Just got my daily “Have a Drink on us and see if you get carded” email from Merc for bar shops in Calif. That email is annoying enough during normal times but now .........

They called me 10 times, back to back before I answered. I told the scheduler that was unacceptable.

@ravensr4real wrote:

A certain burger MS client has been BLOWING UP my phone the last few days. Is now the time to demand a much bigger bonus? I think so. But will they pay? So far not quite what I am asking....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 06:38PM by HonnyBrown.

Here is what I have seen in performing gas station shops:
Many pumps not working, or not spitting out the receipts.
There are lines at the counter (everyone standing the required distance from each other.
Traffic very low.
Restrooms not as clean as they could be.
Trash not being emptied.
But, most importantly, gas stations are being run by only the manager (employees called in sick). The employee or attendant/manager explains that they are unable to add new paper or check out a paper jam due to no other person allowing them to clean restrooms, repair pumps, empty trash bins, etc.
They don't believe their employees are ill, but that they are worried of becoming ill.

On a personal note: My partner's mother who shall be 90 years old this summer was ill in December with a temperature, cough and congestion. At the same time, my partner was also ill with the same thing, only less so. Myself, I was ill with the same symptoms, yet less so.

We all recovered in about 3 weeks. However, the same thing came back again in late January. It lasted through much of February.

Because our illnesses seemed so unusual, we are suspecting that perhaps we may have had this virus.

Or maybe just a bad cold? Dunno, I had my Flu shot before all of this

My job at the school is on hold for at least a month. Many think it will be the whole semester. Hubby is working from home and college boy is home too. Early Spring Cleaning time for me!

When I was a little girl, I remember my grandma telling me stories from her childhood. One of them was having an epidemic (measles? should have paid better attention) requiring isolation. If the doctor visited your house and determined you had it, he would nail a big "Quarantine " sign on the front door. No one could go in or out until you were cleared. It seemed so Little House on the Prairie to me. Yet here we are... hunkering down with all the toilet paper.

Threemom,
I had the measles at about age 4 or 5 and our house was quarantined, complete with the sign on the front door.

Oddly, my father, mother and brother could come and go, since that had all had measles before. But no one except them could enter. I had to remain in a darkened room for 9 days. My big brother brought me his crystal radio set, so I could listen to soap operas (which even I understood were lame) and then, during after school hours, thrilling adventures of Sky King and Penny, The Lone Ranger, and similar shows. To this day, falling asleep while radio plays or similar broadcast shows are playing has a very calming affect on me. We all could use a big dose of The Great Gildersleeve right now, IMHO.

Home now with three kids, the youngest of whom is immunocompromised. I guess I will stay the course of the school outage. I was looking forward to end-of-month bonuses but we will live. was just hired by the census,and that does not sound like a good idea right now.

I wonder if, in a declared national emergency, it would be constitutional to delay the census.

Lower wage workers are the most likely to be without Internet service to do the census on line, and that would enormously under-count some regions, groups, etc. A decade of skewed federal allocations would be another disaster !

Edited to add: And with libraries closed access to Internet for many lwer income folksis not feasible.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 03:19PM by walesmaven.

I admit I was in the "it isn't a big deal' camp until this weekend. When companies like WalMart started cutting store hours and trying to limit customer contact, well, it caught my attention. I'm not in panic mode and didn't go buy a zillion rolls of TP but I am taking it seriously now. So far there are no known within a hundred miles of me but I'm sure it is only a matter of time. Sadly, many people in my area (semi-rural deep South) are subscribing to the "liberal media hoax" theory and refuse to accept any suggestions they alter their behavior for a few weeks.

The economy's taking a hit in Colorado.... Speaking to one of the bartenders I frequent at.... At a place where she typically sees $2k in revenue for just her shift, revenue's DROPPED to around $300 out here for an ENTIRE shift. In other words, many of these places are operating in the red staying open. So I don't blame when a business shuts down and closes during this crisis.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 03:28PM by Tarantado.

@Threemom wrote:

When I was a little girl, I remember my grandma telling me stories from her childhood. One of them was having an epidemic (measles? should have paid better attention) requiring isolation. If the doctor visited your house and determined you had it, he would nail a big "Quarantine " sign on the front door. No one could go in or out until you were cleared. It seemed so Little House on the Prairie to me. Yet here we are... hunkering down with all the toilet paper.

