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Post by JessieMB on Jun 9, 2020 18:48:00 GMT
Why is COVID-19 under politics, you ask. It's under Politics because it's a surprisingly divisive topic. I mean, *I* don't know why it's divisive. It seems pretty straightforward to me. But, apparently, there are lots and lots of people who don't like to be told what to do, no matter how good it is for them. (And yes, I know, I am completely ignoring the very challenging nuances related to economy, emotions, and just general human psychology. That's not what this post is actually about. =p )
I'm at my limit with COVID-19. As in, I'm at my limit for being able to care and be cautious. We've been so good about staying at home as much as possible - only going out in public for groceries and pet supplies since St. Patrick's Day. That's March 17th. One week from tomorrow will be exactly 3 months of being at home, constantly, with no time to rest. The boys' daycare center reopened at the beginning of this month, but we're keeping them home because we, intellectually, believe that the risk is too great. For those who don't know/remember, Paul had blood clots in both his lungs two years ago. He is almost completely healed, with only a little bit of scarring (and a little patch of dead lung in one of his lungs.) In theory, he shouldn't be at high risk. But, in theory, he wasn't at high risk for blood clots either. So, yeah, the whole sitting by your spouse's hospital bed being told that "These next 24 hours will be the most critical" while two little ones are at home is not something I am eager to repeat. No, it's not something I'm *willing* to repeat. I forced us to jump onto the bandwagon of "everyone stay home" as early as I could without jeopardizing my job.
And now...now I'm just done. The danger isn't less right now. In fact, it's more because people in Texas are stupid, stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. As soon as our governor started *talking* about lifting some of the rules, people started acting like all the rules were already lifted and that there was no danger at all. Like...a lot of people. It's crazy. Paul and I have had multiple fights with his family (all of whom are over 65, and both of his parents are very unhealthy - his mom will literally die if she catches the common cold - that's how unhealthy we're talking.) And I've always viewed them all as intelligent, well-educated people. But his family (I say family and not parents because it's his parents and his aunt who was a caretaker for the boys for a long time) are basically demanding that we let them visit the boys. We have said no almost every time (we relented for Mother's Day), but they still call and ask/demand for it WEEKLY. Also, because we say no, somehow now we are the bad guys as far as allllll the rest of the extended family is concerned. Like...what? You think we're saying no because we want to? Do you think we are just being mean to you? Do you have ANY IDEA how sick and tired we are of being around our kids non-stop, 24 hours a day, without any relief in sight? We would LOVE for someone else to take them for a day. But you will literally die. Paul has a chance that he might literally die. Jessie lost one parent already and is not super eager for Paul to suddenly lose both his parents - which is basically what would probably happen if either contracted COVID. But sure, keep pissing me off, soon I'll just say fuck it and give you what you want. Paul will get a nice inheritance anyway, then I can go work for a non-profit. And all because you wanted to see your grandbabies so badly that you refused to respect the rights of their parents to be parents and make the decision we believe is best/safest for our family.
But even outside of that (and credit where credit is due - Paul's mom has backed down from demanding to just requesting after I finally blew up and explained in exacting detail all of our emotions about everything), I'm just done. I want to go on a date with my husband. I want to take my kids hiking. I want to take my kids to a park. I want my kids to GO AWAY to daycare for 6-8 hours so the house can be quiet. I want to take my puppy back to puppy classes so she can get socialized properly. I want to go to a restaurant and eat stupidly expensive bbq (or Tex-Mex. Actually, at this point, I'd be happy with any cuisine.) I want to be able to take a walk through my neighborhood without having to consciously avoid other people as much as possible. I want to not care anymore. Ugh.
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Cosmos
SnoopyCool
Reminiscing Typesetter
Posts: 37 
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Post by Cosmos on Jun 10, 2020 15:00:49 GMT
Let me just say, I feel you. We aren't even technically in the "high risk" category at all. My dad is 63 and lives with us and I don't even have any extended family that would ever give a crap to see us (COVID-19 or not). My dad isn't technically "high risk" yet, even though he gets pneumonia easily he can always still breath and has incredible lung capacity. This allows me and the husband to (just now, I've allowed) go out quickly to the grocery store or take-out treats such as ice cream. We have only been inside a store such as Target once in 3 months (also in the early stay-at-home group).
