I have had two meal shops canceled this week by MSCs, one via a phone call and one via email. It would have been 3 but I had already completed a lunch shop before contacted.

What I'm surprised at is that my two restaurant shops didn't get cancelled (although I cancelled one -- a buffet shop that I couldn't bear to think about doing), but my retail shop did. Seems kinda backward to me.

I'm a contractor apart of MSing. All of my clients have postpone meetings and other deliverable. I am currently looking for more remote work as all of my assignments have been postponed until Aug and thereafter.

All 3 DDs getting ready to go out on the town tonight. I gave them the speech. Ugggh!

I haven't eaten it in 20 years or more. When I was a kid my dad would slice it thin and put it in the middle of pancakes. I was always wondering how he got it in there LOL. It was delicious with maple syrup.

@walesmaven wrote:

For the first time since I was "student poor" there is canned Spam in my "staples" cupboard. Glad that they now have a lower sodium option.

Italy has 17,000 infected and 1,200 deaths now.

They have gone parabolic. The U.S. case growth rate has seemed to mirror Italy's with a lag. We are about one week behind Italy's case growth rate:

[twitter.com]

See graph: MOST Western nations are on the SAME trajectory.*** If the parallels hold, as they are across most Western nations, we need to be extra vigilant. If it were up to me, I'd establish a 3-5 foot social distancing rule. Alas, I am not Trump with executive order powers.

***Hong Kong and Singapore are outliers/anomalies, b/c their officials took very aggressive actions quickly. They didn't play around, probably having lived through SARS and it's misery. Other nations seemed too cavalier about it early on. Japan is the weird case.

For those who don't understand exponential growth - a la Trump ( ‘What’s the fuss, it’s just like the flu,’ and ‘There are only 15 cases, and only one death in the U.S., much fewer than everywhere else, we’re doing great,’), see this article from NYT yetersday:

[www.nytimes.com]

Once you hit a certain point, it's like going from 0 to 60 in your car. The cases mathematically will explode upwards. Hoping we don't get that and I turn out to be a laughing stock Debby Downer, but it's what experts have been warning about. That we haven't seen many cases NOW (btw, we don't have many cases, b/c we also HAVEN'T been testing, DUH!) doesn't mean that won't grow massively in short order.

@ wrote:

The graph illustrates the results of a thought experiment. It assumes constant 30 percent growth throughout the next month in an epidemic like the one in the U.S. right now, and compares the results of stopping one infection today — by actions such as shifting to online classes, canceling of large events and imposing travel restrictions — versus taking the same action one week from today. . .

The magnitude of the outbreak creeps up on you; it doesn’t look like things are growing very much, and then suddenly they are. Today, the U.S. is up to at least 1,714 known cases and we’re only a couple of days on from when it was 1,004. It’s going to be 4,000 by Monday, and then it’s going to be 8,000 by next Wednesday, and then it’s…. Exponential growth is staggering when it takes over.

***Fear spreading lecture over...semi-kidding only...it's a serious issue, esp. for the infirm and elderly***

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2020 10:41PM by shoptastic.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I haven't eaten it in 20 years or more. When I was a kid my dad would slice it thin and put it in the middle of pancakes. I was always wondering how he got it in there LOL. It was delicious with maple syrup.

@walesmaven wrote:

For the first time since I was "student poor" there is canned Spam in my "staples" cupboard. Glad that they now have a lower sodium option.

As a Filipino, Spam is an exotic dish! Refried spam, eggs and rice, especially when it's garlic fried rice (in Tagalog, it's called sinangag). It's absolutely DELICIOUS.

Although I don't understand the run on TP, I have seen it and expect it to continue for a short time. What I don't understand is this: I was doing my regular grocery shopping in Publix yesterday and wanted to get some fresh green beans. The bin was almost empty!!! It's never been like that. So I went up to the produce fella and asked, " What's up with running so low on fresh green beans?" He smiled and said, " Surely you've heard what's going on". I replied, " Of course I have, but green beans won't do you any good in the bathroom! " We both had a good chuckle over that.

Don't forget SPAM Matsubi!

@Tarantado wrote:

As a Filipino, Spam is an exotic dish! Refried spam, eggs and rice, especially when it's garlic fried rice (in Tagalog, it's called sinangag). It's absolutely DELICIOUS.

I think the run on TP is in relation to an expectation of being forced into seclusion. People are afraid of being unable to go out and get things they need. I am already unable to, if my locations didn't have pick up and delivery I would be getting by on what I have. I am NOT going into a store full of people touching everything and breathing on me.
I am more afraid of supply chains being disrupted, personally.

