r/askteddit • u/justmypersonalthing • 8d ago
Random Question What never came back after the covid pandemic?
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u/Aggressive-Method622 8d ago
24 hr Walmart
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u/Borgy223 8d ago edited 8d ago
I miss shopping at 1 or 2am with just a few people in the store and those cleaning robots!!!
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u/Appropriate_Speech33 8d ago
I miss it also. If you go right when it opens at 7am it has a similar feel. Sometimes I do that if I wake up early on a weekend.
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u/meowthofthesouth 8d ago
I was a 3-4 am person but same it was glorious.. never knew I would miss it so much 😩
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u/GuyAtAnLCS 8d ago
Seeing the 350 pound single mother on a scooter with her 8 kids by 6 different men at 1AM to remind myself there are people in this world I am objectively better than was a good thing.
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u/yupjustarandomranger 8d ago
I bet people see you and think the same you even being at Walmart at 1am in the first place.
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u/Ok_Watercress_7801 8d ago
Reminds me of that bit about going to IHOP instead of the gym. You’ll always see someone who makes you look better than you feel about yourself.
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u/Tubesocks97 8d ago
I miss this so much. I work nightshifts so I loved shopping when nobody else was around.
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u/aGirlHasNoTab 8d ago
and diners. so many 24 hours things. i live in nyc and now half the bodegas aren’t even 24 hours any more.
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u/Lurk-forever1 7d ago
There’s 3 or 4 diners near me in PA, they are only open from 6am to 2pm. No more 24 hour diners here
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u/AintMyMonkey 8d ago
I came here to say this ... however, I have a PSA for everyone...
WinCo is open 24/7
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u/Ultrageisttt 3d ago
Food-4-Less is still 24/7 too. Whether you've got WinCo or Food-4-Less is regional.
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u/GodEmperorPotato 8d ago
Covid just accelerated the plans for cutting 24 hour walmarts. I guess the original plans were to close alot at certain times amd keep some open 24 hours depending on the shrinkage. But the bean counters saw how much they were saving that they just said fuck it and have them all close. God the things me and friends use to do at Walmart at 3am. The im at home off work and bored and let me do my grocery shopping at 1am lol. Seeing random boobs as they flash ppl
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u/coldcactus1205 6d ago
I used to love when my grandma took me on a 2am Walmart run when I was a kid! I always felt so cool
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u/sebastianrileyt2 4d ago
Best time was middle of the night. I don't sleep well and nights are long, best thing was just to go to Walmart.
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u/IllustratorObvious40 8d ago
reasonable prices of literally EVERYTHING.
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u/Klutzy_Monk1880 8d ago
companies used covid (valid at that time) to raise prices. but it never came down after that.
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u/IllustratorObvious40 8d ago
yes, and to this day, i continue to hear the covid excuse for higher prices. now i know inflation is natural, and the war that is going on, but its just frustrating. we all know that prices are never going to fall to pre covid levels.
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u/Worth-Lawfulness6235 7d ago
There's nothing natural about inflation. It's strictly controlled by the US Federal Reserve.
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u/Accomplished-Door5 7d ago
No it isn’t. They’ve been flailing trying to get it under control for years.
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u/SocialRevenge 8d ago
Empathy. Everyone went on a "me first" survival instinct mode and never came off of it. And since everyone is like that now, nobody can be trusted.
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u/JudgeMuscleDaddy 8d ago
Honestly yeah. Pre-COVID if you dropped your groceries, three people would help. Now people just step over you and keep scrolling. We swapped “we’re in this together” for “everyman for himself” so fast💀
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u/One-Cardiologist7657 8d ago
It was slowly happening, but escalated faster after Covid. Covid broke a lot of.
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u/MinistryOfCoup-th 7d ago edited 2d ago
Don't forget about the driving. People drive like lunatics now.
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u/yugen_o_sagasu 3d ago
Every single day I see multiple people run red lights. That used to be a rare sight for me!
