I was finishing off a hamburger with fries in a bar on Via Laietana when two big, sun-red, shirtless foreigners entered. They were so cool and unapologetic, with their armpits and the forest clearly visible. This, in the center of Barcelona and at nine at night. They were only wearing shorts and flip-flops. Let’s see, they don’t serve haute cuisine there, so we’ll agree that there’s no reason to dress up nicely by requiring customers to dress with, shall we say, immaculate propriety. It’s been a long time since the dirty clothing in summer is a lost battle –or won, depending on who–, and it’s not about being stubborn with what has no remedy. But one thing is that and quite another to have to put up with the unpleasant whiff that, as it happens, flowed freely from the armpits and feet of those two guys. As he approached my table, I perceived that intense smell comparable to that given off by a garbage container when the lid is opened in August. And the arcades came to visit me, up to three, in a row.
I admit that I was about to rush out and, with all the pain in my heart, leave on my plate the fries that had just been brought to me. I was looking for my wallet inside my bag when the manager approached the two sluts, who had settled down next to me without asking or asking. “Pse, pse, excuse me, excuse me.” Before they could let go, the girl explained that no one was served there who wasn’t wearing a shirt. “ Now the other way around ”, replied one of those individuals, pretending to be Swedish even though he was English. Then the manager pointed to her own blouse and said, “No shirt, no food. Gate!”.
And the foreigners who did not understand understood perfectly, and the two grunted something incomprehensible and left with their stench elsewhere. And I, while considering the convenience of applauding the gallant heroine, I thought that, foreigners or people here, everything is what you get used to or behaviors that you end up normalizing. In Barcelona some have tourists low cost and customers they deserve. This is what happens if the city is allowed to become a kind of seedy beach bar.
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