“A leaf from summer days, // I took it with me on my hikes, // So that one day it may say to me, // How loud the nightingale beat, // How green the forest I walked through.” Of course you can do it like Theodor Storm and study the change of seasons and their characteristics in nature. “Oh, wasps! They’re early this year.” Or: “Look, the trees are already losing leaves, it must be because of the drought!” But there are also other places that show how the world is doing and what is to come: supermarkets, for example.
Quengelware is the name of the sweets that are placed directly at the checkout because the parents find it difficult to say “no” when the children’s longing and impatience mix in the shopping trolley at the end of the round. Large providers use the space in front of the fussy goods to place goods that they believe are particularly in demand because they fit in well with the times, push-to-order goods, so to speak. In the lockdown phases, it was wall paint and brushes. Right now it’s umbrellas and cooler bags, with the gaps on the shelves showing how good the summer weather has been so far – and where the supply chains are currently having gaps.
And there are other observations to be made where the consumer goods of modern civilization are lined up for self-service. On the liquor shelf, for example. The excitement about the song “Layla” (“I have a whorehouse and my whorehouse mom’s name is Layla // She’s prettier, younger, hornier”) has been well documented. It has gone down a bit that there is also a liqueur for the song: “Layla – The Shot” has 15 percent and, according to the manufacturer, was created because every self-respecting brothel manager also needs a “puff shower”.
The violation of political correctness does not find rapid sales
The whole thing is really no joke, but can also be seen in Munich supermarkets, alongside similarly tasty drinks such as the “Berliner Luft”, whereby the amount on the shelves reveals: The Layla supply chains are apparently intact and the violation of political correctness is selling at breakneck speed Not.
But it will definitely become an issue again soon. The Wiesn is getting closer, and this is also evident in the supermarkets: the festival beer has recently been mixed in with the crowded goods there, offered in proper style with glass beer mugs into which the canned original wort specialties can be filled. At the Oktoberfest, “Layla” will not be completely taboo, the hosts can decide for themselves whether they want to play it in their tents, which only increases the scandalous content: Every evening everyone will soon be listening: Who is playing the number? Who’s bawling? What is played instead? And is that perhaps even more offensive?
Munich’s economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner said this week that he wants to be “neither the cultural nor the language police,” which is surprising given that he is a member of the CSU, which has long sought this role rather than turned it down. But that’s how times change. Autumn should be stormy.