Went to Target... It was like being in a Zombie movie, but...

...the zombies are 3-5 feet tall and they’re everywhere. I needed to buy some more Cold-Ezes, disinfecting wipes etc... I decided Target especially this one was best because it’s usually less people. However one thing that freak me out during a pandemic are kids, not only are they good at their age at fighting off the virus but these ankle biters are spreaders.

They touch EVERYTHING, cough and sneeze and depending on age they aren’t required to wear a mask... I digress. Went to the disinfecting isle, and as I reached for the Lysol... I hear, "hi." This kid literally was next to me, politely I said, hello and started walking away... I turn around this lady must of popped out 6 kids in a year, holy shit so many in my isle.

Virus can stay suspended in air, I figured I’m fucked... LOL... If I run I’ll exhale more, if I panic I’ll exhale more... So I fucking held my breathe for two minutes... Turned on my Apple Watch timer. Two minutes, (I use to do this for swimming class)...

I check out holding my breathe, kids EVERYWHERE... Lady asked if I wanted a bag while holding my breathe. I nodded... I used self check out. OMG it was a nightmare kids touching the screens like a game boy!!! Laughing, giggling... not wearing masks.

My partner was waiting in the car, "spray me!!!" He starts laughing and says, did you notice the lady with all the kids? I guess that’s a yes...

We have a bottle of alcohol in a spray bottle, it was freaking funny to him... to me it was a nightmare.

Victoria, Australia?

Or UK?

Going shopping in pandemic pandemonium is a lot about nonverbal cues and situational awareness.

Basically people are herd animals. They do what they see the majority doing. So if the vast majority are running about shouting and jostling and pawing at everything in sight, that's what they'll do.

You're wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer or soap & water, and not handling items you don't intend to buy. You're modeling a different behaviour, one they know is an option but they've rejected it because it takes work and discipline.

Stay calm. If you're nervous, your respiratory rate goes up, and increases transmission. Don't rush or freak out, you're more likely to bump into someone. You're also giving off a vibe of being afraid or sick or judging others.

Ignore the kids for the most part, nod and smile. You can get a sense of traffic flow in an aisle by spending 30 seconds just watching and listening to what people are doing. Then proceed with the flow of traffic, but your every nonverbal cue should be "I'm social distancing for you, please do so for me".

Above and beyond that, you owe them nothing. Don't argue with them, don't shout, don't stop and explain anything to anyone. Your #1 goal is to go in, pick up supplies, come out, and observe universal precautions bringing yourself and your shopping into the house.

Learn to show expression in your eyes. A slight disapproving frown, a smile, a wink of common ground. This can save you a lot of apologizing or arguing with someone who will argue back and is not wearing a mask. Likewise, learn to read others better, you'll get a sense of their intentions which will help tremendously when navigating aisles, avoiding kid-jams, and having others follow your lead.

You'd be surprised how many people are not raving entitled lunatics, but just poor folks caught in the crossfire without a mask and totally disoriented by all the tape strips on the floor and the rules which seem to differ from store to store. If you calmly and confidently go about the aisles at a pace you choose with an eye towards avoiding crowds, they may subconsciously look to you as an example of how to get through it.

Zombies may respond to humour if you can't avoid them. Smile with your eyes. They aren't the enemy here, they're just unsupervised. If you must, say "Where's your folks? You should stick with them. Wouldn't want to get sick. You never know who touched that before you did."

Lastly, before you judge: Most jurisdictions do not hand out free masks. You must purchase them, or sew them at home. If you have not been living under a rock for the last 6 months, then you may know that a box of 10 disposable masks costs about US$20. Depending on the size of your family, and the availability of babysitters in this pandemic, that may mean going out once a week cost about that much.

And as far as sewing your own goes, I do not own a sewing machine. I have very few clothes I can sacrifice for a mask because we live on a grad stipend and there's no class atm. Even just finding elastic bands to use a rag across our face is a game of digging around in nooks and crannies and cutting and gluing various ones together. They look like garbage, they're sweaty and leaky all at once. It passes the candle test in one direction, but if I turn my head slightly it blows out the candle. It's not easy! And it does smack of classism to have a mask when others go without, and then pass judgment on them for their lack thereof, or their crappy scarf bandanna sock whatever they have to go out in public with strapped across their face.

