How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

Gareth - we have no choice. The current instructions, not suggestions but legal instructions, are that everyone from the age of six years old must wear a face mask when in a public place. And that means everywhere outside your home. Everyone working in a food store must wear a mask and gloves all the time, as must delivery drivers, whatever they are delivering.

The laws regarding lockdown are pretty strict here at the moment, and everyone should abide by them. Unfortunately some people just do not.

The MoH have said that it is not for the safety of the person wearing the mask, but so that if they are infected but asymptomatic, not feeling ill and have not been tested, any sneeze or cough would be caught in the mask and not spread in the air.

A person who is caught in the street not wearing a mask is fined, but of course we do not have any police on the Moshav therefore too many people do not bother to wear one.

Why do all the doctors and nurses use them?

Surely, if this virus is spread by droplets, if everyone wore one, it would contain at least some of the spread??

THIS.

I wish I could quit my job, I’m so sick of the idiots.

I have got to stop reading the online newspapers.
I have got to stop reading the online newspapers.
I have got to stop reading the online newspapers.
I have got to stop reading the online newspapers.
I have got to stop reading the online newspapers.

It is beginning to be an obsession, which is stupid because there is nothing I can do to change what is going on in the world and I am just getting frustrated for nothing.

Aren't face masks useful in the prevention of spread. ie if someone has the virus it catches particles emitting from the mouth and nose. Its a kind of courtesy mask if you like if you are infected.. ?

It would be interesting to see if you carry the antibodies to the virus. Is there any way you and your husband can be tested. In the mean time take great care because whatever you had will severely weaken your abilities to fight another lurgy....

I have just been checking my team and am missing one from the Philippines, two from Spain, two from India......and I am only a part way down the names.

Soddit. It has gone 1am and I am going to bed.

The antibody test is said to still be too unreliable at present. When they perfect it, they say it will be available for a couple of pounds, though who 'they' are, I don't know. I guess this will be more useful for members of the general public than the Covid19 test - which can only be true for the day that you were tested.
It is confusing, some are so ill that they need a ventilator, some have had it without showing any real symptoms, and some say that even if you have had it, you may be able to have it again. Does anybody really know the facts?

Brand new strain of the Covid virus so, no, nobody knows any facts about it. That's the worrying part really. If they can break it down and get to know it, then we might just start to kick its backside

Yes it’s a courtesy to others if you wear a mask/face covering. It will catch the moisture droplets that get expelled while breathing. That is my understanding anyhow. They just made it a requirement in the county I live in that you must wear one when in line to go into a business or while in said business. You don’t have to wear it while going for a walk. I’ve been wearing one at work and any business a go into since April 2, not because I had to, but out of respect for others. I wear it for 10 hours a day while I’m at work. That’s going to be real fun once it gets hotter. We all have to do our part to help slow this thing down, so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed and give them time to try and come up with a vaccine.

Hello everyone. I got along in this thread a bit late. Here in the US its really scary. Approaching 1 million known cases of COVID-19 and rising steadily. Not sure what to add except the state I live in (Maine) has been under a stay at home mandate since April 2nd and it's set to expire on April 30th. There is uncertainty as to whether the governor will extend the mandate or not.

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Do you find your mask gets damp inside when you wear it all day Marc?
I ask because I sometimes wear one to sleep in as I am allergic to house dust, and to one of my Beags. When I wake up it can be quite damp inside, I presume from my condensed breath. I wouldn't be averse to wearing one to go to the store, but nobody else does, and the cashiers are quite well protected with Plexiglas? screens.

I’m wearing a homemade cotton cloth mask. What I’ve noticed as it’s gotten warmer is moisture collects at the base around my chin and neck. I wash it every night. I wish we were better protected by plexiglass. Only one register of the 4 has it, and it’s too small. I’m 5ft 8in tall and my eyes are over the top of ours. It’s a bone of contention with me at work, took almost 5 weeks after I first texted him a picture of one for him to “build this one. It’s only 3ft tall and 2ft wide, completely insufficient. People out there purses down next to it. My understanding of air flow is that even with a shield air flows around the edges. He said he’s ordered 2 more and will build another for the 4th register, which I expect to be as lame as the first. I’ve made other suggestions and they just get brushed aside. I don’t feel very valued there.

I honestly wish I could quit my job, but I don’t see anything better opening up on the horizon in the current situation. I’m considered an essential worker. If we had closed, I’d actually be making more money on unemployment, as the federal government is kicking in an extra $600 per week on top of the regular unemployment check. This is a hard pill to swallow.