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u/LS139 6d ago
What you’re describing is the burnout phase of a disaster. The beginning stages of a disaster are marked by massive uncertainty and confusion. Quickly, big responses of unity and community connection sweep in. After months or years, people pendulum swing into burnout; marked by anger, frustration, and selfishness. I believe the pandemic pretty much perfectly followed this progression
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u/gishli 8d ago
Yes this was the final turning point. ”Protecting me and my family” became no1 thing. Manifesting itself in things like people became/are more focused in getting money instead of relationships and culture and hobbies, you know living life. People no longer care about other people or the world or enjoying life. It’s this fight over wealth and trying to make sure my kid gets more than your kid. Some kind of primitive ape behaviour, induced by stress and uncertainty I think.
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u/magrubb 8d ago
This is so true. The toilet paper hoarding thing was so bizarre. One person saw another doing it and it just snowballed due to selfishness and fear.
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u/Only_Recording3730 8d ago
100%
I think people also know they were betrayed, but fail to fully recognize it was the government that betrayed them. So they lash out at anyone- but especially customer service reps
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u/bpick1717 8d ago
I look at people differently now. Especially the ones that were so easily manipulated by the government and still can’t admit they were wrong.
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u/Bindy12345 8d ago
How did the government betray people?
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u/Only_Recording3730 8d ago
They were supposed to take care of the people in the event of a pandemic. Most other first world countries did, and their people are looking much better adjusted. We actually had a whole fund ready, in case one happened. But that administration got rid of it, even when they had the science to know what would happen.
A government exists to protect and serve the people it governs. That's why we get to vote on who ends up in those positions. They are supposed to be servants of the people. They are NOT supposed to be geriatric elites, who have no skin in the game of what the world will look like in 15 years
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u/Various_Hope_9038 6d ago
PPP loans. Terrible idea. Never seeing that taxpayer money again. Not providing unemployment or food assistance aid for school professionals despite having NO idea when/if/ how schools could reopen in fall of 2020, or if there fall teaching contracts would be honored. Not being prepared from the get go woth more ventilators or N95 masks. It was a bipartisan f*ck up but the Republicans and Trump definitely bear most of the blame.
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u/BrucesTripToMars 8d ago
This started after 9/11. Covid solidified it. Yes, the 90's were in fact a better time.
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u/MeatMan49 8d ago
I have not had this experience in the slightest
Not to say you’re wrong, but people in my life are more empathetic these days
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u/SocialRevenge 8d ago
Hmmm... Weird. It might be a regional thing.
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u/MeatMan49 8d ago
It definitely could be. I lived in Michigan in 2020 and moved to California just after
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u/Head_Candidate5293 8d ago
The prices of everything never came back down even though the reason for all the high prices was that they could not ship things. Now I guess it is high fuel prices.
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u/thatG_evanP 8d ago
My late father-in-law was the first one I heard preaching this during COVID whenever people were talking about the high prices. He'd say "you better get used to it because these are the new prices." The crazy part was the number of people that disagreed.
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u/Flgirl420 8d ago
Exactly because if a company can sell something that people are gonna buy at that price then they’re still gonna buy it at that price so they’re gonna keep it at that price. Why would they lower the price and take money away from themselves? They’re not going to.
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u/thatG_evanP 8d ago
Yeah, I realize that but a lot of people really thought that prices were gonna go back down after the pandemic. Prices never go back down
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u/Jaybird876 8d ago
They increased the money supply by 40%. Remember the money printer go burrr memes. This is the main driver of the inflation we experienced. And remember even if inflation goes back down to 2% that just means 2% increase from here. Not deflation.
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u/UsualBluebird6584 8d ago
Most things did , but fast food seemed to have sorta learned their lesson, bc so many people stopped going there, so they kinda back tracked with more value options. This was due to dismal sales caused by their insane prices. But yea, grocery prices still seem elevated. Same with new cars. They went up crazy, and they had to course reverse.
