The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[Kit-Ginevra]

My doctor scheduled me for normal tests...blood work, boob smooshing, anal probing...all that good stuff.

And she'd only gone in with a bit of a tickly throat and a sniffle...

[Smapti]

My mom's test came back negative. She's still staying home, though.

[Smapti]

We got a pleasant surprise at work today - our local Red-and-Blue Pizza Place called us up this morning and offered to donate a pizza party to us, 100% no charge, as a token of appreciation for the Store being open and serving the community.

I'm sure they did it either in the hopes that we'd give them our business later on or because they wanted to use up ingredients that were going to go bad, but at least I got a free lunch out of it.

[Trixie]

I ordered from the same pizza chain yesterday and got a code for a free pizza if I order next week. I believe I will!

My store is still waiting on the plexiglass but we were provided masks to wear but that's voluntary.

My store has been pretty busy with sales almost back to normal. That could be because of Easter so who knows what this week will be. Nobody around here seems to be staying home much, though. We're going to be shorthanded for a few weeks at least. One manager is home because she's high risk, one is taking a few weeks off and one got herself fired but she was going on maternity leave anyway. I have no idea what happened with her but it's no loss to lose her anyway.

[Ghel]

My branch is talking about putting up plexiglass at the teller windows, but there's no urgency since the lobby is still closed. Plus we're rather busy with these Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Today, we started receiving direct deposits of the stimulus checks for customers. Bookkeeping sent out an email that we were receiving checks for deceased customers and customers who no longer have accounts with us. They're setting aside the funds until we get direction for what to do with them.

[Android Kaeli]

When I went to get my schedule today from work, I stopped by the TP aisle to see if there was any left over from this morning. Grabbed one of the 6 count packages that was left, then grabbed some stuff I had forgotten to get last night. Business has been slow lately, with a few spurts of activity at random but I'm thankful to still be getting the hours.

[Dreamstalker]

We went to my work yesterday to take advantage of one of the 'layoff' perks (50% off one shopping trip plus a free takeout meal each week). Said hi to everyone that was still there; mom finally met D3 and was thoroughly underwhelmed. Everyone else was deep-cleaning the shelves and he was waltzing around with the ordering scanner, not wearing his mask even remotely correctly (I did clue the big boss in to that).

We've been doing shopping for a few elderly/self-isolated friends, and one of them who is used to getting 5-6 boxes of kleenex/4 bottles of dish soap at a time and TP whenever he wants it is a grumpypants because we can't find any and when we can there are purchase limits. Even sending him a photo of the bare paper goods aisle doesn't get it to sink in.

Dude, set up a recurring delivery on Target/Amazon, if they'll let you do that. Or get your ass up at 5AM and get to the senior shopping hours when the shelves are stocked.

[Pixelated]

At my store we have six self-checkout machines and then seven staffed registers. The store was supposed to get a massive redesign, during which a large display area just past Register #7 was supposed to become home to more self-checkouts -- which was really stupid, since the options were: (1) schedule a second staffer to oversee that second group of self-checkout machines, or (2) get the cashier on Register #6 or #7 to do it, which is a fuckup waiting to happen, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Well, then COVID showed up.

The redesign was put on hold before that happened, and now I suspect it's off the table indefinitely. That large display area? It's now home to a massive array of shelves ... for the "click and collect" customers. I overheard one of the staff members tell an inquiring customer "We need all the help we can get!" and I was thinking "Hmmmm ... I put my name in, and have heard nothing, so ... really?"

There's some speculation that the "click and collect" program will eventually eat its way into our [Store Brand] clothing area. The problems developing with the clothing line include the fact that (of course) the fitting rooms have been shut down. And then there's the fact that you can no longer return anything, for any reason ... no returns, exchanges, or refunds.

I've warned every single customer who comes through my line with clothing about this. Most customers have been okay with it, but I've had a couple who have decided against purchasing one or two items because (of course) there's no guarantee the item(s) will fit. They're not rude about it or anything; they just decided prudence was the better part of shopping at that point.

[Trixie]

We got our plexiglass up at the registers and pharmacy. I don't know if it's doing any good because people still have to hand us cash around it. One highlight for me is that when someone stands directly on the other side of it their voice is muffled and that's not always a bad thing. I just find myself talking louder when I have to.

Today they gave us sheets that basically say if check ourselves for symptoms and if we have any to not come into work. One of the girls in pharmacy said that masks are going to be mandatory for all staff. The pharmacy manager also said that but if it was the case for the whole store, the store manager probably would've said something earlier.

I'm getting tired of all of it. I may just take my chances and use some PTO to get away from all this for a bit.

[Slave to the Phone]

I went to the dispensary today. I had to order and pay online, when I got there I stayed in my car and called them. Someone scampered out to my car, handed me a paper bag and scampered off again. It was very nostalgic.

[SimonF12009]

At work today, I was on the door making sure we didn't have too many people in the store, SC tries to walk out of the entrance (the store is one-way, even though the entrance and exit are next to each other)

Me: You need to go out of the exit door, it's just there

SC: But my dog is there it is (approx 5 metres) nearer, can I not go out this door?

Me: Due to Social Distancing, no, sorry

SC: You Sure?

Me: Yes

SC: Well how about I just punch you in the face, b****

Me: (Hands in pockets, Black Belt in Karate) You do know that you are being filmed by about 5 cameras, yeah? If anything happens we WILL give the police the video of you harrasing and then striking an employee

SC: Walks out

[csquared]

(Hands in pockets, Black Belt in Karate) If anything happens we WILL give the police the video of you harrasing and then striking getting the shit kicked out of you by an employee

SC: Walks out

Fixed that for you.

[MadMike]

Got up early to go grocery shopping again. Getting really tired of doing that on Saturday mornings.

At least we didn't have to wait to go into the store. And the paper products are getting easier to find. Up until recently, I might find some of the cheap stuff if I was lucky, but this time there was actually a small but decent amount of name brand stuff.

Still can't find any sanitizer or disinfecting wipes though. And while the food selection seems to be getting better, some things were still hit and miss. Couldn't find any Dr. Pepper this time, of all things.

[SimonF12009]

Fixed that for you.

Would have loved to, but I like my job

[Android Kaeli]

The two doors that usually are entrances/exits now are one entrance, one exit. There's one person at each door to track the customers in the store and to tell any customers they need to enter/exit the other door instead of going in or out either one. Today I was stationed at the "exit" door for a couple of hours and the store manager ended up having to deal with about five customers who complained about having to enter through the other door and not whichever one they wanted to use.

One of which stopped on their way out and said that they were going to be complaining to the corporate offices about the whole thing because they didn't like it.