15x things that feel illegal but aren't

Everyone recognizes this: you walk relaxed down the street until suddenly a police car appears around the corner. Even though you haven't stolen anything and (as far as you know) have never broken in anywhere, everything you do suddenly feels wrong. I don't know about you, but I have this feeling about many more things in life and I can't be the only one who feels this way. So here it is: fifteen things that feel illegal but aren't.

1. Picking up a sandwich in the supermarket with your hands instead of using the tongs.

2. I think we can thank our parents for this trauma: turning on the light in the car while it's dark outside. This is completely legal.

3. Overtaking a police car. In my mind, this immediately leads to a high-speed chase with inevitable arrest.

4. Taking a plastic bag from the supermarket back to that same supermarket. I almost feel ashamed of how silly I always wave that bag around to make it clear that I didn't steal it.

5. Shopping at Zara in a Zara coat. Especially when there's a strict security guard at the door. As if he has any idea what's hanging in that store.

6. Taking the last piece of pizza when you're eating with friends, resulting in one sad, cold piece left in the box for the whole evening.

7. Everything you do at security at the airport. As soon as my bag is safely on my back again, I let out a sigh of relief as if I've just gotten away with the biggest diamond heist ever.

8. Telling the hairdresser that you don't like your hair while you're the one who has to pay for it. The times I've left a salon with tears in my eyes are too many to count on one hand.

9. Calling your teacher by their first name felt extremely criminal back in the day.

10. Calling in sick. I. Can't. Do. It. I do it sometimes, but not wholeheartedly. Is it just me or does calling in sick feel like you're totally skipping school, even if you're really sick? Guilt all around!

11. Asking for your money back when someone hasn't paid a Tikkie. The little voice in my head thinks it's ridiculous that I want my own money back. Well, that's how you never get rich.

12. Using the restroom of a café without ordering anything.

13. Bringing your own food to the cinema. Seriously, this is totally allowed. I say: hamster it! (Just a heads up: in many cinemas, this is unfortunately stated in the house rules, so it's polite to adhere to that or to hide your smuggled snacks well.)

14. Asking how much you're going to earn at a new job before you make the decision. Finding out later that you're getting two euros an hour? Fine. Anything to avoid that dreadful conversation.

15. Leaving a supermarket without buying anything. Sorry, but I'd rather buy a can of tomato paste for fifty cents than squeeze past a line of innocent people because I couldn't find what I was looking for. Nope. Couldn't be me.

Geschreven door: Sophie Rietmulder