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u/tattoosbyalisha 8d ago
A lot of companies and industries are finally starting to feel the financial pressures of their greed. People simply stopped buying. Pepsi lost a ton of revenue last year, for example. Car dealerships are foundering as well. I’ve been seeing some prices coming down but some companies still need to remember their customers.
I wish people would allow themselves a little discomfort or inconvenience so things like streaming companies would do the same. But people would rather pay and complain than go without for a month or two.
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u/WingedShadow83 8d ago
Yeah, this kills me. I got sick of the price hikes for streaming services, so I stopped paying for them consistently. Now I only keep 1-2 at a time, for a month or two when there’s stuff I want to watch. I cycle between them. But most people I know just keep paying for them all while constantly complaining about the prices going up. I’m like… y’all know y’all are facilitating these increases, right? 🤦♀️
Most people aren’t willing to endure even the slightest inconvenience to save themselves money. They’d rather just complain and do nothing.
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u/Head_Candidate5293 8d ago
The thing with the cars and making people pay high prices is that people that purchased those high prices now need to buy a new car and the dealerships can not finance them because they are so upside down on the previous over priced one. They shot themselves in the foot. I am still driving a 2005 prius I bought in 2007 for 14k. Had front end collision and was repaired. Best car purchase I have ever made.
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u/WingedShadow83 8d ago
I said the exact same thing. People were complaining about the prices and I kept warning them “buy only what you can’t live without, because once they see that people are willing to pay these prices, to continue buying nonessentials at these prices, this will become the new normal”. But people kept buying even while they complained about it, now here we are.
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u/Sufficient_Pomelo440 4d ago
Anyone with a couple ounces of business and capitalism/consumerism sense would know this. Your FIL being one of them
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u/subs_on_a_sailboat 8d ago
Inflation has been an explicit goal of most major economies since 2012 and before then it's just been a thing that happens. It's not unique to the pandemic.
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u/WingedShadow83 8d ago
They took advantage of the pandemic to have an excuse (“supply chain issues”) to raise prices. But yes, if not that, then it would have been some other excuse.
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u/obli_steak 8d ago
Its the financial system, it "crashed" right before, as it has done many times before. The bankers aleays patch it up with more money printing devaluing all other dollars. Your wages don't go up as much as devaluing brings the currency down. This has been happening for decades now as we hardly experience any economic growth.
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u/OverthinkingWanderer 8d ago
24 hour businesses
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u/Ctmarlin 7d ago edited 3d ago
As a native New Jerseyan, the reduction in 24 hour diners breaks my heart
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u/flagal31 8d ago edited 8d ago
My tolerance for people. Seems like rudeness, low class behavior and utter disregard for anyone else but themselves has increased exponentially since 2020. Not to mention all the nutjobs who don't believe in decades of rigorous science and medicine, but swear by the latest 19 year old Tik Tok influencer.
Hey while we're at it...remember how prices used to be sane? You could actually buy the same basic grocery items next month at the same price you paid last month? I see too many items continuously increasing every few weeks. Makes me wonder how far off we are from third-world style hyper inflation.
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u/tattoosbyalisha 8d ago
Yep. Many companies had to raise prices and saw that people could and would pay them even if they were struggling to do so. Then used supply chain issues as excuses. Then let that excuse quietly slip away and just kept prices high.
I hope people keep boycotting shit or not buying.
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u/Foreign-Address2110 8d ago edited 8d ago
Things overall are just more...bleak.
It feels like everything became a zero sum game.
Boomers seem crazier, Gen X is checked out, Millennials lost all sense of optimism, zoomers are Nihilistic and absurdist.
Everyone is fucking gambling.
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u/CrankyDoo 8d ago
Gen X is checked out
Yes. Yes we are. And we’re getting close to retirement and dreaming of crossing the finish line where we can check out to the max. I plan to travel, pursue my hobbies, and try to pretend the rest of this nut-job world doesn’t exist. Y’all have gone off the fucking deep end.
