The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[notalwaysright]

Even though we moved to phase two here, the last time I shopped I'd say the majority of shoppers had on masks, at least at that store, at that time. It varies so much. There were a few people so obnoxious though. Individual people not wearing masks don't bother me too much. I'd like everyone to do it, not because I think it's the only way to stop the spread, but because it likely helps at least to a small degree and it's a really easy thing to do. Anyway, when I see a person just shopping like a normal person without a mask, okay, whatever.

What gets me are the teens and college kids moving in packs through stores. The soccer moms chatting and slowly strolling through the aisles without a care in the world. The employees with their masks pulled down having casual conversations with each other while picking curbside orders. (blocking whole aisles and moving like a snail but that's a different rant) What gets me are the people who decide they need to make some sort of POINT by acting like the world is normal. Very childlike "you can't make me" attitudes.

[EricKei]

Ya know, the whole thing where NPCs say "Who was that masked man?" as a good thing from shows like Lone Ranger and Zorro makes more and more sense these days

[Food Lady]

What gets me are the people who decide they need to make some sort of POINT by acting like the world is normal.

Is that what it is? I hadn't thought of that. Well, I still might quit. I need money, but not that badly.

[Victory Sabre]

First day of indoor dining in restaurants today here in Minnesota. 50% of capacity "allowed". I'm ready to go. No masks required, nor would I ever do so. Heck, I'd rather people do not wear them, because I hear them better without them on. Also, seeing people wear them brings me back to when I was robbed here at work last year, and in the back of the mind that seed is there that they might rob me.

Ready to rock and roll.

[Ghel]

Good luck! I hope everything goes smoothly.

[notalwaysright]

Is that what it is? I hadn't thought of that. Well, I still might quit. I need money, but not that badly.

What "point" are they trying to make? Oh boy, lots but at the core it's "hey everybody, look at me, I do what I want! Nobody can tell me what to do!" I won't be eating in a restaurant for the foreseeable future I can tell you that.

[Dreamstalker]

My company also sucked up all the PPP they could, and that was/is controversial...I don't expect for them to release any sort of response. We haven't been called back either; the company is covering all health coverage costs which is nice (they do have a GFM "employee relief fund" set up which is weird). HR Guy did tell me that I can reopen unemployment in the interim seeing as their PPP has ended (I wanted actual confirmation that I could do this given the ultimatum we got when PPP started). I think I'll chance that; I haven't heard anything else about that fraud case. If it was legit I'd think I would have heard something from them. I have all my paperwork for that just in case.

They have to bring us back soon; when we got laid off they pulled people from the restaurants to work Grocery (a CW was not impressed when he found out about that) and as resto opens up that will end. And we get to clean up the mess

[Victory Sabre]

It looks like the US/Canada border isn't opening up on the 21st like planned. This sucks big time, because my normal Northwest Angle trip will be off, because we have to cross into Canada to get back to the little sliver of Minnesota.

Link to the wikipedia article about the Angle, for more info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle


That all being said, the trip might still be on. One of the resorts offers boat shuttle service to the south shore. It will cost a bit more, but we've been wanting to stay at that resort for a while, because it's on an island in the Angle.

Another plus for that, is that we're not limited to what beer/alcohol we bring, since we do not cross over into Canada. Their limit is 8.5l of beer, or 750ml of liquor per person.


EDIT - We're booked! Northwest Angle here we come at the end of the month!!!!!!!

[Food Lady]

So we are on our second week of liquidation and it's bad enough that I feel uneasy about the "mask slackers" (coined in 1918), but we have people blatantly disregarding an 8 foot ladder and signs. We have doorless entry to the hall where our bathrooms are and the corporation doesn't want customers using them for health reasons, and not the water fountains, either. It's not accommodating, but it is private property and we don't have to let the public use them. We would if it was an emergency like IBS or something like that.
We have had the large ladder parked in the entryway with two signs stating bathrooms are employees only. I heard the bathroom door this afternoon and thought it was my coworker but when I looked up some Karen/Becky/whatever meme doesn't offend you was squeezing between the ladder and the wall to get out. She had to practically overstep a piece of standing art and a large vase to do so. That ticked me off so I talked to our temporary store manager and we decided to put a heavy piece of furniture with sliders under it where the customers couldn't see, so that we could slide it but they would think they couldn't. We didn't have anything tall enough so she put a 4-way fixture there and we lock one of the wheels. It fits well enough that you can't squeeze by; there's an inch of space in the doorway. But if they figure out they can move it, that's a problem. We also have those pole signs in front of each bathroom door saying no customers. I shoved each platform under the door and slid the pole behind the lever handle. A person can still get in but I want to make it as akward as possible. It is; I had a hard time getting the sign out from under the door. It's ridiculous we have to do this but the bathroom door keys are missing.

