Margaret Serious

Masks, banks, and something I never thought I’d need to say on Jan. 1: Should I take my mask off?

If my private diary had categories the way this blog does, I think every year would have a category called I Never Thought of This Until Now. Tonight will have the first entry in that category for 2020.

I had to go to the bank for the first time since the public advisory to wear masks on our faces in public. It’s been a couple of weeks, but with little shopping, the main thing that drove me to the bank was the need to get quarters for the machines in the laundry room. So off to the bank it was, with a mask made of a soft pink-and-white bandanna and two ponytail holders to hold the fabric across my face.

The thought came to me on the bus: I was going to the bank to make a withdrawal, and I had a mask over my face in order to do it.

One of the bankers walking around the office — a big one, since my usual little branch is closed — said hello to me calmly and reacted with gentle concern when I said I had a question.

“Should I take my mask off before I go up to the teller window?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, and he gently encouraged me to look at the people in line for the tellers — six feet/two yards apart, but unmasked.

I released the pressure on my ears, stuffed the bandanna mask in my coat pocket, and smiled at the banker as I thanked him.

Everything went calmly at the window. I got only the money I asked for, no more, and walked over to the door of the bank.

I put the mask back over my face and walked away through the quiet mid-afternoon traffic.

Just another day in 2020.

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Filed under:
Expressions

Tags:
2020 visions