Also customers often don’t respect the 6ft social distancing and say stupid, uneducated stuff like it’s ok because you’re wearing a mask. They don’t have to deal with it all day everyday. Yesterday afternoon on my break I sat in my truck, turned up the music and just let out a scream, to try and release the tension I was feeling. On my way home at the end of the day i turned the music up as loud as it would go, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out my emotions. I wanted to get on the freeway and just push down hard on the gas pedal and drive as fast as my truck could go, but I didn’t, just took the backroads home. I was feeling close to my breaking point. I feel like my employer is not doing a good job of protecting us, with either physical barriers or bigger signs about social distancing. Notebook size signs aren’t doing it. I feel like a pawn, dispensable and disposable. I was having an anxiety attack last night. I’ve been sober for over 5 years, but last night I felt like I wanted to escape, become numb. I remembered the feeling that washed over me after having the first drink, how it felt in my body... I didn’t drink, and I won’t, but it scared me having and remembering that feeling.

Please be nice and respectful of the people helping you in stores that you go to. We are all scared, we interact with many people everyday, and it can get overwhelming. If you feel they are being rude to you because they ask you to step back, or if they aren’t super friendly when you’re paying for your items, it’s because we feel exposed. The reality is I’m not still working for some altruistic reason, I’m there because I need the money, and as hard as it feels sometimes, I guess I’m lucky I still have a job. But as I wrote above. I’d be making more money from unemployment if the store wasn’t considered essential, and we had closed. But that stuff will eventually run out, unless benefits are extended, which depending on how things go, they might be.

I’m going to share some of the interactions I’ve had...

Last weekend, before masks became mandatory in my county (not country) about 75%-80% of people wore them. We had a customer who commented that he’d been getting dirty looks because he wasn’t wearing a mask. He was talking to my coworker at her register, and to me at the next register. We explained why we were wearing them, that it was a curtesy to others, and I basically told him that to me, people not wearing one were being selfish. It had been recommended weeks before that people wear them, just hadn’t become a requirement yet. He pointed his finger at me and told me Jesus Christ would save us from the virus and that people have been getting various viruses for ever. I told him not to point this finger at me while saying that crap to me, that I believe in science not his god. I couldn’t help myself. Sorry if this offends anyone, and I used a stronger word than crap, with another four letter word in front of it, with an “ing”, making it a 7 letter word. People like him are dangerous in these times, IMO.

Earlier that day I had a woman leaning over my counter, which if we had the darn (insert harsher word) plexiglass , she wouldn’t have been able to do... I politely asked her to not lean over and to step back. I actually said “I don’t mean to be rude, but would you not lean over, and step back and give me some some space”. She stood up straight, didn’t step back, and just stared darts at me the rest of the transaction.

We do have duct tape squares on the floor where we want people to stand, but they either don’t see them, or don’t care. It’s probably the former, but feels like the later.

Before I started to wear the mask, on April 2nd, but after we’d had the stay at home order, except for essential things, I had a customer at the register who coughed towards me. She had raised up her elbow, but didn’t actually put it to her mouth, it was at least 6-8 inches away, and she was facing me. I said I don’t mean to be rude but you didn’t cough into your elbow. I got a dirty look and she said yes she had coughed into her elbow. When the transaction was done, as she was walking out the door, she turned to me and said that I was rude. This escalated as she walked out into the parking lot, both of us responding to the other, until I told her to EFF off, and that she could call my boss and tell him what I said. I later told him about the incident as well as telling him to pull up the video and sound and review it. I was just standing up for myself, and as my place of work is doing such a piss poor job of it, I have to do it myself.

Customers needing help will keep walking towards me while I’m backing away from them, forcing me to put my hand out to signal them to give me space. This happens on a daily basis.

People are in a hurry and don’t wait for you to get out of the way. There are certain “choke” points that need signs, one of which is on a ramp, that has poster board on the side wall, where people can post things. These boards should be removed so people don’t stop there, or at least moved somewhere else.

These aren’t the only incidents, just some I’m sharing. The majority of customers are trying to keep distancing, and appreciative that we are still open, but the minority that aren’t are what sticks in my mind, unfortunately.

You know, this is a really hard time in the world, unprecedented, we are all learning and making it up as we go along. On some levels maybe I get mad at the store, when I’m really just mad at the situation, but I do think they could do a lot more to protect us and make us feel more valued.