I'm old enough to remember the quarantine signs for measles. I also know I had measles more than once. There were apparently two different types..German Measles and regular measles?? I had one type in high school (regular measles, I guess) and passed it to my boyfriend. I also had Chicken Pox and so did my sons. I never had mumps thankfully.

I have a Roots Steakhouse scheduled for end of month in a county that is currently high risk. I'm thinking that it won't happen, but I'll give it another week to see what happens. I have an inkling all restaurants in that county and maybe entire state may soon be closed for sit-down.

@Tarantado wrote:

The economy's taking a hit in Colorado.... Speaking to one of the bartenders I frequent at.... At a place where she typically sees $2k in revenue for just her shift, revenue's DROPPED to around $300 out here for an ENTIRE shift. In other words, many of these places are operating in the red staying open. So I don't blame when a business shuts down and closes during this crisis.

Yes, which is why I wish Congress would pass a sort of "helicopter money" bill to just flat out give Americans money during this time. This is no one's fault. IT's an act of nature.

Some businesses may go under if nothing is done.

On the other hand, Walmart, Target, grocery stores, etc. are probably having the opposite happen. Kroger was trying to HIRE to be able to stock shelves.

I've been in two grocery stores over the last two days and was appalled that neither of them had the sanitizing wipes by the cart area. Normally I'm not paranoid about touching cart handles, except in the middle of flu season, but I was amazed that there were no wipes or sanitizer pump machines at the store entrances. And yet both of these places have put out emails stating how conscientious they're being.

I need to carry my hand sanitizer in my handbag from now on. I keep it in the car, but no more! And fortunately I still have some left!

I certainly wish my state would move on to close bars and make restaurants take out or delivery only. With the closing of Disney combined with Spring Break combined with school closures we appear to have a rapidly growing population of beach going party folk who either don't understand or don't care about personal or community risk.

The other day when a particularly aggressive scheduler called me I told her I wasn't scheduling shops because of the Coronavirus. Haven't heard from anyone in the company since :-)

@ravensr4real wrote:

A certain burger MS client has been BLOWING UP my phone the last few days. Is now the time to demand a much bigger bonus? I think so. But will they pay? So far not quite what I am asking....

My Census training starts tomorrow. As of noon today I have not heard about any modifications in the plans.

@heartlandcanuck wrote:

Home now with three kids, the youngest of whom is immunocompromised. I guess I will stay the course of the school outage. I was looking forward to end-of-month bonuses but we will live. was just hired by the census,and that does not sound like a good idea right now.

@Flash wrote:

I certainly wish my state would move on to close bars and make restaurants take out or delivery only. With the closing of Disney combined with Spring Break combined with school closures we appear to have a rapidly growing population of beach going party folk who either don't understand or don't care about personal or community risk.

Yeah, this is anecdotal only, but I definitely see young people in my area being mostly carefree and even playing sports where there is contact. There were a few exceptions, though, as I saw some teens social distancing at Walmart and Dollar Tree. Thought that was awesome! Young and conscientious!

TO YOUNG FOLKS (incl. myself):

Understand that you could be in just as much risk as others for severe symptoms. France (you can Google it) just said 50%+ of ICU patients with COVID19 are under 60.

This is a novel coronavirus, so the full profile of it is likely still developing. Most severe cases have been with the infirm and elderly with underlying conditions already, but there is still a ways to go before we get all the data in and analyze it.

eta: But, aside from age and its correlation with recovery, it's also about young people not infecting those who are more vulnerable. That's important to communicate with youth that you know!

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 05:21PM by shoptastic.

My steakhouse restaurant shop was just cancelled by the MSP. That's fine with me.

MsJudi,
Yes, measles and German measles are different and having had one does not protect at all against the other.

I did a convenience store shop today and a burger shop at the mall nearby. Traffic to get there was like Sunday morning. WaWa was nearly empty and so was the mall.

I'm hoping for the best but I'm realistically expecting a major or even total loss of mystery shopping income for weeks or even months. If testing on a large scale shows even a moderate infection rate, I expect brick-and-mortor retail to significantly curtail activities, causing MS programs to be put on hold. Not sure what I'll do. Thinking about maybe raising chickens in the back yard. At least I'll have eggs.

