18 Pre-COVID Problems We've Forgotten About Already
By Mustafa GatollariFeb. 5 2021, Updated 9:17 a.m. ET
Life before the pandemic was a much different world. From getting to movie theaters early, to waiting in line for restaurants because they were filled to capacity, not because of social distancing, to being suspicious of people wearing masks to now being suspicious of anyone who doesn't, in real life, outside of a webcam and computer screen felt a way lot different.
However, no one could've accounted for how much of a global impact the COVID-19 pandemic was going to have, and while we navigate through this "new normal" and businesses, investing firms, companies, and political leaders all adjust themselves accordingly, many of us are stuck here with the memory of what life used to be like before the pandemic.
Whether it's attending music festivals, the different political squabbles we'd get into with family members over dinner or complain about on social media, a lot of notable phenomenon/high profile news stories seem like a thing of the past.
No more complaining about selfie-obsessed folks at music festivals.
Remember when your biggest problem was researching how to get the perfect Coachella picture and not whether or not your state's governor is putting sick people in the same ward in a nursing home as your grandparents?
People were crying after 'Infinity War.'
Folks who weren't familiar with Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet storyline didn't know of all the gnarly ways Thanos killed earth's mightiest heroes one by one and that they managed to rally back and destroy him. But that didn't stop people from bawling their eyes out seeing Spiderman disintegrate before their very eyes.
People were getting dragged off planes because they were too packed, not because they weren't wearing masks.
While there's always been tension whenever it came to flying, there pre-pandemic it seemed like the only reason you'd get booted from a plane is because an airline was treating you like cargo. Or you were drunk and acting like a fool. Now, people are getting booted because their kids won't wear masks.
We were all freaking out about 'World War 3' for a few days.
Right before the COVID-19 pandemic ended up becoming the global problem that it is today, Twitter was doing its thing and freaking out about a prospective war for a solid 72 hours. People baselessly started to worry that they'd be drafted into the military and it was the thousandth time or so throngs of folks vowed to make a mass exodus to Canada or another country.
We couldn't believe Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' three day wedding.
While most of our wedding experiences' are restricted to eating lukewarm banquet chicken francaise and waiting 25 minutes for the mandatory valet to bring our corolla with a check engine light up to the front of the venue, Nick and Priyanka had a wedding that made Bollywood movies look humble in comparison.
Speaking of holy matrimony, we were dying over these Royal Wedding memes.
It seems like no one cares about the Royal Family until they realize they can't be apart of it. So when the actress from Suits ended up with Prince Harry, folks were living for the fact that he invited his ex to the celebration. Savage.
Jussie Smollet defending his love of late-night Subway sandwiches.
Remember when one of the biggest scandals was finding out an Empire actor had hired people to commit a fake hate-crime against him to reportedly secure himself a higher salary on the show? Now we're dunking on celebs for mitigating the health risks associated with COVID-19.
Hearing Snoop Dogg make sound arguments for closing the wage gap between male and female soccer players.
The USA's national women's soccer team is the best all-female squad in the world with a whopping four titles. When they took home the gold again in 2019, Snoop Dogg hopped online to argue that they should be paid more for their efforts compared to the men's national team.
Equifax not protecting your data even though they hold your social standing in the palm of their hands.
Living without a high credit score is extremely inconvenient: try financing a car, getting a home, or even getting approved for a cell phone plan is downright impossible without paying a lot of money upfront or getting gouged on high-interest rates.
Equifax is one of the major credit agencies in charge of monitoring your credit score, so people were understandably upset when they discovered that a bunch of private user data was compromised. There was a huge class-action lawsuit against the company, but people are still waiting on their payouts from it.
People working together to track down tip jar thieves.
Remember when a couple of young women went into a family-owned business so they could steal employees' hard-earned tips, and people joined together on the internet to find the people who did it?
Wasn't life so much simpler when people were less worried about losing their jobs due to a global pandemic and people weren't masking indoors so they could band together on the internet to take down thieves?
But, taking down hedge funds together is a pretty cool venture too.
Getting disappointed in the Winter Olympics.
The medal account for the snow-themed sports extravaganza saw the US only finish with 23 medals, a relatively small number compared to the sheer number of competitors and the size of America's athletics program. Norway crushed it with an astonishing 39 medals, tying Germany for 14 total Golds.
Attending live sporting events is a thing of the past. And no, "Courtside Karen's" appearance at the limited Hawks vs Lakers engagement doesn't count.
Remember mass fan crowd chants, and players either embracing them or shutting them down?
Finding out the dirty truth behind the Mannequin challenge.
It seems like everyone and their mom was performing the Mannequin challenge, a fun little online activity that had people one-upping each other in crazy videos. Musicians would have the whole crowd at a concert perform a freeze frame, all while the trademark challenge song played.
However, it didn't take long for everyone to discover that the whole thing was started as a way to promote the Rae Sremmurd track "Black Beatles." Yes, the viral challenge was a huge marketing stunt, and you didn't make a dime for helping to promote someone's business in doing so. But at least people had fun while doing it.
Making a huge deal of a Giraffe being born.
Remember when everyone was carefully monitoring the livestream of a Giraffe mama prepping to give birth to her baby, April? Now people are wondering what the fate of Zoos are going to be in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Or Oscars Mix-Ups.
Remember the whole La La Land and Moonlight fiasco at the Oscars? Remember the look on everyone's faces when the mix-up was first announced? The embarrassment Warren Beatty felt would've been mitigated way less if this was done over Zoom.
Wondering why our President was looking directly into a Solar Eclipse.
Remember when you were in school and you first started learning about solar eclipses? And your teacher gave you special glasses and taught you to never look directly into the sun?
Watching Kevin Spacey's weird in-character monologues as he responds to #MeToo allegations.
The #MeToo movement called for greater accountability from known stars, celebrities, and powerful public figures. When one of the movement's most original outspoken voices, Asia Argento, was called out for grooming and assaulting a then underage costar at the time, other notable individuals were being called out for illicit relationships with teens and children.
Kevin Spacey was accused of "attempted rape" and was even booted from House of Cards as a result and made headlines when he came out as gay at the same time, prompting people to say he invented something that never existed before: a bad time to come out. Other Hollywood bigwigs, like David Geffen, had their names mentioned in various scandals involving underage individuals and sexual activity.
When everyone was flipping out over a chicken sandwich.
People go nuts for fried chicken, and if you make a bomb fried chicken sandwich, folks are going to take notice. And that's exactly what happened with fast-food chain Popeye's chicken sandwich. For some reason, everyone and their mother went absolutely nuts for the new menu item, to the point where a bunch of angry dorks decided to throw their dignity out of the window for some fast food.
Bradley Cooper gives premonition of his split from Irina Shayk after 'Shallows' performance.
B-Coops and the Gags took to the Oscars stage to perform their hit song from A Star is Born. Following their song, everyone was expressing how the two seemed like they were a little too close for comfort and couldn't believe that they did that in front of Cooper's girlfriend, Irina Shayk no less.
The couple split not long after the Oscars performance, causing tons of speculation that the Midnight Meat Train actor's performance with the singer might have been a sign of brewing trouble.
No two unrelated singers will be cheek to cheek like that at an awards show for a long, long time.
