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

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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!

I don't think I would have known that contactless service meant what that restaurant was doing. I can totally understand your confusion there!

 

[bcla]

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

Theoretically yes. I don't believe that lines indicated on the floor or carpet are strictly required, but I've seen them more or less as a guide. And frankly not a very good one as they tend to keep the center of groups spaced 6 ft apart. The state and local orders specifically say that there are face covering requirements in addition to staying apart. When I read the rules, there don't seem to be any room for interpretation other than keeping employees and customers separated is mandatory.

But in reality unrelated customers commonly aren't spaced apart and employees often purposely come close to customers and other employees. Just as a practical matter it can't be avoided.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Theoretically yes. I don't believe that lines indicated on the floor or carpet are strictly required, but I've seen them more or less as a guide. And frankly not a very good one as they tend to keep the center of groups spaced 6 ft apart. The state and local orders specifically say that there are face covering requirements in addition to staying apart. When I read the rules, there don't seem to be any room for interpretation other than keeping employees and customers separated is mandatory.

But in reality unrelated customers commonly aren't spaced apart and employees often purposely come close to customers and other employees. Just as a practical matter it can't be avoided.

This is a time where you're taking a comment and running with it.

During our stay at home order it was required that businesses place the markers on there. That was pretty common and that largely had stuck around. The 1-way aisles were not mandated and did not stay around long at all but the distance markers in check out areas have largely stuck around since the first stay at home order happened back in March for many places in my area. Some specific locations didn't keep the markers and usually there is a noticeable difference in how close people get in line.

A visual clue is a visual clue. It's just there to keep people recognizing that space is needed between you and the people around you in a case where you would be standing still. The reason I commented what I did is because the poster was talking about our lack of ability to judge distance. Visual clues can help though we all realize they aren't perfect and no one was stating that.

Again on the practicality part-no store has had to do this before and many are required to at the moment (or had been in previous months). They deal with it even as it's not perfect. None of these areas were designed for it. Costco is one of the only places that I've been in that really had the room to push their displays back far enough to allow for multiple lines (it's usually a circle but there are also lines) to be placed on the ground. Most others people try to adhere to them as best as they can allow for.

I'm really not in the mood to go back and forth but don't over analyze my comment. It's a pretty standard in pandemic world thing to see anyhow

Back to the thread topic for me

 

[crazylady]

My story is about my niece and nephew. They go to the same HS. In the spring they needed to clear out their lockers but there was some kind of rule in place like "only one kid in the school at a time". Whoever was manning the door would not let them both in at the same time even though they live together and drove together.

 

[Lizgistix]

This one place I went to wouldn't let me wear my mask. I had to take off my mask and use one of their disposable masks instead.

I've also had instances where you had to have a mask on to enter some place but then once inside there's a big plexiglass window between you and them and they're not wearing a mask.

 

[bcla]

A visual clue is a visual clue. It's just there to keep people recognizing that space is needed between you and the people around you in a case where you would be standing still. The reason I commented what I did is because the poster was talking about our lack of ability to judge distance. Visual clues can help though we all realize they aren't perfect and no one was stating that.

As a practical matter, I see a lot of people just following blindly following the lines, thus creating situations where groups are spaced 4 feet apart. I get the intent, but they just don't work.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As a practical matter, I see a lot of people just following blindly following the lines, thus creating situations where groups are spaced 4 feet apart. I get the intent, but they just don't work.

Okay

 

[jrmasm]

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.

That’s not entirely true. Stores can be cited by the health dept for non compliance.

 

[sk!mom]

I guess I don't see the harm in this. She asked for the amount of personal space that made her feel comfortable, and it doesn't seem like an unusual request to me. Maybe she's an epidemiologist or virologist or something.

As for receipts, I never take them these days either.

Agree. It seems that there was plenty of room for the OP to give more space so I see nothing odd in being asked to do just that. I tend to give as much space as possible. 6 feet is no magic number. To my understanding, it’s the minimum that is possibly safe.

As to the subject of the thread...I haven’t really gotten any weird requests which likely means that the OP would find me to be the weird one. I have rarely been inside a store these past 10 months. I was almost completely at home until August. Now, I’m back at work but it’s pretty much work- home.

 

[sk!mom]

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!

Sadly, many Americans fail to see that what they’re calling personal freedom is actually entitlement and selfishness.

“Nobody can tell me to wear a mask.”
“Stay home if you’re scared.”

 

[ronandannette]

That’s not entirely true. Stores can be cited by the health dept for non compliance.

That is absolutely the case here. Businesses are actually the first to be fined if they are allowing patrons in unmasked and the penalty is $250/per unmasked person with the potential of their licensing being suspended for repeated non-compliance.

ETA: An even bigger deal is capacity limits. Employees or security people counting customers in-and-out is standard now; there were lots of line-ups before Christmas. Our city deployed 200 dedicated by-law officers in November to patrol businesses for non-compliance. I have seen them come into my workplace (a private office, not a retail store) and they have been observed in the parking lot of my church on several Sunday mornings.

