Our water heater broke, and someone came out to fix it, and he was not wearing a mask, and he shook Paul’s hand, and he stood at a normal distance to talk, and it was like having a visitor from another dimension. I’ve marked it on the calendar.
It was especially odd because it seems like all the service ads on the radio are hurrying to reassure us that they are taking ALL necessary Covid-19 precautions. One ad for a charity mentions that if you want to put your donation items on your lawn, they will pick them up and they “won’t even come to your door.” A kitchen design company mentions that the consultations can take place over video call. A plumbing company says not to worry: their plumbers wear masks, use hand sanitizer before entering your home, and will fully disinfect their work area before leaving—and you can pay over the phone. And then Mr. Water Heater Repairman just goes from house to house as if nothing special is happening. My good sir have you managed to catch the news lately by any chance.
I am pleased to hear that I am not the only one who does not get sick of grocery store reports. And Paul has gotten noticeably less interested as the weeks go by: at first he was very nearly as interested in listening as I was in reporting, and would come eagerly to hear of triumphs and failures; after my most recent trip, he came to the kitchen only when I’d already put half of the things away, and then after a few minutes actually CHANGED THE SUBJECT. So perhaps this can be our place to discuss it with others who share the interest.
There was no line to get into the grocery store; this is the second time in a row with no line. I don’t know if I happened to pick good times to go or if they’ve increased the number of people allowed in the store. The meat supplies were still somewhat lower than usual, but all the signs limiting two packages per customer were gone. I still only bought two packs. I had this same problem last time with toilet paper: it was no longer limited to one package, but I still FELT as if I could only buy one, or as if maybe I was missing a posted sign the way I once missed a one-way floor sign, and would be embarrassingly rebuked at the register.
There were TWO kinds of white flour AND one kind of whole-wheat flour! I haven’t seen whole-wheat flour since this began! Still a limit of two flours per customer. Sugar was limited to two per customer again, after not being limited on my previous trip. Chicken nugget variety continued to be very reduced, but they still had the dinos.
Frozen fruit was the lowest I’ve ever seen it, though they had a good supply of the much more expensive kinds, which was soothing even though I didn’t buy any (“I MAY have frozen strawberries, I am just CHOOSING not to pay so much for them”). They had Ramen soup, the kind where it’s 12 packs of noodle bricks for $2.50! I got a pack of those right before lockdown and hadn’t seen them since! And they had store-brand grated parmesan again, and still had tons of pasta options. No brown rice, but plenty of white. Only canned pizza sauce, nothing in jars; this is starting to seem like it must be on purpose. But pasta sauce is still available in jars, so perhaps not.
There was one single bottle of Clorox Clean-up, the spray cleaner with bleach I like to use in the kitchen after doing anything with raw meat, and I examined it all over wondering what was wrong with it that it had been passed over, and could find nothing wrong at all, but continued eyeing it suspiciously as it rode in the cart. My old bottle was on its very last weak half-spritzes, so this felt providential.
I did not notice ANYONE not wearing a mask. But there were still several Older Men wandering around with their hands in their pockets, blocking the aisles while their wives did the shopping. One gentleman stood just sort of admiring the salsas, and he stood there so long (even with me standing right there, getting increasingly obvious in my body/cart language), I gave up and looped around to the next aisle. You know, if our husbands need fresh air and exercise, perhaps they could be put out into the yard instead of taken along to the grocery store where they get in the way.
Henry’s orthodontist office called and made him an appointment for next week. He hasn’t been in months: he had an appointment in mid January, and then his next appointment was supposed to be at the end of March, but that was canceled. I am a little skittish about this, but I am also skittish about having something go wrong with his braces/teeth, so he’s going. It sounds like they have things pretty well set up, with a one-way path through the office, and patients waiting in their cars until the office calls, and parents not going in, and no toothbrushing station, and all staff wearing face shields, and a hand-washing/sanitizing station they make the patients use on their way out.
I got the calendar down to look up when his last appointment was, and it was odd to see how different it looked. Coffee with a friend! Many, many orthodontist/dentist/doctor/allergy/eye appointments! Elizabeth was canvassing—remember when the election was the main thing in the news? Kid extracurriculars, kid friend get-togethers, housecleaners, shopping trips with my mom. An art show, with CROWDS. A Galentine’s Day party with friends! who came to my house! and we ate out of communal dishes! and hugged hello and goodbye!
People in my area seem to have moved onto new concerns. Enough so that there are a lot of parties, picnics, and social events as well as the protests that turn into riots.
So now we’re facing a localized outbreak and may get put on full lock down again. Which is actually cool with me because the only think I’ve changed since the restrictions were loosened is I’ve gone into the grocery store in person a handful of times plus have gotten take out for dinner a couple times.
