On Friday, after staying home for 32 days, I ventured out. This is what I found.
Traffic was about the same as before. This is a farming community with a high percentage of the population being retirees and those who are self employed.
Post Office: (in a village with population 1,800) signs on door to the very small area where clerks serve to please wait outside in the main area instead of lining up inside (social distancing). There was a piece of plexi glass installed in front of the postal scale. The area of the counter between customer and clerk was wide open. Also, there were signs that masks must be worn. Neither the clerk nor the customer before me wore masks. As the man came out, he held the door open for me to pass through, forcing me to walk very near him. I could have told him to go on and opened the door myself, maintaining distance. Old habits die hard. Politeness prevailed.
Mortgage Co. Office: (in a town population 9,000) I am refinancing my mortgage to a lower interest rate. This is a smallish office. I sat at a table about ten feet from the mortgage lending officer's desk, whose 10-ish yr old son was there at a desk tucked back in the furthest corner. Masks worn. She works from home mostly but comes in for signing and processing documents with those who do not do e-docs. This is the same company who set up my first mortgage so I have been there before. This time, there was no office help.
Walmart: The parking lot was about the same insofar as number of cars. There is now a fence between the entrance and exit doors and a person outside directs you through the entrance only doors. Once inside, an employee points you to a cleaned shopping cart, you cannot just grab one and go. Another employee with a laptop is entering data as you walk by (head count?). There were about the same number of people inside as before. Signs everywhere to maintain distancing. Signs on floors for one way aisles. All employees wore masks, although a few were not wearing them properly (not covering nose or pulled down below chin). I guess about 60-70% of customers wore masks. Those who did not were mostly young, under 40? Many products were stocked in the giant economy sizes only. Laundry soap was only stocked in a huge jug that I can barely lift, enough to last me for a year. Chicken in large packs only, 8 breasts, 8 thighs. The only beef available was ground beef. They were low on coffee creamer and dishwasher soap. I took one of the three bottles left. Plenty of paper products. Potato chips in large party sized bags only. Not much choice for rice and beans and not much there. No large tortilla wraps (whine, I like those). Produce seemed about the same in availability and choice. There were no masks in either the pharmacy or hardware depts. Liquid antibacterial hand soap shelf was more than half empty. (I did not look for hand sanitizer.) There was a large display in the center aisle of Jergens hand lotion. Cosmetics dept has been moved and substantially downsized. People tried to maintain social distancing. One mid-30-ish man commented to me along the lines of "all this fuss for the sniffles" (no mask on him). I did not reply. The thought in my head was "there's a fine line between courage and stupidity." There seemed to be a nervous vibe throughout. People seemed confused and were moving slowly. Not much of the usual friendliness. Perhaps that was just me?
Prices seemed the same as before. Even though my very long list was organized by dept, it took two hours in the store. The one way aisles complicated the process. Upon arrival at home, I repackaged meats. Luckily I had bought aluminum foil.
Before, this sort of day was my day out once a week or so. I must say it was pretty awful. I found myself saying, "OMG! I will never go back!!" I reminded myself that some people may not have the funds to shop at all and would be thankful to go there. But I think it will be a long time before I do this again. There is a small local store where I can go in the future for necessary groceries. I will have to go to town to close on the new mortgage in 45-50 days as there is a surge in refi's now due to the lower interest rates. Otherwise, staying home now seems the better choice but for different reasons.
I am also thankful that now I have the space to store these huge product containers that would have been very difficult in my van or RV.
Honestly, I am tired of reading about it, tired of worrying about it, tired of the speculation and anxiety. I have turned off the news in any form because no matter what they say or who they blame or who complies with whatever changing and sometimes conflicting orders on whichever day, it will be the same. People doing the best they can with what they have.
This week I will work in my yard in beautiful weather and listen to the cows mooing in the pasture next door and play with my dog and do laundry (no worries about running out of laundry soap!) And cook simple meals and think about going fishing once the lakes and snow melt. And most of all, be so very thankful. All those many years of hard work, challenges, trials and tribulations, and surviving, what we all do and for some continue to do and what humankind has done for eons, marching on towards ???
And P.S. I will not post on YT or Instagram or Twitter or Tik Tok nor will I carry signs or drive around honking my horn or yelling at anybody. However, I still have my vote, so far, and you can bet your last dollar I will use it on election day.