In Colorado,
From Tues to Wed, increase of 94% (17 to 33)
Wed to Thurs, increase of 48% (33-49)
Thurs to Fri., increase of 57% (49-77)
Fri to Sat., increase 32% (77-101)
I'm not great at math, so this may not be completely accurate....but either way, I feel like it's a falsified number. In my county, it is reported as 3. However, in my town, in one of the two hospitals, there are 3 in that hospital alone. My son delivers food trays, and there are 3 hospitalized in the one hospital where he works. Loosely, it can be assumed that the other hospital has 3 cases, as well. And there are 33 (!!) towns in my county. Most of those are tiny little towns, but still....

My brother is in Alaska. I don't think there are any cases there yet....and it's a big, sparsely populated state, so maybe it will be contained better.

How is it affecting me? The local stores have absolutely NO TP, no water, no alcohol. No cough syrup. There are no pads/tampons and no vitamins. No produce, no bread, no dairy, no meat and hardly any canned food. Lots of paper products and toys. My daughter works at a HUGE grocery store and told me that a full delivery was made last night. By 11 this morning, when I dropped her off, the store was virtually EMPTY.

@Jill_L wrote:

How is it affecting me? The local stores have absolutely NO TP, no water, no alcohol. No cough syrup. There are no pads/tampons and no vitamins. No produce, no bread, no dairy, no meat and hardly any canned food. Lots of paper products and toys. My daughter works at a HUGE grocery store and told me that a full delivery was made last night. By 11 this morning, when I dropped her off, the store was virtually EMPTY.

I had a friend, who works at Costco, say: "If you go to 'wealthier' stores, where prices are higher, you can probably still get some things you need that are out-of-stock at Walmart."

Whole Foods? I have no idea if this is true or not but just reporting.

Thanks to JASF's "tip" on Dollar Tree hand sanitizers, I have 10 now. They were loaded. Lots of anti-bacterial wipes as well.

The 5Guys manager told me that if there was a COVID19 exposure in their stores, they had to shut down for 2 weeks. This was so they could do their contamination control procedures (my words, not his).

I really think many of the younger people do not really get that even though they are fairly safe from dying if they get the virus, the older folks around them are not. I had to send my daughter the stark stats of my chances of living through an infection vs hers. She tells me her group of friends are still texting every evening about where and when they will be gathering that evening, all in public crowded places. And I am pretty sure if I asked she would tell me that none of the people she knows has the virus.

@Madetoshop wrote:

All 3 DDs getting ready to go out on the town tonight. I gave them the speech. Ugggh!

I'm questioning if we are being socially responsible if we continue to shop because we are secretly meandering throughout so many different venues. Or at least I do, I tend to do several shops in a day in high traffic areas. But after South Boston shut down the bars for St. Patrick's Day, you know things just got serious here! In all seriousness, though, I am not sure that those of us in outbreak states should still be out there because we may be carriers without knowing it. Be well all.

tried to reply to somebody else, it ended up here and can't delete, sorry

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2020 06:12PM by gloham.

Unfortunately your 5Guys manager will not know if there was a COVID-19 exposure until someone gets sick. The new 'drive-thru testing' facility opens today. Testing is by appointment and only after having jumped through all hoops of having likely been exposed and having the symptoms and getting your doc to sign off for the testing. They will schedule up to 32 tests per day.

In HonnyBrown's state there was a 40+% increase in the number of confirmed cases two days ago, 50+% increase one day ago and 50+% increase overnight. If that rate of growth continues there will be almost 17,000 new cases confirmed on March 30th alone and a total of about 51,000 cases in her state. Her state is showing less than 250 'pending' test results and since there is indication that it takes a couple of days to get back results, that means that her State Health Department is doing less than 125 tests per day.

Our news last night showed 'business as usual' in the restaurant/entertainment district with folks crowded together at bistro tables on the sidewalks in front of the restaurants having their glass of wine. Conditions crowded enough that you are going to bump chairs with the guy behind as you get up to leave. I guess making a buck is more important than the safety of your staff and guests, to say nothing of the general public.

I see shops are being pulled--makes sense as businesses voluntarily close. Macy's closed one location because an employee tested positive for COVID-19. That of course means the employee was sick enough to finally qualify for testing . . .

I'm hoping that Congress works swiftly on getting compensation available to hourly workers because many small businesses will not voluntarily shutter unless they know that their workers will be at least somewhat okay yet can not stay in business paying sick leave with their business closed for whatever the duration may be.

