Corona virus, what's different for you.

I was out in the store the other day and ran into one of my coworkers who'd had the virus back in May and survived. She wasn't wearing a mask.

I'm a bit more stressed about getting Covid now than I was a few months ago. As I've posted before, my work requires my to be in contact with several people a day, and I can come into contact with up to and over 20 or more people a day, in several locations. Before coming into contact with our clients, we do have a whole Covid19 protocol we go through. And even though it can be a serious infection, we still get fuckheads who will say they're not sick, not positive, not diagnosed, don't have symptoms, etc. But if we see, think, or suspect that someone is sick, either over the phone or in person, we can cancel their appointment. In the last two weeks, I've had to do that three times. Two of them bitched at me for it, and were insistent that I keep their appointments. Fuck them. We are also able to go into their accounts and note that they were sick, appeared sick, or suspected to be sick. The only problem is that then they might either call in under a different name (spouse) or create a new account using a different phone number and create a new appointment. I've had to cancel appointments 6-7 times already. I've only had two people actually say they were exposed or sick. One cunt was telling me she was going to call my manager, corporate, etc on me and get me fired. She wanted my contact info, so I flicked a business card at her.

Seriously, your appointment is not worth me getting sick, my partner getting sick, or infecting and getting the other guys I work with sick. Fuck you if you think otherwise.

Stay safe.

Had a coworker test positive within the past couple of days, but they've been working remotely since March.



Needs to be more, soon.

Thanks to the pandemic, in October my daughter and her fiance moved in with us because they'd both lost their jobs. They brought their two dogs, who are sweet and good-natured, but they shed hair everywhere.

They'll all be moving out soon, though, because my daughter got a job in Dallas at the corporate headquarters of a fashion company (and got a significant pay raise over what she was making at her last job) and her fiance got a job as a sous chef.

I won't miss their dogs, but I will miss having a professional cook living in my house.

I went to a different grocery store than I normally do today (I generally don't go to this one as it's a bit out of the way for me but because I had to be in the area I stopped in to get some things) and I was stunned to see that roughly 95% of the people in the store were wearing masks and wearing them correctly. Previously when I'd been in there, it was higher than my regular store, but not dramatically so.

I could tell you guys a little bit about the pandemic skiing experience. I have skied 15 days in Washington state, Utah, Wyoming and Vermont so far this season. There has been less apres-ski in bars but the level of reduction varied from state to state. In the Tetons, people seemed less careful about the pandemic.. The tourists there seem to forget that there is a pandemic raging as soon as they landed in Jackson. The bars were less packed than usual due to new social distancing policies but it was still packed.. more so than every other place I've been to. The 6ft of social distancing that they tried to enforce indoor doesn't help at all, when people are talking/dining indoors for hours. I am truly amazed that Jackson has not suffered a mass super-spreading event or that I didn't get it from being there for 4+ days. Utah was a mixed bag with some places such as Alta offering strict enforcement of not opening indoor spaces to the public and provide only to-go or outdoor drinking/dining experiences however Park city felt like corona central (I didn't ski there, was just hanging out). Washington state was very strict about only offering outdoor dining space with heated lamps and to-go orders.. Lastly VT ski resorts IMO had the best (or at least most balanced) policy of offering indoor dining but with minimum of 12 ft of social distancing and a strict 30 minutes of limit indoors for each party.

The lift line so far has not been significantly longer than season's past despite having socially distanced loading policies i.e. a minimum of two seats must separate two parties.. IN another words, a quad can have two singles who are strangers on it. A 6 pack could have two parties of two. For gondolas, most ski resorts are not allowing strangers to load together. The lift lines have been pretty orderly and organized with people socially distancing from each other. Of course having skis on helps with that social distancing since the length of skis are typically about 6ft.


I felt pretty safe about skiing since it's a activity that already involves wearing a mask and social distancing in an outdoor environment. If you are skiing closer than 6ft to someone, then you are doing something wrong. The flying to the ski places part felt a bit risky but I didn't think it was a major one since the on-board air is typically recycled within a few minutes. The riskiest part I felt was dealing with crowds in certain airports. I saw so many people who sat down next to each other in adjacent rows of chairs that are facing away from each other. These people must think that if you are not face to face with someone, 2 feet of social distancing is enough. All in all, I felt pretty lucky so far, since I haven taken four transcon (or almost transcon) flights and stayed 10+ days in hotels without running into the nasty little bugger. P.S. I hope I haven't jinxed myself by making this post.

