What's the weirdest request you've seen to deal with COVID-19?

[Christine]

My 80 year old mom was in a grocery store before Xmas. A middle aged guy was in the aisle taking up all the space and going the wrong way. This store, and most in her area take the one-way aisles very seriously, so my mom, who was uncomfortable passing him, mentioned he was going the wrong way. He actually told her... an 80 year old woman, clearly nervous about getting a life-threatening disease... to "Shove it up your a$*".

Who does that? I mean, okay, maybe she didn't have to say anything to him, but what kind of person says that to any woman, let alone an elderly woman?

It actually frightened her. Someone who would talk like that to her, in her mind, was capable of doing much worse (like the coughing and other crap people pull in those on line reports/videos).

Who does that? A lot of people. During all this time, I have found that there are too many people that don't like to be told they are doing something wrong; can't be gracious about; can't follow rules. I'm trying to figure out where I can move in retirement to get away from this mentality. It may be another country at this point!

 

[Christine]

I don't think I've had any super weird requests, just routines that I've gotten used to over this past year. One is the hand-off routine with my dogs when we go to the Vet. My miniature schnauzer has an auto-immune disease, and developed diabetes due to her needing steroids to keep her alive. So, Sadie and I head to the specialty Vet hospital every two weeks to have her Freestyle Librelink changed, and for various other things she needs. We use a QR code to check in, answer all of the Covid questions, and our parking spot number, and then a masked Vet Tech comes out to get my girl, do their stuff and bring her back. For routine stuff like this, it's actually pretty nice.

I agree but I actually miss going in with my vet and trying to communicate the weirdness of my dog via phone.

 

[Donald13]

My 80 year old mom was in a grocery store before Xmas. A middle aged guy was in the aisle taking up all the space and going the wrong way. This store, and most in her area take the one-way aisles very seriously, so my mom, who was uncomfortable passing him, mentioned he was going the wrong way. He actually told her... an 80 year old woman, clearly nervous about getting a life-threatening disease... to "Shove it up your a$*".

Who does that? I mean, okay, maybe she didn't have to say anything to him, but what kind of person says that to any woman, let alone an elderly woman?

It actually frightened her. Someone who would talk like that to her, in her mind, was capable of doing much worse (like the coughing and other crap people pull in those on line reports/videos).

this pandemic has literally bought out the worst in people. And tbh, most people who already were horrible are just more so now.

 

[MissStitch626]

We had a weird request/interaction with our server in a local restaurant. This was back in July or August when many of the restrictions had been lifted (we're now more or less back in lockdown).

This was our second visit to the restaurant, which had great physical distancing measures in place and where we felt comfortable with the level of risk. The server came to the table, everyone had face coverings on, so far so good. He then asked us if we wanted contactless service and we replied we would order and pay on the app. He said "great, so do you want contactless service." He said this meant he'd bring the food to the table and set it down, and we'd pay on the app...in other words, pretty much like every other visit.

Two minutes later, we realised what he meant when he arrived with a giant folding table thing that he set down near our table. Everything that was brought- food, drinks, cutlery - was set down on this table and we'd slide across to pick it up from there. What made it even weirder was that we were the ONLY people who had this, so everyone in the restaurant was looking at us, probably wondering what on earth was going on.

Not the servers fault at all, we just didn't fully pick up on what he was saying.The perils of communicating through masks!

 

[choirfarm]

OP. That lady wasn't strange. Just reasonably cautious!!!!! The hospitals are filling up.

 

[ralphie]

Stores here require an app with a smart phone, which I do not own, so I can't have an order delivered. Most people abide by the one way in the grocery store, but there are those who don't care. And I have asked the person behind me to give me my six feet when I needed to use the charge card reader. He had already placed his items on the belt, not adhering to the lines on the floor and waiting for the cashier to acknowledge him to proceed.

 

[missnic]

Not a request, but I saw a cashier in the next lane wearing a face shield, and no mask. The problem was, the face shield was around her neck, upside down. So, technically her face was covered, as long as she didn't move her head.. which of course she did. There was also plexiglass between the cashier and her customer, but not between the lanes... and she kept stepping out of the little cashier area into MY lane, turning her head and thus being completely uncovered, literally 2 feet from me. She was not pleased when I asked her to please step aside so I could finish my transaction. It was bizarre.

 

[Jennasis]

I hate the 12 foot long receipts from CVS.

 

[jrmasm]

Local grocery store...won’t pack your reusable bags and also won’t enforce state mask mandate.

I won’t be going back there anytime soon.

 

[ronandannette]

This made me laugh because I always socially distance my car when parking. I don't expect anyone else to do this, but figure everyone would appreciate the extra space.

Pretty sure it doesn't spread vehicle-to-vehicle and it's easy enough to step back and let the other party get into their car without getting too close if everyone happens to be there at the same time, which I did. I found her hostility absurd and her husband seemed pretty embarrassed by it too as he shot me a quiet "sorry" over her head.

 

[bcla]

I hate the 12 foot long receipts from CVS.