@mystery2me wrote:

I'm hoping for the best but I'm realistically expecting a major or even total loss of mystery shopping income for weeks or even months. If testing on a large scale shows even a moderate infection rate, I expect brick-and-mortor retail to significantly curtail activities, causing MS programs to be put on hold. Not sure what I'll do. Thinking about maybe raising chickens in the back yard. At least I'll have eggs.

That's a very good point. On my end, I have a large back log of crap to get done, but something that's been weighing over my head is to really use this time to dig into more investing opportunities and a LOT more professional development with the time that'll begin to slowly free up as a result of this crisis. I highly suggest everyone else does the same too.

At the Walmart in my area, someone stole the huge commercial sized wipe dispenser from the entrance.

@BirdyC wrote:

I've been in two grocery stores over the last two days and was appalled that neither of them had the sanitizing wipes by the cart area. Normally I'm not paranoid about touching cart handles, except in the middle of flu season, but I was amazed that there were no wipes or sanitizer pump machines at the store entrances. And yet both of these places have put out emails stating how conscientious they're being.

I need to carry my hand sanitizer in my handbag from now on. I keep it in the car, but no more! And fortunately I still have some left!

[www.theguardian.com]

France warns not to take ibuprofen and cortisone if you have COVID19 symptoms, as they can make it worse.

Just had some shops canceled by the client.

On a side note: The past couple of days I did some Circle K locations. At the city locations, customers had stolen all the hand sanitizer from the pumps, in some cases ripping the enire dispenser from the pump. The more rural customers showed more sense.

We anticipate fresh eggs from a local whose chickens yield enough eggs for home use and sale.

I just started an additional, teeny investment program.

@Tarantado wrote:

@mystery2me wrote:

I'm hoping for the best but I'm realistically expecting a major or even total loss of mystery shopping income for weeks or even months. If testing on a large scale shows even a moderate infection rate, I expect brick-and-mortor retail to significantly curtail activities, causing MS programs to be put on hold. Not sure what I'll do. Thinking about maybe raising chickens in the back yard. At least I'll have eggs.

That's a very good point. On my end, I have a large back log of crap to get done, but something that's been weighing over my head is to really use this time to dig into more investing opportunities and a LOT more professional development with the time that'll begin to slowly free up as a result of this crisis. I highly suggest everyone else does the same too.

Effective tomorrow, March 17, all bars and restaurants in Indiana cannot offer dining inside. They can do carryout, pickup, or delivery. I'm fine with that.

So I read the guidelines for two drive-through restaurant shops on my agenda for later this week. Although these are drive-through shops, I'm required to go inside the restaurant to check for overall cleanliness and talk to the manager. I contacted the agency's help desk and asked how to proceed with these shops. Their response was, "follow the guidelines." I imagine the agency will either drop these shops or issue revised guidelines. But I had a good chuckle from the response.

I'm including the lack of wipes or sanitizer pumps in my reports.

@Threemom wrote:

Yet here we are... hunkering down with all the toilet paper.

Aha! So that's where it went! Threemom has all the toilet paper!

I plan to go to stores and businesses as early in the morning as possible. I get asked to do mystery shops but I have stopped doing them. I have been washing my hands and avoiding crowds for quite awhile. I really do not understand why people feel the need to stock up on toilet paper and bottled water. Filtered water is just as good or even better than bottled water and it is free. I am in the high risk group as is my husband. Am also trying to tell mygrandaughter that this is serious. She is 30. Recently, she did not understand why she could not enter an emergency room to visit a friend. Nor does she seem to understand that I may not be available to help her. All education has shut down in my state as well as many libraries. I used to work with children and I am afraid that many parents are finding their support systems for childcare are closed. I am staying home as much as possible. We will get through this. My parents were children during the flu epidemic of 1918 and they used to tell me what happened school closings etc. My mother survived 7 weeks of quarentine when my brother and I had the chicken pox with only a radio for company. I was also quarentine for mumps and measles. Right now the place where I live looks like a ghost town. My stepson said that his town has an 8:00 PM curfew. My main suggestion is don't panic. Recently someone tried to kill me by putting motor oil into my brakes. That alone puts all of this into perspective.
As I explained to someone recently I am worth much more alive than dead because right now I owe a lot of money and that amount has to be paid off which would leave very little in the estate.

Seriously though, some things will not recover from this. And life will be different in many ways.