was particularly affected by the decrease in lingerie purchases. The braless movement, which sprang up in the home office, may also play a role in this.

What, on the other hand, says the store manager is good at is that since the coronavirus, merchants have come together better, trying to help each other, there has generally been more empathy. He didn’t even guess when life would be more balanced again, because he thought there was a lack of recognizable data for it, and operational staff didn’t try to fill this gap, either.

“Ah, it’s death,” said an ice cream shop about traffic in the center part that is closest to the old high school of Lajos Simicska and Viktor Orbán.

“I think people are slowly running out of money,” he said, more pessimistic than the others. He feels that epidemiological restrictions are inconsistent, after all, people could also go to the city market, “there were a lot of herrings on weekends”, and if they could have been there, why couldn’t they have opened all the stores so far? Still, he’s happy with the relief, but he doesn’t expect anything good because he expects a terrible summer season in the absence of foreigners. He doesn’t know if the measure is proportional to the danger, but he doesn’t know of any coronaviruses, not one that at least knows an infected person. Of course, he admits it’s just because of the restrictions, anyway

Life began further from the center. Regular guests were finally able to return to the outdoor benches of the small pub between the four floors of Parrot Housing Estate. Everyone follows the rule, no one inside except the server who refrained from talking about the first day of the restart.

Székesfehérvár Fő utca

Photo: István Huszti / Index

“We were finally able to earn some money for Aunt Babi,” said Robert Sonntag. The roofing contractor lost his social life, but did not complain because his work received no less. “The request was as much as usual, only the last week was a little calmer,” he said. His income did not decrease so much that he did not take advantage of the contribution allocation given to the cats.

In any case, he’s glad to ease the restrictions, as he may be at least a little freer for at least a few months before the second wave returns due to another restriction that many fear and as if many had already worried about, at least not as an unpleasant surprise.

(Cover image: István Huszti / Index)