This kind of paranoia helps no one, including the paranoid themselves, be it during a pandemic or anything else. Learn from that partner of yours.

Forget about disinfectors and masks, make lemon juice and garlic part of your everyday diet, yeah lotsa garlic. Keeps the vampires away too...

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Exile009 wrote:

This kind of paranoia helps no one, including the paranoid themselves, be it during a pandemic or anything else. Learn from that partner of yours.

Staying calm is rule #1. You give off a freak vibe when you go around with a high-strung way about you because other people's kids are doing this or that. People pick that up and run with it. We're all on tenterhooks over this shit and any tension is enough to push some people full tilt.

Chill the fk out, cover your own ass, help others cover theirs. Especially families with kids. You're the public face of the folks who know to wear a mask. You want to sell that shit as sweetly and gently as you can. If you want them to follow the right example, you have to be a likable figure.

If everyone they see wearing masks seems hostile and uncomfortable all the time...well that's certainly not helping the case for mask wearing in public.

Things people tend to forget:

-desinfect the tires of the car after travelling through a snifflezone
-do a short step into a puddle of desinfectant with your boots and leave them outside of the personal safespacezone
-use seperate clothing for different areas and dedicate a hygenic port-room to seperate dailylife from relaxationmode

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crunkatog wrote:

And it does smack of classism to have a mask when others go without, and then pass judgment on them for their lack thereof, or their crappy scarf bandanna sock whatever they have to go out in public with strapped across their face.

For one of my doctor visits A guy came in with a bandana and I did feel superior for a moment - only to realize a moment later my disposable mask may be more reliable but he gets to wear a bandana like a cowboy outlaw.

Suffice it to say I have one emergency disposable mask left so I'm doin the cloth mask thing anyway.

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SeCKSEgai wrote:

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crunkatog wrote:

And it does smack of classism to have a mask when others go without, and then pass judgment on them for their lack thereof, or their crappy scarf bandanna sock whatever they have to go out in public with strapped across their face.

For one of my doctor visits A guy came in with a bandana and I did feel superior for a moment - only to realize a moment later my disposable mask may be more reliable but he gets to wear a bandana like a cowboy outlaw.

Suffice it to say I have one emergency disposable mask left so I'm doin the cloth mask thing anyway.

I can tell you from experience with friends and family members, those wearing socks and scarves and bandannas WISH they had proper fitting masks, even throwaway non-surgical ones.

Because not only are bandannas and T-shirt fragments and gym socks and scarves not very effective filters, they're also heavy, uncomfortable, and aren't fitted for use across the face. This means they're much more likely to wind up sliding down off your nose, or riding up to your lower eyelids, or sticking to your lips and folding themselves into your mouth if you try to talk while wearing them as masks.

And that means they aren't doing their job and the person stuck using them is much more likely to accidentally (or deliberately) put their hands on their faces to adjust or even remove the mask. And we already know putting your hands around your face is a no-no.

So yeah it's not easy, and people are pissed that it's THIS HARD to observe even a basic measure of protection. They're pissed that the health authority "elites" are telling them oh you need to purchase masks or go around with makeshift, unpleasantly poorly-fitting, and not very protective homebrews. And city offices and businesses are following suit and requiring masks to enter, which is the right thing to do but did nobody ever think to offer free masks at the door? (Some businesses in Alberta and Saskatchewan do just this - free masks more than offset their cost by ensuring all customers can come in and drop cash).

Anything is better than nothing though.

I've tried 2 different patterns for home sewing masks - they are not all equal. You have to measure and fit the mask you make to the person. We ended up with masks that were too small for our faces, perhaps they fit the OP on the sewing forum because idk maybe she's an anime girl with no nose and tiny mouth, but for us we had to rip out the hem allowance and make room for our noses and chins, adjust the top so it fits more tightly to avoid fogging up Fram's glasses, etc.

Why don't we just order them online? Well, thirty bucks for a machine made washable mask sounds like a real deal. For some folks. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

Lies, you were searching for Target gift cards !..."Just wait a moment sir"