We need more and bigger signs. We need better markers on the floor to show people wear to stand at the register. We need more, and bigger plexiglass. I just get told that there’s not much they can do. Basically just suck it up and deal with it... They want to do as little as possible, it seems to me, so as to inconvenience the customers as little as possible, meanwhile forcing us into situations wear social distancing isn’t possible. It’s an impossible situation.

I don’t want to get sick and then feel it’s because my place of work didn’t do everything possible to look out for my and all our well being. And that’s what I fear I guess.

Oh dear, I'm sure you are not the only employee that must feel this way. I suppose the stores have done their best, but as a shopper even I can see that there are these bottleneck points - in my local store the bread shelves are behind where the till queue backs up, so you have to ask whether you can reach through the 2m space to get your loaf.
I hope that having this thread to express your feelings, did help relieve a little of your anxiety attack. You are a good man Marc, and I hope that at the end of this you can find a job that you enjoy doing, where your intelligence is valued, and you can feel appreciated. Stay well and keep holding on.

I don't involve myself with faceless internet arguements. The same way I'm not responsible for other useless fucking dog owners aggressive dogs when I take mine out and it just wants to play, but the other dog is dangerous and I get blamed. This world is fucking Bullshit, like the real world has become! I'm done.

That’s the thing Carole, not all stores have done their best, some have done much more than others. Mine has done a poor job, and been very slow to act on what it’s done. The manager is probably overwhelmed, and facing pressures from the owner, and he has become tone deaf to our needs and safety.

As I was laying in bed this morning I also realized that I feel I have no control over this situation, in life, and at work. Maybe that’s why I have such a visceral reaction to my suggestions not being given much merit. When the virus hit the fan, so to speak, I texted the manager that I had some ideas for the store to help keep us safe. At that time he said they were open to any and all suggestions/ideas. Some of my ideas were implemented immediately. A few others that he said they couldn’t do were implemented within another week, either from pressure from other employees or maybe after further consideration. Maybe at this point he just rejects things because he wants to feel in control. He’s not very open to new suggestions anymore. It took almost 5 weeks to get a small, ineffective plexiglass shield at one of four registers. Other businesses are on their 2nd and 3rd versions. Those places are trying harder than were I work, and it hurts me to see them try harder than my place of employment. Also the manager “built” our one plexiglass shield, so maybe he’s taking it personally that we think it’s ineffective. There’s many dynamics at work in this situation. Unfortunately work isn’t run as a democracy.

As this situation will be ongoing until, and if, a vaccine is created, stores need to work harder on opening up those bottleneck points.

It does help to have this thread. A lot of this I obviously hadn’t expressed here before, so it all poured out at once.

I’ve been planning on taking classes to become a substance abuse counselor, which I’m still planning on doing. These will likely now be online classes, and I’m not sure how the field work will now be done. That was going to be part of the first class, when actual classes could have been held.

Before I start classes I’ve been working on remodeling a little cabin on my property to rent out. Unfortunately there are some projects I can’t do alone, that require being closer than 6 feet to someone else. Also I haven’t done much at all on it over the last 6-8 weeks, as I’ve been stressed out over the situation we all find ourselves in. Perhaps it would be good therapy for me to get back on it and do the things I can on my own. The project I need help on is replacing the roof on one half the cabin, and raising up some of the walls to tilt the roof in the opposite direction, so it’s angled properly and also strong enough to support solar panels. Perhaps I can figure out how to do most of this on my own, as part of the reason for wanting help was to do it during a window of clear weather. Now that spring is on its way rain is becoming less of an issue, so having the lid open for a few weeks might be ok

Google - Supermarket Covid19 screens to see the arrangement that the major chains here are fitting to protect their till positions. Payment is almost 100% by card. Little protection for the shelf fillers though.
This virus has picked a bad time for your plans - I can't imagine how you would fit a cabin roof single-handed! Take care, an injury is the last thing you need.

It must be really tough being a front line worker. When I say front line I mean you are like a soldier taking all the risks to defend us against the virus and putting yourself at risk. If it wasn't for brave people like yourselves we as a population would be in real trouble. I understand your feelings 100% yet only you can decide your best course of action for the future. Having a project on the go is a good idea, ie your cabin sounds like it could be a winner in the future, how far in the future no one knows at this stage. Just before this awful virus struck I was looking for properties here in SW France to do up as a rental gite ( holiday home) . I must admit at the moment I am glad we didn't sink any money into that idea due to the current situation.
I'm sure there are many bad managers around at present who seemingly are just worried about profits rather than protecting their staff. I understand your frustration and hope you have enough strength of mind to follow the right path whatever that may be....
I will echo Caroles comments to say be careful up on that roof...….