I'm at my wits-end with the stupidity of people. In particular, Americans, about a lot of things. COVID-19 has been the icing on the cake. We too saw people out in droves the day after the governor stated the SOUTHERN PART of our state could start to reopen. I have seen the same thing happen with this so-called "Phase 2" reopening. Everything from stores open before they were "allowed" too and people STILL NOT wearing masks or wearing them properly indoors! This is with large signs and banners on the front of all stores saying they are STATE MANDATED. We are officially not in "Phase 2" until this coming Friday, for the record.
I cannot, for the life of me, because I've tried, get accurate reporting or feel like I'm forming an unbiased opinion either. I feel like every single day my view is being skewed in one direction the other without any actual science taking place. I know the basic facts of how it spreads, what to do to "help" prevent, etc, but the numbers aren't accurate and false information like "healthy people and kids are very rarely effected" are mixed into the first-hand reports of an 8-year old being put into coma at the hospital (no known conditions) and not even allowed visits by family or their favorite stuffed animal because with COVID you are immediately isolated.
I also stand with that 'a chance is still a chance' group as you are. But am being pushed to mental limits. Even today we are discussing this Summer camp we have always sent her to. What measures they are taking, how many people are allowed and what the 'risk' might be if we send her. There is no RIGHT answer, and worse yet, I'm feeling guilty and cannot even defend my opinion because it's two extremes of "why risk it at all" and "am I doing mental health damage to those involved".
I feel you.
And yes, it's become more political than a medical situation EVER SHOULD.
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Post by JessieMB on Jun 10, 2020 15:19:11 GMT
*hugs* Even before all of this, Paul and I have talked/daydreamed off-and-on for years about moving to New Zealand. The way they have handled COVID-19 has only validated my feelings about NZ.
I'm tossing around in my head an idea of having an SC Zoom (or something) meetup this weekend. Maybe that would make us all feel a little better? I don't know...... That said, if you're interested, you and I can call each other some time this week and have a "UGH! COVID sucks" complaint session. If it's late enough at night, Paul will be happy to join in, too. =p
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Cosmos
SnoopyCool
Reminiscing Typesetter
Posts: 37
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COVD-19
Jun 11, 2020 21:22:55 GMT
via mobile
Post by Cosmos on Jun 11, 2020 21:22:55 GMT
Both ideas sound awesome. I have a chat on zoom tomorrow (Friday night), but our calendar is seriously clear other than that. It might freak me out to see/chat with the real Snoopy though. LoL
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Post by JessieMB on Jun 12, 2020 12:40:48 GMT
And great. Let's try for Saturday after around 8:30pm CST/9:30pm EST. Is that a good time for you?
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amanharan
SnoopyCool
you don't have to be perfect, just be better than you were
Posts: 37
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Post by amanharan on Jun 12, 2020 18:14:55 GMT
oh hell, i've run out of rants about the covidiots i live near, the way this kills people hits all of our worst fears. like as some of our friends were getting sick with it and we started to get into panic mode a bit. i remember having that bit seeing the reports of people basically just having to die alone, isolated away from everyone, i looked at my wife and said "if i have to go in, don't let them let me die without a sword in hand" i mean...yeah i'm still a bit crazy that way...but anyway. so yeah, we locked down, and have been ridiculed by all of our neighbors for it. because shutdown happened the week of my son's birthday, so we had to cancel his party, then when things were starting to be more under control locally his friends parents pulled their kids inside and said they weren't allowed to play with him because of our reaction to covid...straight up told him to his face.
then our other neighbor posting on various social media about the ridiculousness of people wearing masks, and saying "we have a neighbor who's wearing masks when he goes out of the house...when this is over i hope they just continue to stay home..."
yeah i'm the only neighbor to them that bothers to mask up when i go places...though another person nearby replied to it
"if you're the kind of person who thinks ridiculing people for taking steps to protect you and their family...don't wait for this to be over...just stay home...in fact let us know and someone will be by to water you twice a week"
while the state is opening back up my martial arts school is being significantly more cautious, of course we're also bound by usajudo regulations on our club, and they are more cautious given the nature of grappling and heavy breathing in close proximity.
had someone think they were being totally reasonable when they say "well, the mask isn't going to keep me from getting sick, but if you feel safer wearing a mask, it doesn't hurt me so whatever" and i had to argue with them, because they were in charge of a youth sporting facility. "my mask isn't intended to keep me from getting sick, it's because you are contagious with this before you know you are sick, my mask is to protect you. to declare that you don't think a mask is protecting you at all and therefore won't wear one is saying, i don't give a fuck about you, all you people who step foot into my facility, and let your children play sports here"
they ended up amending their stance and saying for those in attendance they recommend wearing masks...but at my daughter's first game, i'll be damned if we weren't but 2 or 3 families across 4 courts worth of teams that had masks on...