I get the joke, but this woman's receipt was literally about 5 to 6 feet long. My kid asked if maybe we could have it. The cashier said no since she didn't have the woman's ExtraCare number. Didn't even say we couldn't use it because it wasn't ours. I've heard of people using someone else's ExtraCare number just to get a discount, and I've seen cashiers using a generic one just for anyone who needs a discount. But yeah those long receipts do exist:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1047466215122329600

 

[Jennasis]

I get the joke, but this woman's receipt was literally about 5 to 6 feet long. My kid asked if maybe we could have it. The cashier said no since she didn't have the woman's ExtraCare number. Didn't even say we couldn't use it because it wasn't ours. I've heard of people using someone else's ExtraCare number just to get a discount, and I've seen cashiers using a generic one just for anyone who needs a discount. But yeah those long receipts do exist:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1047466215122329600

Yeah...ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[RangerPooh]

This wasn’t a request, but more an uncomfortable encounter. In April DH and I ordered Abuelos (Mexican) for my birthday dinner. Curbside pick up was slow and our order lost, yay... Finally it was located and ready. We requested the employee load it in the backseat. Instead of just sitting it down and shutting the door she practically climbs inside with us to unload each bag and show each item. Too close! Too much handling!! Plus she’d been interacting with at least ten other vehicles and doubted she’d changed her mask or gloves between interactions.

 

[AndreaDM]

This wasn’t a request, but more an uncomfortable encounter. In April DH and I ordered Abuelos (Mexican) for my birthday dinner. Curbside pick up was slow and our order lost, yay... Finally it was located and ready. We requested the employee load it in the backseat. Instead of just sitting it down and shutting the door she practically climbs inside with us to unload each bag and show each item. Too close! Too much handling!! Plus she’d been interacting with at least ten other vehicles and doubted she’d changed her mask or gloves between interactions.

wonder if they’d had complaints about missing items? I know thats been a complaint around here with so much more carry out, people get home and realize something isn’t in the bag. That was overkill on her part though!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That, and people as a whole are incredibly bad at understanding just how far 6 feet is. Some think “this is 6 feet” when they’re really 3 feet away. A few think “this is 6 feet” when really it’s 10.

That's one of the reasons I think the markers in the check out area are really helpful. You could never get 100% all the time of everyone following it but it gives a visual cue for when people are most likely to be standing still. A place could choose to space them out further if they wanted to as well so long as they were at least the minimum set forth in a one's given area.

 

[bcla]

That's one of the reasons I think the markers in the check out area are really helpful. You could never get 100% all the time of everyone following it but it gives a visual cue for when people are most likely to be standing still. A place could choose to space them out further if they wanted to as well so long as they were at least the minimum set forth in a one's given area.

Those can be of limited use because almost all the ones I see are set to be exactly 6 feet apart. Then thrown in a group of 2 or 3 people crowding on the same spot. I like how they did it in some parks in San Francisco where they had circles that spaced at least 6 feet from the next circle. Might not be that practical in a store where it gets pretty tough dealing with limited space as it stands.

 

[Lilsia]

My 80 year old mom was in a grocery store before Xmas. A middle aged guy was in the aisle taking up all the space and going the wrong way. This store, and most in her area take the one-way aisles very seriously, so my mom, who was uncomfortable passing him, mentioned he was going the wrong way. He actually told her... an 80 year old woman, clearly nervous about getting a life-threatening disease... to "Shove it up your a$*".

Who does that? I mean, okay, maybe she didn't have to say anything to him, but what kind of person says that to any woman, let alone an elderly woman?

It actually frightened her. Someone who would talk like that to her, in her mind, was capable of doing much worse (like the coughing and other crap people pull in those on line reports/videos).

Our local stores stopped doing the one way thing months ago. No one ever followed it and it just caused altercations. You still are passing people so what's the difference between passing them from behind, or from the front?

 

[Lilsia]

Local grocery store...won’t pack your reusable bags and also won’t enforce state mask mandate.

I won’t be going back there anytime soon.

They won't cause a confrontation with people. You need to call the cops if you see someone without a mask. Stores are not law enforcement agencies.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I am pregnant and very VERY paranoid about getting COVID. I also have a 1 year old son who does really well with wearing a mask but he breathes through his mouth and then takes his mask off when it gets soggy. So to protect my occasionally maskless son and myself... I am all about the social distance!!! 12 feet is better than 6 if it’s possible. My favorite trick when someone gets too close is to loudly tell my 4 year old to make room and give people their distance. I’m ostensibly saying it to him which makes it maybe a little less rude, but fortunately most people take the hint and move away.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Those can be of limited use because almost all the ones I see are set to be exactly 6 feet apart. Then thrown in a group of 2 or 3 people crowding on the same spot. I like how they did it in some parks in San Francisco where they had circles that spaced at least 6 feet from the next circle. Might not be that practical in a store where it gets pretty tough dealing with limited space as it stands.

Did you not have these mandated in your stores during the pandemic?

They were in mine. They aren't meant to be practical because when in history have stores needed to have markers on the ground to denote 6 ft in distance? They haven't. Stores deal with it. It's not perfect but what is. Observationally in my area they have helped people see that there needs to be distance between you and the next person whereas before this pandemic it might have been what people wanted but it was not the biggest expectation. While people may want 12 feet between you and the persons around you in line that would be even more impractical. As is markers on the floor give some distance with a visual clue.

As far as your picture above..yeah my area had that too. We had 8 ft circles spaced 6ft apart in our Theater in the Park over the summer where they showed movies instead of having plays. If you stepped outside the circle your mask needed to be on. Normal parks don't need that in our area they aren't crowded like that for the most part or at least people can consciously move to be away from someone.

Honestly not sure why you decided to quote me with something that became required in places around the world as if I suddenly said something never heard of. Not trying to be rude here though.