Lessons on social distancing.

I’m not going to nanny people but here are a few observations about social distancing that I learned on a trip to the local grocery store and pharmacy today

1. The cashiers are stressed. The ones at the grocery store say it starts at 7:00am before the doors are open. There’s a line of people and they’re in a bad mood. The thing that really seems to tick customers off is the prohibition against reusable grocery bags. The cashier we had told us that some people had filthy dirty gross bags they were carrying into the stores. There are signs at the cash register (I’ll address signs in the next bullet point) that say they will only pack in plastic store bags. Yeah, yeah, I know, the dolphins and climate change. But do your cashier a favor and use their bags.
2. Walgreens. I’m singling you out. I went to Walgreens for gloves. They were out. No problem really. I have plenty of alternatives that I can use. I just wanted some extras. But I did buy Gatorade, liquid of the gods, that was my magic elixir during chemo. If I get feverish, I want Gatorade. Lots of it. So I went to the cashier and completely ignored the sign that was about 8ft away from the cash register. One step past the sign, the cashier got all German nazi on me and started yelling and screaming at me about stepping over the flu line. What flu line?? Well, it was this stupid sign I walked past. It looked like any other Walgreens sign that I ignore. The yelling was really unnecessary. I wasn’t anywhere near the woman in front of me and wasn’t planning on getting any closer. But the cashier’s reaction indicated to me that she was exasperated at having to remind customers to respect the sign. That’s not because customers want to run with scissors and violate a new social norm. It’s because THEY CAN’T SEE THE DAMN SIGN. If it looks like some kind of advertising sign with the same colors and fonts, I and a million other people are not going to see it. So verily I say unto you, WALGREENS, print your fucking sign on a neon green background and put an electronic eye on the flu line to beep when a customer steps over it so they know. Honestly, my nerves were over stimulated and it made me cranky. There was an implied accusation that I wasn’t following the rules and she was pissed. Which made ME pissed. Just fix it. This goes for grocery stores and any other store. You need to change the colors and fonts and make them prominent and visible at the time the customer enters and leaves the store. No one needs their days ruined by this. We are all on edge. Be agile and ditch your corporate style sheet. Make it big, bold and unmissable.
3. At the checkout. Don’t put your card on the machine if you can help it. Don’t swipe and don’t dip. If you need to use the buttons, wrap your finger around a disinfecting wipe while you do it. Use Apple Pay on your phone to hover over the machine without touching it. Wipe off your phone afterwards. I see so many people completely miss this step. They get all the way through the store with their masks and gloves or not gloves and then stick their cards in that machine, then put it back in their wallets where it can infect all your other cards. If you must dip or swipe, wipe off your card with a disinfectant wipe. Practice safe swipe.

That’s it. I’m exhausted already. Try to be nice and do unto others even if they’re insensitive assholes.