Oh, and not really Covid suck--more liquidation suck--but people are complaining our prices aren't low enough and we won't give extra discounts. The company is going to cease to be. We don't care that you don't like the price. Sales are final; take it or leave it.

[MadMike]

Things are starting to seem almost normal again. My county went into the "Green" phase two days ago, and one of the first things I wanted to do was have a meal out. That's been kind of hit and miss. Some places have chosen not to open up indoor dining just yet, and some are crowded, particularly places that serve alcohol. We ended up having dinner at a barbecue place Friday, and lunch at Burger King Saturday. Both of those were pretty much empty as far as people eating in. Burger King was requiring people to wear masks until they sat down to eat, while the barbecue place had no signs up about masks. Both places had every other table blocked off.

We decoded to go back to doing our grocery shopping after lunch, since we're able to eat there now, depending on the place of course. While a few sections were empty or close to it, overall it wasn't that bad. There was plenty of toilet paper to be found, but not a lot of paper towels for some reason. There was even some hand sanitizer, although the wipes were out again. But there was plenty of meat in the case, which was my main concern when this all started. They took out the cattle chute leading up to the registers, although they still have markings on the floor reminding everyone to stay apart. And the one way entrance and exit are gone. We can go in and out anyway we want now. And they extended their hours of operation. Normally they're open 24/7, but when this started happening they started closing at midnight and then cut it back even further to 10 PM. Now it's back up to midnight. Basically, it's looking pretty much like it did when this whole mess began, except for the masks, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Looks like we'll be going back to volunteering with the kitties next Saturday. We got an email from the manager saying that she's allowed to bring cats in again once the area goes green. We're still not supposed to let people into the adoption area just to play with the cats, so that's going to be a little different, but given the size of that area I suppose that's reasonable.

I finally made it out to a bar last night, after almost exactly three months since the last time. It almost seemed normal, other than every other table being marked off as unavailable. No one was wearing masks, including the people working there. No karaoke yet, and it doesn't look like they're planning on having any kind of live entertainment just yet, because they had a few tables set up on the stage area. I'm not normally one to go out to the bar just to drink. I can do that at home, so I usually just do that unless I'm meeting up with friends, or doing something like karaoke or seeing a band. But it was nice to finally have a beer at a bar.

I was out visiting friends Thursday night and stopped at the local Sheetz sometime after midnight, and they had the self serve drinks and slushy machines running again. I was so happy to see that I almost jumped for joy. I was surprised to see that, since the one I stopped at in the area where I got my hair cut two weeks ago didn't have theirs up and running yet. So far, as of late last night they still don't have their indoor or outdoor seating open.

The next set of counties to go green next Friday include the one where I work and the one I grew up in. Some pools are starting to open up, and Hersheypark is planning on opening Fourth of July weekend. Our number of new cases per day is bouncing around, but still coming down overall, so hopefully we don't get any nasty surprises as things continue to reopen. We were in sixth place for the states with the highest number of cases, but Texas recently surpassed us, and now we're at seventh.

[Slave to the Phone]

Here in the land of "we don't need more stinking sun" the stay at home order expired May 15. That meant everything was normal and Covid wasn't a thing anymore.

According to our governor, testing has increased so of course numbers have gone up. I agree that numbers of infected will start showing increased numbers with better reporting, but I rather doubt that the increase in deaths and hospitalizations is due to testing. Of course, our idiot in charge doesn't thinks masks are needed and thinks everyone will deal with the social separation themselves.

[Victory Sabre]

A very good past few days.

Had fun with some friends on a road trip to some Wisconsin breweries on Sunday. Then today I finally got my hair cut after 6 months. My barber doesn't take reservations and no mask required. You've got to love the old school way of doing things. He's been cutting hair for 60 years, and isn't going to change his way of operating. Very refreshing to me.

Things are looking way up.

[Food Lady]

Aw, we could've met but I was working yesterday.

[Monterey Jack]

A month ago, meat items were limited to two packages per customer. Then it was four. Today I noticed no restrictions whatsoever (and this right before the 4th of July!), so that's an encouraging sign.

[Food Lady]

Confirmed Covid case at my second job & PPE not required for employees nor customers. Now I have to decide if I'm staying employed because while I don't get sick, I have my immunocompromised mother coming to stay with me for en extended period. This "hoax" is messing with my life. I practically yelled at my boss in venting--she was OK, understood--that we don't even need to be open. We sell NOTHING anyone needs.