Although my most recent store trip might be my last for awhile. People were completely ignoring the one way aisle signs, like to the point where everyone I encountered was walking toward me. What do you do in that situation? I just kept following the signs and glaring at people but that’s difficult when your face is mostly covered.
Plus probably 40% of people in the grocery store, staff included, were wearing their masks under their noses.
And I’d say of the people I see each day, while working, maybe 20% wear a mask at all and of that small number at least half wear them under their noses.
I don’t get it. Why even bother.
We just had someone come to service our mini split a/c units which wasn’t even needed but it was to keep current for warranty purposes….he wore a mask and gloves and was respectful of keeping apart from my husband (who is over 65) and my daughter and I just went outside. I was really very worried about the whole thing but all things considered it wasn’t so bad. My ENT appointment this week was actually much worse in many ways which proves you can’t assume anything. I’m sorry your experience was so unsettling. I’ve been telling family to self advocate and step back from people and tell them to keep their distance firmly. But in the midst of something unexpected it is so hard to react quickly.
Snort: “ You know, if our husbands need fresh air and exercise, perhaps they could be put out into the yard instead of taken along to the grocery store where they get in the way. “
There was A LOT OF YEAST at the grocery store this time. Multiple options, including JARS of it. Still a limit of one per customer. I snapped one up even though I haven’t used the pack I snapped up last time. It seemed like most things were in good supply except for pasta – still very bare – and the frozen breakfast foods freezer was nearly empty. There was no zucchini at all, but that feels like a shortage we might have encountered even in The Time Before and not so much like A Pandemic Shortage. Most exciting was that there was a little basket of HAND SANITIZER at the register. There was only one small bottle left and it was an unknown brand and it was exorbitantly priced but I bought it anyway! My husband read an article about how you can’t leave hand sanitizer in a hot car because it degrades and all we have are largish pump bottles that I got at the dollar store in early March when Purell became impossible to find, so now he can have this super expensive bottle as it will fit in his work bag.
Most people wear masks, so that it feels very strange when one person isn’t. Like at the post office the other day when there were ten of us in line and only one had come in without a mask. I do see, oftener than I care for, people wearing their masks only over their mouths or chins, so that theY are, I suppose, TECHNICALLY “wearing” a mask but that the parts of the face that should in fact be covered are waving in the breeze.
For the first time since early March, my Sam’s Club had the lovely two 1-pound bags of yeast shrink wrapped together that I usually buy; 3 whole cardboard trays of it stacked in its normal place 😍! It was nice to have a small happy thing this week.
That makes me laugh about Paul changing the subject and just being less interested in general about shopping. During the height of the pandemic, Coach would go to the grocery store WITH me. That has not been the case for several weeks now. Kind of a bummer, but he still doesn’t understand that we always buy in bulk so sometimes I would come home and go: One shampoo? That will not last us long. Duh. So I am OK with it. The frozen individually wrapped boxes of Perdue chicken that I buy are STILL unavailable, but I am hoping to see them appear again soon. We were supposed to go to the dentist in June. Now the June appts are all filled with people who have been waiting for months, so I have a kid or two going a week here or not till August. I am going to have to keep my wits about me to get everyone to these scattered appointments that I usually prefer to knock out in a ‘pack-the-place’ one or two day deal.
I’m here for your grocery reports! I can’t find oven cleaner, of all things. Why is there no oven cleaner? *shrug* I was able to get baking mix and flour last time, but still no yeast. The type of baked beans we like are really hard to find, but most things are coming back into stock.
We used to buy disposable cleaning wipes all the time but I was feeling guilty about their environmental impact, and now we’ve been out of them for two months and I doubt I’ll buy them again. So, score one for Earth, I guess.
it’s amazing how quickly we adapt. When I am watching a show or movie, I am appalled that they are hugging and standing so close to one another without masks or any precautions. Seems like another era instead of just months ago.
Hilarious! I have the SAME reaction!!
Oh boy, our calendar is so sad – it pretty much only shows garbage/recycling days now!
My calendar only shows Zoom meetings. :(
Keep the grocery reports coming! I feel like things are starting to settle down around here (Virginia), I am generally able to get what I need in one trip per week. This past week the local store had a display by the registers containing: multiple sizes of hand sanitizer! Boxes of disposable face masks! Containers of disinfectant wipes! It was like a miracle. Plus there was oodles of toilet paper!
I got a whole jar of yeast! But my store is still out of these delicious frozen mini quiches that I love. It is such a delicious lunch to have 4 mini quiches and a salad. I was so sad when I ate the last of what we had. I even took a picture of my lunch.
We have had to have lots of people in (sewer line cleaners, basement restoration, a carpet measure guy. Why yes our basement did flood) and almost everyone wears a mask when they enter our house. I do always want to cough when people aren’t wearing masks— and nearly did for the one basement cleaner guy who was not masked)
It’s funny to me you have a lot of pasta, my stores still seem to be pretty limited!!! In particular, I’ve been watching (at first for a recipe, then just out of curiosity) for bow tie pasta for two months, and haven’t seen it anywhere!