Ever since masks became a thing, I've run into exactly one person in a grocery store here who wasn't wearing one. Everywhere I go most people seem to abide by the rule, though I have watched the clerks at my neighborhood convenience store ask a couple of people to leave when they walked in without masks on.

Another coworker has tested positive. Not sure of who it is, yet. There are two possibilities. One is a guy in my department and on my shift. The other is a guy in a connected department that I have to walk past at least once a day, and who liked to talk to me when we were in the locker room or break room. Both of those guys tended to think that they didn't have to wear their masks when they weren't on the clock.

Turns out, it was neither of them. There was another employee (who I know, but don't encounter very often) and she tested positive. As of right now, I know that we have two employees who are awaiting the results of tests, and a third employee who is out for unspecified medical problems.

When the Governor issued the mask mandate, the owners specifically told us that we were not allowed to turn anyone away based on mask usage. We put up signs everywhere and we have great huge bottles of hand sanitizer on every display case. Mask usage by customers was really good when we reopened in May '20. But, it started to taper off around November-ish and now I'd say we're down to 50/50. I feel for my sales people. I'm grateful that I spend most of my day in the shop or in my office.

If anything happens I don't think it's the post that jinxed you.

If/when you eventually leave this job I hope you do it in a way that hurts them most, because fuck any boss who puts profit over their workers safety.

Found out this morning that a restaurant I've been a regular at for 24 years is closing permanently. A lot of good times I've had and a lot of great people I've known in that place, and it's gone for good.

If only there had been some form of governmental support available for circumstances that most businesses couldn't have planned for...

Yea, like instead of giving money to Fortune 500 companies who have the ability to advertise and deliver without losing any money, imagine if they gave that money to small businesses and low income citizens who actually needed that money?
what do you think @Paladin? Or do you think trump did the right thing?

Trump didn't do anything, which by Paladin's mindset would be the right thing.

Ok. How about congressional Republicans acting in ways they knew trump wouldn’t veto?

It's ok, I'm sure you'll find a better, stronger restaurant in its place soon.

Except (was it here that someone posted about Meghan McCain suddenly having a that maternity leave was necessary after she had a kid?), this restaurant closure affects @Paladin personally. Therefore it might affect his thought process... for a day or two until he finds another restaurant.

^Is that an admission of "guilt" (I don't have time to search)? If it was you, then

No?

To be fair, I got up very early to do a Day Job I really hate, and there isn't enough caffeine in the world to recalibrate my brain.

Clocking out for Netflix. Sorry...

Cue Stoopids/Tererun claiming it's Alzheimer's.

My sister takes care of Mom, stopping by every day to sort her meds and check on her, doing her shopping on weekends. She's been keeping her distance and wearing a mask (Mom's 90 and has COPD) (also my sister's almost 70). Now someone at my sister's bank (she's a VP) has tested positive. So if possible she's being even more careful around Mom. On the bright side Mom gets her vaccine on the 15th.

Fry's Electronics suddenly declared bankruptcy last night, blaming COVID-19.

They're not seeking creditor protection; they're shuttering for good.

https://us.cnn.com/2021/02/24/business/frys-electronics-closure/index.html

I have a Frys in my city and I had intended to go pick up some things yesterday before I learned they were closed outright.

Apparently, the reason they could do so is because they use a co-signment model for their goods that aren't paid for until after the item is sold. Which is an oddity in retail. So they don't have to do any liquidation like when Circuit City shut down.

Always liked the place.

Because of the protocols in place, it may now be difficult for me to visit a friend who is having health issues. The gentleman with the white hair and glasses to my left had a fall and it seems that dementia may be starting. His daughter, fearing for his safety has moved him into an assisted living facility. Right now he is only allowed two visits a week and only 2 people per visit.

That's really sad. And Jesus, I hope that's not a recent picture.

I work in an assisted living facility, and the regulations are onerous as hell. They're essentially isolating people at a time in their lives when they need their family the most. Sometimes I really don't know if it's worth it. I don't want any of my residents to die of COVID. but man. This isn't life.

That picture is from his birthday dinner last March.