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Cosmos
SnoopyCool
Reminiscing Typesetter
Posts: 37
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COVD-19
Jun 13, 2020 3:06:21 GMT
via mobile
Post by Cosmos on Jun 13, 2020 3:06:21 GMT
I totally forgot to check this earlier, oops. Feel free to message me on FB if that happens again, I'm always connected there.
Lemme double check plans in the morning and confirm. How does your Sunday look if tomorrow is a no go?
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COVD-19
Jun 13, 2020 12:06:37 GMT
via mobile
Post by JessieMB on Jun 13, 2020 12:06:37 GMT
Any day after 8:30pm CST is free. I'm not every free before that because kids and work.
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COVD-19
Jun 14, 2020 1:16:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by JessieMB on Jun 14, 2020 1:16:41 GMT
It's 15 minutes till 8:30, now. So I'm going to guess today isn't good for you. Have a great weekend!
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Cosmos
SnoopyCool
Reminiscing Typesetter
Posts: 37
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Post by Cosmos on Jun 15, 2020 12:47:46 GMT
I'm going to message you on FB because this is completely not notifying me of new posts properly. I'm sorry! We should convene and then post a new thread to get us all together at some point. =)
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Okamikyodai
SnoopyCool
SO I hopped on the minecraft bandwagon and am kind of enjoying that.
Posts: 11
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Post by Okamikyodai on Jul 12, 2020 6:18:25 GMT
I've been informed that it's a hoax, drink a combination of Tumeric, silver nitrate, and Tea Tree Oil. Also was told to drink Oregano tea. Also that the government has already weaponized it up north to take out the elderly. Also elderly people who are, "If I get it I get it. I lived a good life, time to go to heaven."
"I figure if you're wearing a mask, I'm ok."
Women pulling money from their Tiddy Pockets.
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Post by JessieMB on Jul 17, 2020 21:08:25 GMT
Okami, how are things in Nacogdoches right now? Austin is starting to get hit pretty hard.
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Okamikyodai
SnoopyCool
SO I hopped on the minecraft bandwagon and am kind of enjoying that.
Posts: 11
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Post by Okamikyodai on Jul 20, 2020 3:38:18 GMT
City pop of 33k with the college out but enrollment is up for the next sem, seems they are doing a lot of online courses. We've been designated a hot spot but we also have a lot of elderly folk. round 650 total cases with 215 active. 31 dead it seems but a large portion of those have been from two nursing homes where staff brought in the illness. My grandmother just went on hospise at 95 (96), so I don't get to see her much, though she's been wanting to go be with grandpa since he passed.
Go out and about and you have people wearing masks, others not. So far there have been no big issues but our chief of police basically said "We're not going to enforce the executive order cause it's not 'law' and we don't have the resources to create a database for warnings/tickets." and to me that's just a fucking copout. You don't have the tools to categorize and keep track of people who have committed misdemeanors? I'm not talking throwing people in jail, unless they get violent, but you can't create a subsection in your tickets or whatever to accommodate for this? Even if this weren't for covid, what if it were for something completely different... you can't create a database in regards to keeping track of new tickets and or warnings given?
Anyway Walmart says no masks, but I keep hearing people are in walmart without masks, but I also hear employees saying they are turning people away so... who knows. I work, go home, watch kdramas, try to keep myself away from the rest of humanity.
Not out of fear of covid, but because I just dislike people. (I have had some really awesome customers though, but my job is not managed properly to handle this new type of customer interaction. Poor leadership and implementation"
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Post by JessieMB on Jul 20, 2020 13:32:30 GMT
Can't you just implement a method you think will work? If you're the only person at your job most of the day, how would your boss even know if you were doing stuff differently? Also, what method would you have preferred your company to utilize?
