We used to complain about this, you remember?

Last week, Monday morning 12 May 7.08 hours – the moment will be engraved in my memory forever – I went to the kitchen with my clean, dry socks, in a puddle of water. Try to imagine that.

Because then you haven’t had any coffee yet, a whole day full of mini -risk moments will grab you, and then this test. For me it is no longer necessary. Nothing more, ever.

In the past – I have experienced the time that ‘dog poop’ was seen as the biggest problem in Dutch society – you could complain about it out loud and you immediately got the number of Victim Support. Nowadays I silence in silence about this crime against the sock in general, and humanity in particular.

Because holy mackerel. The world is burning with climate change, three zip codes away there is genocide and around the corner there are people who can no longer pay for their groceries. Then you really don’t nag over a wet sock – at most that it could be a drop on a glowing plate.

Of course there are more ‘first world problems’ about which you really can’t start in 2025. I list them for a moment. For the museum of more innocent times. To look back nostalgically. And to dream away about a world that still had its priorities in order.

1 The waiter brings a cup of tea with a foot bath, and the cookie is wet. Do you remember? Wet fingers, weak tea bag and fierce existential doubt.

2 The butter in the tub is too hard to rub it out with your knife. Or even worse: with a plastic knife that breaks. You used to be able to call the Correlation Foundation for that.

3 a latte macchiato with a heart in it, but the heart has failed. Ruined all day.

4 someone is looking for his checkbook in a long line for the cash register. Twenty years ago you received a bunch of flowers from the Albert Heijn.

5 The station has been evacuated to a ‘suspicious package’. While you can see from behind the ribbon ten meters away, that it is an innocent, half -laid lemon custard. You said something about that.

6 At the bakery you ask if something is gluten -free. And then hear: « There are no gluten in it, but we have no idea if it is really gluten -free. » O man. That was Russian roulette in baguette form.

7 The shared dining concept. Where everyone is hungry, and nobody dares to take the last Gamba. From the time that we were able to pay another restaurant at all.

8 On the Padelclub you will find out that your racket is still at home. Then you could then go to the psychologist without referral from your doctor.

9 You arrive just on time at the team outing in Van der Valk – Hotel de Cantharel in Apeldoorn. While it had to be the other Van der Valk in Apeldoorn. Now you miss the welcome cocktail. Then you were allowed to go on Sabbatical for a year.

10 During a walk you forgot your phone. And now your steps do not count. Then your friends came to cook a week before you.

11 The WiFi falls out in the bathroom. Exactly during the cliffhanger of Succession. Then your employer received a sniff day.

12 A proposal round during the teams and your manager asks: « What about your energy »? It used to be in the Criminal Code.

13 When the train starts to run, and the conductor in Dutch, English, and French will explain where he drives. Then you called the NS. Because hello: as if you can still get out if it is the wrong train. As if people at all step into the train with the idea « I hear on the way if it was the right thing. »

14 The Fasttrack row at Schiphol takes as long as the ‘normal row’. That is also degrading !!?

The question remains about what you can still complain about nowadays. I actually think about nothing. Not if you are sick, because there is always someone who is worse; Not about your flat tire because then you should have taken a swap bike and not about your cat who once again puked on the rug because you certainly have a rug. And a house.

I was recently wondering how they used to do that, during the Vietnam War, or the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Then you could also just complain about the neighbors’ seats at your last partner exchange, or that the Australian tracksuits could no longer be gained in fluorescent yellow?

Anyway.

Maybe in this era we should put our national character in the refrigerator and stop complaining completely. About everything. Until the end of time. It was beautiful, it was up, it was fraternized, but it really can’t do it anymore.

You?

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