I have twice now been the person to grab the last bag of white flour on a shelf in Target, and I always feel guilty for taking it, because so far I haven’t actually run out of flour. I have always been a predictive buyer, shopping for what we MIGHT need in the next few weeks or so, as well as what I know we’re almost out of, and now, since I’m only shopping every couple of weeks, I feel like I’m predicting out even further – “I have flour to last till the next big shop, but what if they’re out of flour during my next big shop. Better buy this flour now, even if I won’t use it for six weeks.” I don’t consider that hoarding, but it still makes me feel bad. What if somebody needs that flour today?!? Since I know I will use them, though, I go ahead and buy things I’m worried might not be around the next time.
Other than the baking shelves and disinfectant wipes/spray cleaners, I feel like I’m seeing most of what we need, with some substitutions. Like, 5-packs of boxed mac&cheese were out at Target, but the individual boxes were available, as were brands other than the one I typically buy (my kids are incredibly picky about boxed mac&cheese, because of course they are). Costco was out of frozen taquitos, but they are good at filling their spaces with other things, so it was hard to tell. Plus, sometimes they just … stop carrying things, so it’s hard to know if people are buying lots of frozen taquitos, or if it just wasn’t part of the regular shipment for the month. They were much lower on milk and eggs than my previous trip a few weeks ago, but weren’t limiting that I could tell, but I still bought just one of each. I encountered a line outside our Costco for the first time, which was disconcerting until I got into the store (about 10 minutes wait, or so) and discovered it was way less crowded than usual. So they are finally limiting the number of people allowed in the store. It was the best Costco in-store experience ever, including pre-pandemic. And our city mandates masks in stores still, so everyone was wearing one, although I saw a handful below the nose, which … sigh.
We are starting to discuss moving to a once a week shop, even though I really would rather not, because this week we filled the fridge so full that it freaked out and froze a bunch of our leafy greens (and cucumbers – frozen-then-thawed cucumbers taste fine but are a truly disgusting texture). I am very tired of not being able to shop “normally” and even more tired when I think about how it may be months and months before I feel comfortable shopping normally, no matter what rules stay in place at the stores. And then I remember they had ration cards in WWII and afterward, and try to get over myself and just enjoy my damn Oreos.
I have been shopping once every 2-3 weeks, which is hard when I do but is liberating the weeks I don’t go. I’ve been wondering if I will ever go back to weekly trips. I miss taking my kids to the store – while it is easier to shop without them I hate wasting the time husband watches kids on shopping. I’ve canceled the grocery delivery service because it seemed grosser to have an unknown possibly unmasked person touch my groceries vs walk carefully through the store.
We have been out of dried beans for months. I really want red beans!
Meat case is full but deceptively so – like the entire poultry case was buffalo wings last week. I didn’t fall for it.
Very few masks last week which made me sad. Why are we such a selfish nation?
I stopped the grocery delivery when I overheard a driver tell the family next door that she’s “over it” and “not even wasting time with masks or gloves.” Nope. Done.
I, for one, will never get tired of grocery reports! I always like to pop in to local grocery stores whenever I’m someplace else and check things out so this is almost, kinda, like getting to do that. I finally felt brave enough to venture out with a friend (in a car! together! radical!) so of course we went to a grocery store. One that I love but have not been able to get to. Store was well stocked, only out of 2 things on my list: frozen vegetable fried rice and dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I was way more upset about the peanut butter cups than the rice.
We are still doing the “order online with contactless pickup” thing, once a month, for groceries so I really enjoy grocery reports! I can’t remember the last time I actually walked into a grocery store.
We were ‘shop every week’ people before this (it’s just me and my husband, hence the ability to shop once a month now) so it’s really weird to get all our groceries at once. It’s kind of fun, though, because I’m shopping at Wal-Mart in the next town over (our town is very small and rural) which means I can buy things our local stores never had even in Before Times. This last trip was successful as far as getting everything I ordered; however, they were still out of hand sanitizer, wipes, disinfectant spray, etc. so I couldn’t even attempt to order them.
The mask thing, though. Ugh. Most people (especially employees) around here are wearing them hanging down on their chin. I guess it serves the ’employees must wear masks’ mandate, even though they’re useless when worn that way. I had a lab appointment this week and even the check-in clerk had her mask down around her chin. In a doctor’s office! I’d say about 40-50% of people in the places I’ve been in have worn masks. I did have a good eye appointment, with lots of safety protocols in place, so there’s that! :)
I really feel like, around here anyway, people think covid-19 is “over” and life is back to normal. Sigh.