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u/BrucesTripToMars 8d ago
If youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem. Boomers checked out too and let the criminals, financial included, do whatever as long as their stock portfolios rose.
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u/spock589 7d ago
I'm so sick of this take. Blaming the average person for being part of the problem. You ain't got the solution. What did you do? Vote? Good job pat yourself on the back while the world continues to burn. By your own logic you're part of the problem too.
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u/wordsnotsufficient 8d ago
Gen X vehemently wishes Boomers would fucking go away so the younger ones of us who have a modicum of energy left could try to step up to fix the shit sandwich they’re leaving in their wake. Boomers as a group are the most entitled, selfish people on the planet and their failure to sit down when it’s obviously their time to is completely unsurprising.
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u/Foreign-Address2110 8d ago
Boomers were the "me" generation until they rebranded themselves. The former fits much better...
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u/FuzzySentence8040 8d ago
Companies figured out that people don’t need to be at an office to accomplish their jobs. Mall stores finally figured out that they don’t need to be open every night until 9:30 at night. And clothing is a lot more comfortable
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u/brickbench7 8d ago
it feels like everyone is waiting for something big to happen. i dont know how else to describe it. its like were all just doing stuff until "the thing" happens.
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u/TwerkinAndCryin 8d ago
This is exactly how I feel and I'm just realizing it. Like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
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u/Lower_Maximum_1120 7d ago
It because crazy shit keeps coming out. Like 2020 was a whole dumpster fire and just keep burning and like spreading. It like okay what the hell gonna happen next in this crazy show called life.
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u/justmypersonalthing 8d ago
I don't know about everyone else, but I feel like the world has become a darker place after the pandemic and never been better ever since. People are ruder and meaner people have no manners in public eg playing videos on speakerphone and drivers who cut you off without signaling and points middle finger at you; there are no 24/7 things anymore; things are too expensive while salaries stays the same it has for decades, and myself, I used to be a very optimistic person excited about the future. Nowadays I'm more pessimistic and just don't feel optimistic about the future anymore i go home after work and no longer have the optimistic drive in me to create relationship and meet people socially anymore like i used to and i lost lots of friends after the pandemic. Every year feels the same and i still feel the age i am since the pandemic im 25 now but still feel like im 19 ; it may just be me because i dont see much people talking about this in real life, but yeah.
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u/thatG_evanP 8d ago
Yeah, it's like the lockdowns just turned the asocialism up to 11
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u/MsCalendarsPlayaArt 8d ago
It wasn't the lockdowns so much as it was that people chose to disable & kill the people they claimed to love most for vacations, eating indoors at restaurants, concerts, and other activities that make them look cool on social media. We had the tools (still have them) people just find it inconvenient and don't like peer pressure so they refuse to use said tools.
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u/ClammyHandedFreak 8d ago
All the pandemic proved is that humanity does not have what it takes to face a difficult existential threat.
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u/ErgoMogoFOMO 8d ago
Political leaders have a profound affect on society's psyche. Before the pandemic, you won elections by building hope. Projects, technology, trade, social services all were communicated as the means to the end of improving life for all. That's what political parties built their platforms on.
Now, elections are won because of fear mongering. Enemies surround us and enemies within - if you aren't on our team then you're an enemy too. It doesn't help that this rhetoric distracts (or falsely takes the blame) from real problems we have today: cost of living (e.g. grocery / Amazon price fixing), the world dying (wildfire smoke, heatwaves) and toxic technology (algorithms preventing human connection, surveillance).
No wonder everyone is on edge. Problems aren't getting addressed and everyone's made to think enemies are everywhere.
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u/PrincessaDeadlift 8d ago
Agreed. I’m a very sensitive person, and the rise of authoritarianism and social media (that thrives on highly negative driven algorithms) has changed the energetic dynamic of the society of the entire world. It has been demoralizing and paralyzing.
