Adaptation to COVID world

It hit home pretty hard yesterday. I was half-watching the news on TV, heard a familiar name and looked up to see one of my high school friends on the screen. We played in the same golf tournament 6 months ago. The report was of his "miraculous recovery" from Coronavirus. He is also a cancer survivor. He was in and out of the hospital for a month. Doctors tried 5 or 6 different treatments -- including the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. It was unclear what actually occurred. He said he was put on his stomach and his abdomen was manipulated to release certain gasses. He was never put on a ventilator, but is on oxygen and is attached to a tank. He is home and allowed the report because he wants to allow his blood to be examined as a possible antibody to fight the virus.

 

So help me God, I want to drive ice picks through the foreheads of every elderly person telling me their life story on the hold recording for Lehman's Hardware of Kidron, Ohio. And then I want the hateful answering service person who took my contact information squat-humped by a silverback mountain gorilla.

I need a massage and a box of Smarties (the Canadian kind, not that medicinal American stuff people give children they hate.) Neither will happen, so I might just go to the back yard and scream at the squirrels. Oh, and everyone I talked to today was crying except the answering service lady.

#WKUsFolkStudiesProgramWouldBeSoProud

 

Mrs. W and I were taking our late afternoon walk and ran into someone whose son has been in school with my 14-year old since she was 2. We saw her at a farmers market a couple of days before Gov. Murphy directed that you wear masks at a store, although she was wearing one (we weren’t). She said to us today that we put her life in danger because we weren’t wearing masks. I said that wasn’t the law at the time and she should fuck off. Good times.

 

I have an acquaintance who is a social worker in Atlanta, kid I know from UAB. We chat a bit on Twitter. She's working from home now. Her clients are absolute idiots and doing their best to make her miserable. They bitch that they can't come in to the office. They call her at eight or nine at night, and leave pissed off messages because she does not pick up. They're pissy because things take longer than they used to when everyone was all in the same office.

She posts so pissed off sometimes, and you just reminded me of her.

 

She's a sister from another mister to be sure. Been there, done that, sat in the hallway of a project in Nashville and begged a mother to let me take her and her baby to Meharry when she claimed the child had a 103 temp and I pulled every favor I could to jump lines and get them in to see someone as soon as I could get them there. Mama wanted me to take her to McDonald's first.

Somehow, we still manage to calm down and love people.

 

Hugs, GF. You know that you're doing good work, whether the morons you do it for appreciate it or not.

 

Today we were informed we'd be going through health screenings before every shift. Mostly asking if we have any unusual symptoms or a family member who may be ill.

Also worth noting: This week's insert (I call it that now and then, which confuses the hell out of the baggers) went from six pages to two.

 

Taking temps if they're smart. Borderline negligent if they're not.