I'm suddenly, as of yesterday, free of any mystery shopping engagements. And this is how I survive. So we're going to have a problem in the very near future. All of my grocery shops have been cancelled and there are no new gas station audits in my area. At least none that show up on my map. If I'm can't find anything soon I'm going to have to shop for a company that pays nearly nothing, and I'm not even sure those shops are available either.

I've never been a germaphobe, and I know I have a better than average immune system. I don't hang out with people and I don't like people getting too close or touching me, I've been this way since my ex left (not his choice) in 2008. I've been sick (common cold which is also a corona virus) probably 4 or 5 times since.

I did something I've NEVER done before 3 days ago. I used hand sanitizer for the very first time. I don't know how people use that stuff over and over and over. It's taken nearly 3 full days to get that awful shrinking feeling and that weird film off of my hands.

As a matter of routine, I do not touch door handles when I leave a public restroom after washing my hands, I've been doing that for years too. if there are no paper towels I will use the sleeve of my jacket, or the hem of my shirt between my hand and the door handle. I keep tea towels, cloth napkins and handkerchiefs in my car, mostly because wasting paper and single use plastic products really concern me, but now they seem to also be a safety net.

So, other than having a bunch of my MS jobs cancelled, and not knowing when or if I'll be able to pay bills next month, I doubt corona virus will have much effect on me. My son and I have discussed selling eggs from our chickens for $10 a dozen because ALL of the stores in this town are out of eggs and most meat. So there's that.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I am hibernating beginning tomorrow. I am stocking up on food today (I think I might be able to last a month) .

I've always been a food hoarder.. lol. I have 3 medium sized chest freezers and a couple crates of canned goods. I used to have 2 refrigerators, but the one that remains has 4 gallons of milk and enough fresh vegetables to last us more than 2 weeks, and we know how to make them last that long. It's almost time to put the garden in the ground, and the chickens are outdoing themselves with fresh eggs (they are free range and basically feed themselves, we just supplement with a little bit of layer feed). I can eat out of my freezers and pantry for many months if I have to. What I would miss would be fresh milk, but I do have canned and powdered milk in the "end of the world" box.

This is probably the least of our worries now but this has affected me as today is my bday (thank you. you don't need to reply and clog up the thread) in any case I am thinking I will not be able to use most of the free meals I have been given from rewards points although I got in touch with Souplantation and they told me I can defer my bday meal until later this year. Not sure they can weather this business downturn though.
But in addition I still have unused $$ vouchers from gift cards I purchased during the holidays for mystery shop restaurant chains. I may not be able to use them before their deadlines which are coming up. And at least one of those restaurants has stopped their mystery shop program as of the end of this month leaving me with $100 in gift cards that will not be reimbursed when we get around to going out to eat again. This is reminiscent of what happened a couple of years ago when Blaze stopped their ms program and many of us were left with gift cards we had purchased. At least I love Blaze enough to pay without getting reimbursed.
I really think some of these retail and restaurants that were skating on thin ice financially already will not be able to withstand the loss of revenue in this period. We may see many of our ms clients gone one of these days. Not gone from mystery shopping but gone gone.

Ohio governor DeWine announced today Ohio restaurant and bars will close tonight at 9 p.m.

[wpta21.com]

I just read an article that said there are two large chains of restaurants in Great Britain that are appealing to their customers to buy gift cards now to use later and are giving an extra boost to their value. So if you buy the equivalent of $100 you would get a gift card for $120. The article said they are getting a positive response and are hoping this form of income for them will get them thru the times when they are closed. It also predicted this idea will be taken up by other places in other countries.
Perhaps if this comes to the US and enough of us are able financially to respond we will be able to help them through this period and still pay their staff and stay in business so we can shop them in the future.

I'm more worried about small restaurant bar owners, non-chains. They are going to get hurt the worst.

I love carryout and have always preferred those kinds of shops to dine-in...I hope all restaurant shops get converted to carryout or takeout. It's likely in our state since no one can go out to eat and drink here.

The governor of Illinois just announced all restaurants will be carryout only starting tomorrow through at least March 30.

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....

But do it quickly before your state bans restaurant dining. Some have, betiing other states will soon, too.

Our governor (Washington state) is announcing tomorrow that all bars and "entertainment venues" will be shut down. Restaurants will be carry-out only....

Our governor is promising that if people don't stop congregating like nothing is wrong he will make them shut down as well. I expect it will happen this week. I know some people need the carry out service but personally I don't want someone I don't know making my food, handling it and breathing on it. Nope.