You could only wangle your butter; my mom did, I must admit, she knew someone at the store? But common people? You stood in a queue, waited to see if anything was brought in. All retired people were waiting sitting on their fishing stools, in front of food stores. ?Butter is coming today!? ?Come along, neighbour, butter?s coming!? They were just sitting there, in the event that something might ?come?. They did not need something in particular, they were just waiting for anything, that was their fun. The waiters, cooks, butchers, these were the big shots. They could get anything. And the food shop assistants, too, they also could lay hands on cheese or milk. (114)