New Zealand: An Unbelievable Real Café Story! (II)

Since May 11^th, New Zealand passed from Level 3 to Level 2 alert and life starts to re-gain its old rhythm. The fact that this country has only 1,503 COVID-19 cases and 21 dead was a collective effort during the lockdown since March 23^rd (when there were approx. 100 cases). Statistics reports that the citizens of New Zealand followed the advice of the authorities and stayed home: the number of visitors to parks and beaches dropped by 75 percent, the number of those using the buses and trains dropped by 82 percent and the visits to shops dropped by 88 percent. Furthermore, Jacinda Ardern and her Cabinet decided on a concrete form of their solidarity with the people living in New Zealand: a 20 percent pay cut for the following six months. It is a concrete top-down and bottom-up collective effort for the best preservation of the individuals and of the society as a whole. As a politician, Jacinda Ardern reached record-high approvals from her fellow citizens and voters for the way her Labour Government handled this coronavirus crisis, meaning she has the trust and the honor of the citizens to hold the power to take decisions for their common good.

I will explore hereafter the reasons why I got nearly shocked (in a positive sense) when reading this article: I generally hardly agree with poorly argumentative comments, or with those comments whose arguments are illogical to me, or those with arguments that bypass morality and decency, and I am myself – like everyone else – strongly oppinated. However, I never push further, on the contrary I step back, when I sense a clash of mentalities, because neither them nor me are going to get anywhere arguing. And all of a sudden, I read an article in ‘The Guardian’ about the New Zealand’s Prime-Minister and I agree with all of the characters in this ‘Café Story’!

            First, I agree with the author of this article, who writes that ‘while leaders of other countries may send staff ahead to make arrangements…’ – absolutely correct – Jacinda Ardern is the exception. And I agree twice with the author when it writes that ‘rarer still for them [head of states] to be turned away’ – absolutely correct. Anybody else somewhere else on this planet would have probably freaked out and who knows? Maybe it would have invited a regular citizen to leave and make room to the politician, elected and paid by the citizens. That would be a non-sense.

            Therefore, second, I agree with the manager. They were all booked. He definitely had available tables, probably in a storage room, but bringing any would mean to break the law – that is applicable equally to everybody. He decided to respect the law on social distancing and to look at Jacinda Ardern as to a regular citizen.

            I agree with Jacinda Ardern, too! Why do I agree? I agree with her answer: ‘I’ll wait, just like everyone else!’ What??? ‘Just like everyone else!’ How’s that?! Does she have any pride to allow herself the arrogance to be treated in a ‘privileged’ way? Apparently, no. And who knows? Maybe she would feel offended if treated privileged. This mentality translated in such a behavior reminded me of the Queen and the King of Sweden who traveled this year as far as to India.

            Forth, the manager is also an interesting character in this café story! Besides the fact that he respected the law without any exceptions or giving any privileges, once a table was free, he did not wait for customers to knock at his café’s door – which were closed in the previous two months because of the lockdown – but he himself ran after customers and he catched Jacinda and Clarke down the street to tell them that a table was available. How’s that?! Does he have any pride to allow himself the arrogance and the manager’s privilege to send somebody else to run after Jacinda and Clarke? Apparently, no.

            Fifth, I agree and I disagree with Clarke Grayford. I disagree when he took the whole blame on him for not having made reservations, because this almost-unreal story happened on a Saturday morning after a two-month lockdown and it could have been a spontaneous decision, but I agree that it’s polite of him to have said that. Where I fully agree with Clarke Grayford is precisely when referring to the moment when they were chased down the street by the manager to be told that a table was free. He summarized the best way possible tweeting ‘A+ service’.

To sum up, I chose to comment on this article because it is particular as writing style to write a blog article commenting on something one agrees with rather than on something one disagrees, looks for arguments and organizes them on paper. Furthermore it was also lovely to comment agreeing rather than disagreeing, and also more comfortable – in general, things are more comfortable, to me at least, when ‘two minds think alike’.

I loved to discover that New Zealand has the same attitude like the Scandinavian one that I have been long admiring. I love to be optimistic and to hope that there are plenty of other similar examples in the world. Anyway, this New Zeeland café story with the Prime Minister, her partner, and the café manager was an ‘A+ story’ with ‘A+ characters’, of an ‘A+ mentality’. Chapeau! Hat up! (the end)