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Okamikyodai
SnoopyCool
SO I hopped on the minecraft bandwagon and am kind of enjoying that.
Posts: 11
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Post by Okamikyodai on Jul 21, 2020 1:20:27 GMT
It's an easy question to ask but harder to explain. We do not have adequate space for customers to social distance. We don't have covering outside for anyone who desires to get OUT of their vehicle to wait. Jobs for any customer can range from 20 seconds to copy a key to an hour to cut a specialty automotive key and program in it. It's not something you can stop and start so once you've started working on it you have to pay attention till your done. Larger jobs keep the smaller jobs from taking 20 seconds to making it take 20 minutes or customers leave. Some jobs require the customer to be there as well. While I'm working on the larger job customer smaller customers pull up. Now we also do not have labeled parking spaces. No lines. So sometimes people park is very drastically evasive and hard to maneuver out of spaces.
Access control to the inside of the shop is done through 2 doors. 1 that faces the street with 2-3 car parking available is manual entry. We lock and and unlock it as we need to. The other door is electric and easy to maneuver but cards must be used to gain re-entry. This can be a little tedious but a card of a lariat can help. If both doors were like this perhaps is might be easier but I'm not so sure. Also help up from is intermittent. As I have also tried to make signs to explain what needs to be done I keep coming across people who either don't read or don't want to read.
For example if I have 5 customers sitting in their cars and then a 6th comes up, gets out of his/her vehicle and comes to the door... everyone gets out. Keeping track of who's next is already a pain but now it's just become frustrating. Then my boss or someone else will go and help the first person that's at the door while I'm working on someone else. Sometimes this ignites people getting out of their cars in 90+ degree temperature. Sometimes someone will leave the front door unlocked and customers will come inside. I then have to tell them to leave, obviously without being rude. Sometimes the customer doesn't like being told they should remain outside.
Parking lot lines have been mentioned since 2000, boss won't do it. So parking gets a little messy. Sometimes a vehicle will be towed in, and the tow truck guy will require me to deal with him and bypass customers. Costumers don't like that. Then there are customers who don't want anything they just want to talk to a tech about possibly coming out. Costs and so forth. I've mentioned putting up our shops phone number outside if anyone has questions but the book keeper feels people will just only call and not honk for service. As she also takes in work orders and doesn't book keeping it would make it harder on her if we promoted the phone too much.
A secondary technician, at the shop full time, would be needed. The book keeper as well would need another set of hands to help her.
So far no one wants to work the shop because every service technician hates working the front.
So... it's just me.
I have implemented no specialty cut keys or programming car remotes or keys after 4pm due to possible issues during the job that will back us up or keep us at the shop past 5pm.
To be honest I'd rather work on stock, reorganizing the keyboard, and working on maintenance work like rental property and larger jobs like if a person brings in a car lock to have keys made to. Service by appointment. If the parking lot and access control were set up properly perhaps we could shuttle 2 customers with masks on at a time but we currently have 2 other techs who help up front.
While one of them is putting up keys on the board another technician comes and gets him and then I'm down a guy. Sometimes the front help is working on something and just leaves it cause he's gotta go help the tech.
SO I have to put it aside or finish it. Say if either of the two guys is working on a customer and they get called to go with a service tech out on a job... they drop what they're doing or give it to me. So not only am I working on my customer, but now there are two customers who's techs just drove off and I'm left holding NO INFO jobs. I have to REask what's going on... makes us look stupid.
Basically I do the jobs I do, I do them as best I can, I don't take on other jobs till I am ready.
If someone gets upset they aren't being taken care of... sorry. I do not have the facilities or staff available for what is needed.
The problem with just giving me two techs is that sometimes there's NO CUSTOMERS and that might mean down time. Now I can keep techs busy doing something, one guy literally is taking over organizing and checking in and pricing stock. That being said there are loads of boxes up front with stock in them because their are jobs those parts are waiting on. Jobs that the boss is putting on back burner to complete others. We don't have enough room but he won't throw stuff away. So it's just a waiting game.
I have no idea how to fix it. I'm not management. Give me a job to do... but don't have me working 3 hours nonstop cause I have no back up and when I ask for help it comes 10 minutes later after 1/2 the people left and I finished the rest.
That's kinda where I'm at.
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