The Chaos Diaries - 5/12/20

So, I went out into the world yesterday.  I hit the bank first, then Dollar General, then the convenience store.

First up, the bank.  They're open again where customers can actually go inside.  Yay.  But they've got these plastic thing hanging from the ceiling in front of each teller and the center teller window is closed (there are only 3 anyway and the center one is never open.)  The plastic barriers are only right in front of the teller, so not sure how much good they're actually doing.  I even joked with them about 'there's no way germs will ever get around these' and they laughed.  I got to see my BFF.  She had a plastic thing, too, but it was propped up against the wall.  There's no way to hang it and even if she did, it wouldn't actually protect anything since it's the same size as the tellers' and she sits at a desk.  So I pulled a chair back so I would be sitting about 6 feet from her, maybe a little more... erring on the side of caution... and we had a nice chat.  No hugs.  :sadface: 

As we were chatting, this tall, thin, older dude comes in.  (Older... heh... probably 55-65.)  He goes to the farthest teller spot and proceeds to move the chair they had placed there to provide distance.  Then he stands on the side instead of in front of the plastic thing, so he's basically right there breathing all over little bitty Cathy.  My BFF shakes her head.  "It's doesn't matter what we do, people do what they want anyway."  Shortly thereafter, she had a couple people come in who were obviously waiting for her, so I moved the other chair back six feet.  I told her she needed to put some tape on the floor and tell people to get back behind the line.  Then we wished each other well and I toddled off to my next stop.

Ah, Dollar General.  They had pretty much what I needed.  Well, except for the ice cream, which was my real purpose for hitting the store.  The cashier told me the truck would be in on Wednesday.  At about 10am.  Like I can just jet around any old time.  Umm, right.  And you know 10am on Wednesday means the ice cream will be in the coolers sometime later that day.  It also means that by Thursday all the ice cream will be gone. 

Anyway, I did my shopping.  There were only a couple other people in the store.  One guy was parking his cart at the end of the aisle, walking up the aisle to browse for his items and then walking back to put them in his cart, thereby making himself an irritation because I have to stay 6 feet away from him but I never knew exactly where he would be.  Derp.  And his cart was always parked right where I needed to go.  :deepbreath:  I thought I lost him when he went to the back of the store, but then I needed tissues and sure enough his cart was parked right in front of the tissues.  I did not get tissues.  I didn't need them bad enough to wait for him to move. 

The only other people in the store were this skaggy young couple - Redneck Clem and Meth Martha.  Ah, livin' in the Ozarks.  They did a lot of standing and staring at the merchandise, making it difficult for me to get past them to get to the cash registers.  I did an end around and went into the cash register lane from the other end.  The cash register there also had a plastic thing.  Unfortunately, the gap between the plastic thing and the counter was not wide enough to slide my juice and water underneath without putting them on their sides and shoving.  And again, not doing much to stop germs from free-floating around it. 

Of course, Clem and Martha (not their real names) come up right behind me, not social distancing at all.  Hell, I would've wanted six feet between me and them even before the 'Rona.  I was busy putting my bags in the cart and before I had a chance to pay, they already had their crap on the counter.  The cashier tried to tell them to move, but they ignored her.  I paid her by handing her the money over the shopping bag corral. 

So, I put my stuff in my car and of course, Clem and Martha have parked right the hell next to me in their bondo-buggy sports car when we're the only cars in the parking lot, and I have to wait for them to leave before I get into my own car.  Who knows what kind of skeevy crap was floating in the air around them?  :shudder:  I could imagine the vermin leaping off them in droves like rats escaping a burning building.  Forget the 'Rona, I was thinking fleas, lice, scabies, plague...  :shudder:

Okay, so the shopping is done for the most part, but I am still sans ice cream.  The convenience store where I get gas usually has ice cream.  I head down the road.  And they do have ice cream.  The expensive kind, but hey, when a gal needs ice cream, she needs ice cream.  I got a tub of vanilla and a tub of chocolate.  I slapped them down on the counter, looked at the cashier - a lady I'm friendly with anyway - and say 'a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do', which sends her into gales of laughter. 

Home again, home again.  Jiggedy jig.  Hands sanitized to the max. 

Know what?  The expensive ice cream?  Not nearly as tasty as the cheap stuff I get at Wallyworld.  But a gal can't be picky right now. 

And that's it for me.  We're all still well here.  I'll be glad when I can scoot down to Wallyworld every week again.  The DG is okay, but it's not Wallyworld. 

How's things in your world?