A cafe in Germany celebrates its reopening by letting its customers practice social distancing with pool noodles on their heads, and yes, you read that right.
Cafe Rothe in Schwerin Operating Once Again
A cafe located in Germany opens its doors once again to customers and is handing out pool noodles to maintain a safe distance of social distancing.
Last Saturday, the owners of the cafe, which is at Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania -- were allowed to open amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The restrictions were lifted, with a few changes in how they operate, of course.
The motto of the cafe is: "Keep the social distance." which makes sense with everything that's happening in the world. However, it didn't stop the customers from enjoying the beautiful weather and ambiance the cafe brought along with their spectacular servings and drinks.
Their decision to use pool noodles to maintain social distancing practices as compared to merely placing an X on the ground and say this should be where you sit is a creative way, and customers loved the idea. Despite it looking funny to some customers and bystanders, this might be the norm in our society as we struggle to fight the virus as well as maintain a little bit of social sanity.
Cafe Owners Having a Blast With The Idea and Reopening
To celebrate the occasion, owner Jaqueline Rothe posted a photo on her cafe's Facebook page, which shows the customers sitting at tables wearing their colorful headgear.
The caption she posted alongside the photo said, "Today it's like this: distance measurement."
Rothe, 52-year-old German native, told CNN that there had been a lot of happy customers that flocked over to the cafe to enjoy everything they had to offer after the lifting of some of the restrictions.
Rothe told a local TV company named RTL, which filmed the reopening of cafes and restaurants said, "This was the perfect method to keep customers apart -- and a fun one,"
"It was a perfect gag, and of course it was funny, our customers were really into it. But what it did show to us (was) how difficult it is to keep a distance of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet),"
Rothe was surprised that her photo caught the eye of people worldwide and supported the idea of other businesses who made ways to operate despite the coronavirus pandemic but still offered a sense of normalcy.
The cafe has 36 tables inside and also had about 20 tables outside, which would cater to customers who enjoy the outdoors a bit more.
Rothe said, "But with the new hygiene and social distancing measures we only have 12 tables inside and only eight outside," and added, "We will see what to expect when Germany opens up. Further, more people are allowed to travel, and we have more tourists coming in the next few weeks, we will take it as it comes,"
Germany was able to lift some restrictions when Chancellor Merkel said that the country has now passed phase one of the pandemic.