Traffic was about the same as before. This is a farming community with a high percentage of the population being retirees and those who are self employed.
Post Office: (in a village with population 1,800) signs on door to the very small area where clerks serve to please wait outside in the main area instead of lining up inside (social distancing). There was a piece of plexi glass installed in front of the postal scale. The area of the counter between customer and clerk was wide open. Also, there were signs that masks must be worn. Neither the clerk nor the customer before me wore masks. As the man came out, he held the door open for me to pass through, forcing me to walk very near him. I could have told him to go on and opened the door myself, maintaining distance. Old habits die hard. Politeness prevailed.
Mortgage Co. Office: (in a town population 9,000) I am refinancing my mortgage to a lower interest rate. This is a smallish office. I sat at a table about ten feet from the mortgage lending officer's desk, whose 10-ish yr old son was there at a desk tucked back in the furthest corner. Masks worn. She works from home mostly but comes in for signing and processing documents with those who do not do e-docs. This is the same company who set up my first mortgage so I have been there before. This time, there was no office help.
Walmart: The parking lot was about the same insofar as number of cars. There is now a fence between the entrance and exit doors and a person outside directs you through the entrance only doors. Once inside, an employee points you to a cleaned shopping cart, you cannot just grab one and go. Another employee with a laptop is entering data as you walk by (head count?). There were about the same number of people inside as before. Signs everywhere to maintain distancing. Signs on floors for one way aisles. All employees wore masks, although a few were not wearing them properly (not covering nose or pulled down below chin). I guess about 60-70% of customers wore masks. Those who did not were mostly young, under 40? Many products were stocked in the giant economy sizes only. Laundry soap was only stocked in a huge jug that I can barely lift, enough to last me for a year. Chicken in large packs only, 8 breasts, 8 thighs. The only beef available was ground beef. They were low on coffee creamer and dishwasher soap. I took one of the three bottles left. Plenty of paper products. Potato chips in large party sized bags only. Not much choice for rice and beans and not much there. No large tortilla wraps (whine, I like those). Produce seemed about the same in availability and choice. There were no masks in either the pharmacy or hardware depts. Liquid antibacterial hand soap shelf was more than half empty. (I did not look for hand sanitizer.) There was a large display in the center aisle of Jergens hand lotion. Cosmetics dept has been moved and substantially downsized. People tried to maintain social distancing. One mid-30-ish man commented to me along the lines of "all this fuss for the sniffles" (no mask on him). I did not reply. The thought in my head was "there's a fine line between courage and stupidity." There seemed to be a nervous vibe throughout. People seemed confused and were moving slowly. Not much of the usual friendliness. Perhaps that was just me?
Prices seemed the same as before. Even though my very long list was organized by dept, it took two hours in the store. The one way aisles complicated the process. Upon arrival at home, I repackaged meats. Luckily I had bought aluminum foil.
Before, this sort of day was my day out once a week or so. I must say it was pretty awful. I found myself saying, "OMG! I will never go back!!" I reminded myself that some people may not have the funds to shop at all and would be thankful to go there. But I think it will be a long time before I do this again. There is a small local store where I can go in the future for necessary groceries. I will have to go to town to close on the new mortgage in 45-50 days as there is a surge in refi's now due to the lower interest rates. Otherwise, staying home now seems the better choice but for different reasons.
I am also thankful that now I have the space to store these huge product containers that would have been very difficult in my van or RV.
Honestly, I am tired of reading about it, tired of worrying about it, tired of the speculation and anxiety. I have turned off the news in any form because no matter what they say or who they blame or who complies with whatever changing and sometimes conflicting orders on whichever day, it will be the same. People doing the best they can with what they have.
This week I will work in my yard in beautiful weather and listen to the cows mooing in the pasture next door and play with my dog and do laundry (no worries about running out of laundry soap!) And cook simple meals and think about going fishing once the lakes and snow melt. And most of all, be so very thankful. All those many years of hard work, challenges, trials and tribulations, and surviving, what we all do and for some continue to do and what humankind has done for eons, marching on towards ???
And P.S. I will not post on YT or Instagram or Twitter or Tik Tok nor will I carry signs or drive around honking my horn or yelling at anybody. However, I still have my vote, so far, and you can bet your last dollar I will use it on election day.
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