Even on the phone, Ms. Mayer is astonished. With great warmth she invites the reporter to visit. “Then I’ll make us some nice coffee,” she says. It’s supposed to be about a topic that doesn’t bring much joy. The increased food prices and high energy costs particularly affect families with low incomes and older people who have to cope with a very small pension.
Like Ms. Mayer, whose actual name is different. But she didn’t ask to change her name for the newspaper because she was ashamed of having little money. But because she fears that a donation from SZ readers could be met with incomprehension in her neighborhood or among her Qi Gong acquaintances in the senior citizens’ and service center. She can’t quite understand it herself. “I actually manage well with my thousands,” says the pensioner.
The 83-year-old, who appears ten years younger thanks to her humorous manner and her well-groomed, sporty appearance, is humble through and through. However, she confided in an employee from the senior citizens’ and service center in her neighborhood because her stove and refrigerator have not been working properly for a long time. The devices are 30 years old.
The refrigerator, Ms. Mayer reports over the promised cup of coffee, is her “house spirit.” If the motor fails again – usually at night – it sounds as if the entire refrigerator is groaning, groaning and shaking. “About that,” she says, snorting and shaking herself to illustrate. To make matters worse, the coolant is leaking. But it’s not like she doesn’t know how to help herself. “I always put cotton wool in there to absorb it,” says the 83-year-old.
Ms. Mayer heats water for vegetables or potatoes in the kettle. With the old stove it would take forever. The plates no longer heat properly.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Oh, and yes, there is also the stove. A strip on the oven door has broken off, which is why the door no longer closes. On top of that, the stovetops no longer heat properly. It takes forever for something to warm up. That’s why she always heats water for potatoes or vegetables in the kettle, “otherwise it costs a lot of electricity.”
The fact that she can now replace the devices is like a little Christmas miracle for her. Ms. Mayer, visibly moved, promises that she will include the donors in her night prayers – and immediately invites the reporter to the home-baked cake as soon as the new stove is installed.
The fact that the pension is only enough for the bare necessities is the classic story of women of the post-war generation. Ms. Mayer learned a commercial profession. But then she got married and had two daughters who she looked after. After the husband had a serious car accident, he could no longer work in his job as an electrician. He started his own business as a taxi company.
“Back then, as a woman you only earned half of what men got.”
“We had two taxis in Munich,” says the 83-year-old. Business was going quite well, but the man only paid the bare minimum into his pension. As a young person, you simply didn’t think about later. Then came the separation from her husband and Ms. Mayer had to earn her own living. “I drove a taxi for another entrepreneur,” she says. “But as a woman back then you only earned half of what men got.”
Still, she doesn’t want to complain. Her small apartment in a retirement community, where she has lived for 15 years, is impeccably clean and comfortably furnished. There is a plate of cookies and an Advent arrangement on the table. A little Christmas tree, whose artificial needles can only be seen at second glance, glows in the approaching twilight. “I like the lights so much,” says Ms. Mayer. She bought the tree probably 15 years ago. A fresh tree every year is something she can neither afford nor have the space for. The little tree, she says and gently strokes the top, will simply go back into the cellar after Christmas. Until next year.
Of course she knows how to cook a good meal with just a few ingredients
It is certainly her pragmatism, but also her life experience, that allows Ms. Mayer to get along well with the little money she has. Your pension is just above basic security. “When I need new clothes, I buy them at the flea market,” she says. “I can sew, so things can be changed quickly if necessary.”
And of course she knows how to cook a good meal with just a few ingredients. She often misses that in young people. They buy expensive ready-made products because they don’t know how to prepare vegetables. She recently met a woman in the supermarket who seriously didn’t know how to cook potatoes. Then Ms. Mayer shakes her head.
Nevertheless, despite all her impressive joy in life, there is something that she is very worried about. “What if I have to go to a retirement home?” she often asks herself. “Who’s going to pay for that? I’m already afraid of the future,” because there’s one thing she definitely doesn’t want: to be left on the hook for her daughters.
But Ms. Mayer is still blessed with enviable health at her age. And proves that poor doesn’t necessarily mean lonely. She is grateful for the offers from the senior citizen and service center, which she regularly takes advantage of. She keeps fit with Qi Gong and sometimes even goes to a restaurant. But actually, as you get older you are no longer so demanding. The joy of using the stove and refrigerator is even greater. She will hardly miss her house spirit.
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