SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

Katja Frece told me that some time ago she witnessed an event in a shop that left her indifferent. 

While shopping, she wandered through the shelves looking for the necessities she wanted, and on several occasions she met an elderly lady who had some of the basic necessities of life in her shopping basket. They smiled at each other and went their separate ways. After a while, they met again and stood together for a few moments in front of the shelf, choosing the products. 

Suddenly, the lady started checking her wallet and counting the money. Apparently she didn't have as much as she thought it would cost for all the items she had stacked in her shopping basket, so she put some things back on the shelves. 

After a while, she and Katya met again at the cash desk. Katja gave her the right of way and the lady put her carefully selected products on the till. It all seemed like a scene from a sad drama, but the event was all the more sinisterly real. While the saleswoman read off the products and the prices were being added up, the lady waited anxiously to find out what the total amount would be and if she had enough money. 

Finally, the shop assistant told me how much I had to pay. The lady took the last notes out of her wallet, but it was not enough, as she was a few euros short. She found herself in an awkward situation, which escalated as the queue of people waiting behind her started to get longer. "Since I don't have enough money to pay for all this, I'll return one product if I can," she said embarrassed. "I can. Which one are you going to return?" the saleswoman replied understandingly. 

The lady took a quick look at all the products she was going to buy and seemed to be having a hard time deciding which one to leave in the shop. In fact, apart from bread, oil, milk and spread, she had chosen only a few basic food items that seemed to come in handy. 

That's when Katja stepped in and watched the whole thing. She said to the ladies, "Don't return the products. I'll pay you the difference you've run out." The lady was pleasantly surprised, but still a little embarrassed. She finally accepted Katja's proposal, when Katja told her that it was not a large sum and that she would be happy to do it. 

In the end, they both left the shop with the products they wanted, and with the good feeling that the world is a much more beautiful place when we help each other.

Mateja Sekavčnik, 7. 4. 2025