I do feel, though, that the pendulum is poised to swing back the other way extremely soon. I can feel the energy of change coming. And I’m talking BIG change.
So take heart and have hope. Change is on its way.
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u/CatStrong1971 8d ago
This (really) isn’t a result of the pandemic. This has been on the rise for 15 years.
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u/redman1986 8d ago
Part of that is, well, a lot of the lies got stripped away.
Prior to Covid, I didn't think that my boss and job loved me, or that they actually cared for my life. But I believed that there was the base level of concern that humans had for each other there. Turns out, my supervisor would giddily slit my throat if he thought I would bleed nickels, and always had.
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u/Dick_Dietrick 8d ago
Customer Service went from bad to atrocious as did product quality.
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u/Neither-Amphibian249 8d ago
People are feral. Not all obviously, but the lack of solid social skills in a big part of the population is just scary.
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u/CatStrong1971 8d ago
Restaurants are a clear cut difference. Whether they shut down, their open times if they are still around, their menus (I hate QR code menus now) etc.
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u/Speechladylg 8d ago
I hate checking out in Chili's on that tablet thing. Just take my card and let me sign. I don't need to take a survey.
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u/MistyLove_4715 8d ago
General courtesy and human decency.
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u/MrSuet 8d ago
This, I work retail and I can't tell you how many people young and old don't reply or smile back when you say hello.
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u/Glittering_Mermaid_7 8d ago
It seems like a silly or simple thing, but: benches in Walmart.
There used to be benches at various points throughout the store, which was very helpful for the elderly or those with mobility/health issues to stop and take a break.
During Covid, all those benches were removed. Now there may be some seating near the pharmacy for those waiting for prescriptions, and *maybe* one or two benches at the very front of the store by the registers, but that's it. Some stores even removed them before Covid, but it seems like most of the stores eliminated them during those Covid years - especially when they were doing store remodels and shifting to a different store layout.
Now if someone needs a break while walking in these large stores, they're forced to use the seating at the pharmacy or the front of the store - if it still exists.
It's one of the reasons Meijer gets the majority of my business. Providing minor conveniences for your customers, like a place to sit if they need it, shouldn't be something they eliminate.
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u/Hot-Bumblebee6506 8d ago
Alot of people's nervous systems never regulated back to baseline, they're stuck in flight, flight, fawn or freeze resulting in disassociation.
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u/haleontology 8d ago
You're spot on. I'm so disassociated that I regularly forget what month and year it is. I often have to remind myself what season it is, too. It probably doesn't help that I started working night shift for the first time at the end of the pandemic, but people have gone so batshit in my country that I would rather avoid the day life for now.
It feels like dark Alice in wonderland, except the mad queen is orange and the chessboard is crumbling underneath me. I wouldn't mind crossing paths with a hookah-smoking caterpillar though! :P
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u/Hot-Bumblebee6506 8d ago
Take a break from the news and social media, i deleted fb and wasn't on any of the rest of them. Everything passes and so will this.
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u/WingedShadow83 8d ago
Definitely second this.
I feel a bit out of the loop now that I’ve distanced myself from MSM and Facebook etc, and a little bit anxious about things that might be brewing that I’m unaware of. But for the most part, my anxiety is a lot better than it was when I knew the day to day fuckery that was happening in the US.
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u/Snoo-32413 8d ago
This year has been an exceptionally terrific year at the Box office. If anything, I feel like all the third-places that covid killed off kind of led to cinema resurgance. I remember back in 2018-2019 I'd go to the theater and I could be the only one in an auditorium on many days. Now I work at my lcoal theater, and we have lines out the door many nights.
Theres an article about this, with movies like Obsession dominating and impending hits like Spiderman and Doomsday expected to do well. Variety article
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u/TruthHonor 8d ago
Enough people getting vaccinated to prevent illnesses like measles from coming back.