 

[sk!mom]

As to the subject of the thread...I haven’t really gotten any weird requests which likely means that the OP would find me to be the weird one. I have rarely been inside a store these past 10 months. I was almost completely at home until August. Now, I’m back at work but it’s pretty much work- home.

Actually, I did think of a situation that was odd to me.

I’m teaching in person in a mask required classroom. My district is very strict that every employee correctly wears a mask at all times and students 4th grade and above do too. We are only allowed to use a face shield instead if we are teaching something or in a position where seeing your mouth might be necessary. For example a speech path working with a student or teaching phonics.

I had a district employee come in to do an observation of a student. She was wearing a mouth shield. I had never seen one before but her nose was uncovered and depending on how her head was positioned sometimes her mouth was partially uncovered. That shield was tiny and barely covered her mouth if her head was perfectly positioned. I was extremely uncomfortable since she would be staying an hour. I didn’t want any possible confrontation around my students so I texted my principal. He came over, asked her to step into the hall, handed her a mask, and told her that she would need to wear it to remain on campus. She may think I’m weird but IDC. My students and I have not had a positive case in the months that we have been back in person so... wear a dang mask. If for no other reason, then out of respect for the fact that you have entered our 100% masked space.

 

[DopeyDame]

I was helping with an (outdoors, masked, very brief) volunteer opportunity this summer. They had a long health questionnaire to fill out at first. Among all the normal questions was "have you or anyone in your house taken a covid test in the last 14 days" (There was a separate question asking if you were waiting for the results of a covid test.)

Well, about 10 days earlier, I had taken a test for work. No symptoms, no reason to take the test, other than a work-specific requirement. So I answered that yes, I had taken the test, but it was routine screening and the test result was negative.
They didn't let me or my husband participate.

The woman running it was just another volunteer trying to do her best, so I didn't push back or anything, but I did point out that the last thing we want to do is stigmatize testing! It's a *good* thing if people are doing routine surveillance testing.

 

[BrianL]

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

Well, you know, if toilet paper continues to be hard to find....

 

[tzolkin]

I was helping with an (outdoors, masked, very brief) volunteer opportunity this summer. They had a long health questionnaire to fill out at first. Among all the normal questions was "have you or anyone in your house taken a covid test in the last 14 days" (There was a separate question asking if you were waiting for the results of a covid test.)

Well, about 10 days earlier, I had taken a test for work. No symptoms, no reason to take the test, other than a work-specific requirement. So I answered that yes, I had taken the test, but it was routine screening and the test result was negative.
They didn't let me or my husband participate.

Yes, many of these things do not make logical sense when they don't allow for follow-up questions.

We have a contractor who answered "yes" to the "Have you had a fever in the last two weeks?" question. She was prevented from entering the building and going to work because she'd had a UTI 10 days prior (low fever, took antibiotics, and was fully recovered).

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Yes, many of these things do not make logical sense when they don't allow for follow-up questions.

We have a contractor who answered "yes" to the "Have you had a fever in the last two weeks?" question. She was prevented from entering the building and going to work because she'd had a UTI 10 days prior (low fever, took antibiotics, and was fully recovered).

I was filling out a screening questionnaire for a doctor's appointment and there was a question that read "Have you traveled out of state since February? If so, where?" I was filing this form out in October.

I checked yes and listed 2 foreign countries along with Florida (from our cruise the first week of March). Didn't hear a word about it when I went in for my appointment.

 

[disneyseniors]

This happened this morning at our local grocery store.
We were in check out line behind 2 other sets of people. The one checking out, father and a son about 10 or so, did not have masks on or even hanging from their chins! No One said anything to them, apparently. We were about 12 feet back from them, and everyone else had masks on. The man looked rough and had a mean expression on his face like he was waiting for someone to say something. It was sad. The kid just looked like he wished he was anywhere else but there, and he looked embarrassed.

 

[mousefan73]

Not anything weird, but when I have had a dental appointment, they now make me pre-rinse with some peroxide solution. It was nasty and I'll be going again this week so I'm sure I'll have to do it again. I'm not sure if it's overkill or not.

I’m not sure if somebody else already commented on this but this is become standard now. Months ago they came out with some studies that were reputable that showed that using the right mouthwash contemporary kills Covid viruses in a persons mouth. Seeing that you have aerosol spray everywhere at the dentist this makes sense.

 

[Mango7100]

That’s not entirely true. Stores can be cited by the health dept for non compliance.

I wish they could here. My county commission voted to strip the board of health of powers a few weeks ago. They cannot cite a business or make any mandates. During a pandemic. Our county mayor is against masks, occupancy restrictions, anything and so the county sheriff said they will not enforce anything either. Because freedom...

 

[AndreaDM]

I had a dentist appt. today and did not have to use the special rinse although I did back in June. Just the normal Covid questions and a temp check today.