I am hoping very much that the three eye appointments I have to make for myself and the kids this summer go okay (and for myself, I can’t even skip because the warranty on my laser eye surgery depends on keeping up with annual exams). My eye doctor is a bit of a “don’t tread on me” type, from what I can tell, while simultaneously being incredibly personable and thorough and up on the latest eye science, to the point that I don’t want to find a new one. I know they were following safety protocols earlier in the pandemic (one patient in the office at a time, etc.), as well as handing out little free bottles of hospital-grade disinfectant to clients, so they were taking it seriously at one time. I have a similar feeling that people think it’s “over” though, and if patients don’t demand the protocols, I wonder if medical professionals who don’t normally do masks/gloves, etc. will continue to bother.
About a week ago our kitchen faucet was leaking from the base and it was the kind of thing Beth could have fixed but she was just swamped with work so I called the plumber. It felt kind of momentous. He was the first non-family member in the house since March and it wasn’t even strictly necessary. (He was masked and kept his distance.)
We’ve been going to a lot of parks on the weekends and I’ve noticed that in the closer-in suburbs (where we live) people are wearing masks for the most part, but when you get to the more exurban counties, most people aren’t. The further you get from the city, the fewer masks.
I love the grocery store reports! My husband took over the shopping when this all began because I could only go in the evening when there was literally nothing on the shelves. He could go in the morning and thus took the stress off me (somehow I who rarely get stressed, stress out over groceries!). I may have to take the shopping over again because he is back to work, and so I am delighted to hear that there are items available again. He doesn’t tell me much, and the only way I know is to see what he brings home!
I just got a grocery delivery this morning, and it’s the first time since March that every thing I requested showed up! (Northern VA here.) There were some things out of stock/unavailable to even put in my cart, but there were always reasonable/similar alternatives. I even got baby bok choy – from GIANT – which i can hardly ever get if I go in person. I am feeling practically giddy.
Around here people are generally really excellent with mask usage. They are legally required in public indoor spaces right now, but people aren’t as overtly resentful or wearing them incorrectly as I’ve seen a lot of elsewhere. I feel very lucky about that.
I live in Phoenix, AZ and it feels like we have Corona Fatigue and have moved on. Even with a statewide curfew (that provided exceptions for things like going out to eat and going to bars, SMH), we drove through Gilbert AZ on Friday night, and it was PACKED with people. People lined up to get into the restaurants and bars. No one was wearing a mask, and there wasn’t much social distancing to be seen.
We were invited to two birthday parties- for adults- this weekend. We got takeout on Friday, and went out to eat on Saturday. Had actual drinks at an actual restaurant, surrounded by actual people. Showed up at one of the two parties we were invited to.
The grocery stores seem to be up to 80% of normal. There are no longer limits on hand sanitizer or flour. Still limits on ground beef, toilet paper. The store has stopped stationing an employee at the front door to sanitize grocery buggy handles. There are far more people not wearing masks than people wearing masks. I’ve given up on grocery pick up, because the kids are away for the summer, and I’m not buying much to feed two adults. And pick up won’t give me rotisserie chickens, which are the primary food group when I only have two adults to feed.
We’re taking our first of three weekends away next weekend. Going camping. At a campground, not boondocking. So we will be using shared facilities, but it’s our camper so it’s our sheets and stuff. My husband’s company is starting to talk about restarting corporate travel. He generally travels 1 or 2 times a month, but has been grounded since February. It’s looking like his first out of state trip could be as early as the first week of August.
I didn’t really notice things no longer filling up our calendar because it was due to a lack of having to do an action on my part, but the physical change of our programmable thermostat to eliminate all the “away” slots was definitely notable. We are now either in “home” or “sleep” status.
The last time I went shopping there were suddenly 4 brands of all purpose flour to choose from – after not seeing any for months! – but there was a weird lack of my preferred frozen fruit for smoothies. Bananas were on sale super-cheap though, so I bought three bunches then waited for then to get brown spots and froze all that hadn’t been eaten yet, so I’m set for that smoothie component, plus I’ve been making homemade hot fudge sauce and I put it on frozen bananas instead of ice cream because 1) I’m watching my calories and I get to feel a little virtuous, even if I’m consuming hot fudge sauce, 2) I love bananas and chocolate together, and 3) I’m lactose intolerant.
Just got back from my local grocery store and I did not notice a single thing that was missing or looking low. The toilet paper aisle was completely filled with every brand! But it is the expensive grocery store in the area and the toilet paper prices are super high. I did not go down the Lysol aisle, but I do suspect that was still very low or empty.
But get this: our GROCERY store completely removed the bulk items and replaced with with DSW shoes! There were even the little nylon booties to try them on!?! I was flabbergasted, but then went on to buy my one year old some shoes, so… I guess it was a good move :)