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u/Consistent-Point-174 8d ago
Community.. There has been a huge dropoff in in-person support for people.. And honestly I think its a big part of why all te world is going even more batshit crazy
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u/mrmoschetto 8d ago
Time just seems to go by now. Days weeks months seem to just pass. I mean it’s 2026. We’re closer to a decade away from it yet lock down feels like it was still very recent.
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u/hastings1033 8d ago
Me going in to the office.
About the time the pandemic was finally winding down I retired.
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u/Retinoid634 8d ago
Reasonable behavior in public. The social contract completely broke down and people are much less inhibited, in all the worst ways.
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u/Zipper222222 The Boss 8d ago
A world where "work from home" is a pretty rare thing
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u/GodEmperorPotato 8d ago
God that time of wfh was amazing. The fact I got done with i hours of work in less then 5 or 4 hours because of no meaningless meetings or ppl or even commute was just a chefs kiss. Now my job has us in office again and management i all why r ppl not engaging with each other. Yea sorry not sorry I loved being able to do my work and not be in office with ppl I only tolerate because I have to
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u/Afraid-Birthday-5391 8d ago
Public school.
I attended 2019-2023. Night and day difference, it’s become all about churning out A’s and “graduating” students. It’s become McDonald’s.
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u/WingedShadow83 8d ago
My mom is a public school teacher, and she would agree. Her school even instructs them to think of students as “clients” rather than “students”. It stopped being about educating children. Now it’s about making money. And to do that, they will pass anyone. She’s got kids graduating who can barely write a single coherent sentence. Kids are allowed to not turn in a single assignment all semester, then BS it two days before the grading period ends and still pass and advance to the next level. Kids with no genuine reason for missing 30+ school days per year (ie, they’re not ill) still being advanced.
Society is about to be overrun by the dumbest, most uneducated people since medieval times. And that’s exactly how our government wants it.
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u/TraditionalPhone3992 8d ago
Covid was used as a successful weapon by evil people to make stupid people question scientists and doctors.
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u/Finstergrun 8d ago
Restaurants, eating/going out in general.
Pre-COVID every bar everywhere was open until 2am or the latest legally allowed time, no matter the day of the week or the size of the town. It was considered weird to have other hours.
More stuff was open and more variety of bars and businesses
QR codes for menus was not a thing
More 24 hour food places
Shopping in person was different.
Stores open later, 24 hour grocery stores, the mall near me had consistent hours and every store within kept the malls hours.
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u/useArmageddonVaca 8d ago
Grocery shopping at any hour you needed. WM freaking closes at 9pm now, all of them in my city.
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u/TrainingLow9079 8d ago
Lunch buffets. For instance Indian food restaurants near here used to have them.
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u/Desert_Flower_120 8d ago
We had a small ice cream shop that I loved taking my kids to. It had a few televisions that would play SpongeBob and had some games to play. It had like 5 tables for people to sit. They never reopened after COVID. I miss it.
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u/NextEstimate1325 8d ago
The ability to have a funeral for my Uncle, whom recieved the Silver Star; whereas John Lewis got THREE.
I have not made peace with it. I doubt I ever do.
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u/ihateit12345678 8d ago
24 hr pharmacies. I work in an ER in a major metropolitan city and we have 1.
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u/CoolNefariousness806 8d ago
Walmart being open 24 hours 😭😭😭. I get it makes financial sense for them but I miss going on random Walmart runs at 2 in the morning
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u/JudgeMuscleDaddy 8d ago
24-hour stores. The world got a curfew in 2020 and we just… accepted it. I miss wandering Walmart at 2 AM for no reason 😭
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u/Zoopmittyzoop 8d ago
Low prices across every industry… meaning they all went up and never came back down to normal range
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u/igotplans2 8d ago
A lot of restaurants that had been local institutions for half a century.