It seems like Fall is finally here. Not that I've been waiting for it with baited breath or anything, but temperatures have taken a crisp drop in the last 48 hours and it made me think of...closed shoes. You know, not sandals. My feet haven't seen the inside of anything since May (yes, they do look disgusting as a result--but I'm okay with that) and yesterday I started to really feel the chill.
So I was out and about with my trusted shoe-expert/fetishist looking for some trainers. We had some limited success in our Kiez area, so we thought we'd stop by and visit Kalina and Bernhardt who run a fantastic boutique called Episoda ( www.myspace.com/episoda ) and ask them if they knew of anyplace else we could find some hot little euro-trainers for me. Bernhardt was running some errands, so Stephan and I are chilling, talking to Kalina and examining the new arrivals (effing goettliche jeans from Kuyichi and really lovely scarves from Erfurt) when this guy comes in. He tries on a pullover for a pretty penny and says he wants a larger size. I was in the other room, playing with the amazing scarves, so I only registered this on a marginal level. This guy tries the L on, which was on the rack, and before he even has it all the way on, he's asking for an XL. Kalina thought it was weird, but she's super-friendly and open, so she went into the back to get him an XL. I came into the front room a second before she did and saw this guy heading out of the store at a pretty brisk clip. I didn't think anything of it, except that in Germany, EVERYONE says "Hi" and "Goodbye" when entering and leaving a store or other public place. I thought it was weird that he hadn't.
We didn't really take any notice of it and were both trying on various items and chatting with Kalina, until all of a sudden she says, "The cash box is gone!" They're not a big store--they don't have a register or anything, just one of those little lockboxes with a key. And like, 700 Euro. At first, I thought maybe she'd just misplaced it--but no. That bastard had really robbed them. We were all kind of in shock and Kalina was trying to serve the other customers like nothing had really happened. Stephan and I volunteered to have a look around the neighborhood, because he hadn't had any kind of bag with him or anything, so he must have at least theoretically wanted to get rid of the box as soon as possible. We searched our hood up and down, but the problem is that on a Saturday morning, so many people are up and about running errands and shopping and walking their dogs and sitting in cafes and whatever that if you're some guy throwing a lockbox off a moving bike, people just might notice.
Anyway, by the time we got back, Bernhardt was there and had called the police, who were then also there and took statements from Kalina, Stephan and I. I'm an official witness to an official crime. Weird. No one has too much hope of the guy getting caught, and that's the worst part. I mean, Bernhardt and Kalina are the greatest. They sell only things that they really think are cool, that they can stand behind. They're just a small business. I can understand people who
steal from huge facist corporations like Wal Mart or Old Navy or shit like that, but not from two people just trying to make a living selling organic jeans and hipster fair trade pullovers. My God!
It's frustrating when shit like this happens to good people. And it's unfair. I've never really been able to cotton much to the phrase "life is unfair"--it might be true, but it shouldn't be. I mean, I'm sure this guy had a reason to steal--a habit, a pressing debt--but damn it, it sucks for Bernhardt and Kalina. Living here in Berlin as an American, I have always had a certain feeling of safety. The knowledge that in an American city of comparable size, the crime rate is much higher. In the states, this guy would have had a gun. That doesn't really give much comfort, though. You still feel angry and violated. What I'm not going to forget is the first thing Bernhardt said to us when we came through the door. He was like, "I don't know if I should be sad or pissed off." He eventually decided on pissed. I think I'm sad.
Play safe, Kinders.
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