Unfinished errands were on the docket for Friday. How convenient it would have been, had The Pony provided me with the financial information I requested on Tuesday. But no. He cost me a second trip to the bank. My travels also took me to the School-Turn Casey's. While out and about, I noted a Hillmomban Dichotomy.
I passed the cemetery (without going in, what do you think I AM, obsessed? I'd already stopped once this week) and started across the bridge over Big River. That's its actual name. Not a pseudonym. We're not very imaginative around here with our waterways. This is from the same folks who gave us Flat River Creek.
Anyhoo... coming across the bridge from the other direction was a guy walking. A Bridge Walker! Let the record show that there is no sidewalk, no striped marking for walkers. This is a VEHICLE BRIDGE. Every now and then, maybe twice a year, I see a walker on that bridge. I was not so shocked at the sight of a Bridge Walker as I was at his appearance as I got closer.
THE BRIDGE WALKER WAS WEARING A MASK!
Let the record show that this area is not residential, not commercial, but simply field and road. There was not a human within at least a mile either way of the Bridge Walker, unless they were sealed up in their comfy air-conditioned vehicles.
WHO WAS THE BRIDGE WALKER PROTECTING FROM THE VIRUS?
Did he think the VIRUS would jump out of the air and into his mouth and nose? I just don't get it. I don't begrudge anybody the comfort of a mask. It's not hurting me. But I'd like to know their thoughts.
I'd pretty much forgotten about the Bridge Walker after two trips to the bank, avoiding an 8-car line to come back and find a 4-car line, after feeding T-Hoe his weekly gas. I proceeded to the School-Turn Casey's where I discovered a Sideways Parker blocking my usual space on the end of the parking lot. Lucky for me, one round of the gas pumps allowed a truck parked in front of the door to back out, so I took that space.
From this new vantage point, I saw a Casey's clerk standing in the little corner by the ice machine, smoking. That's not a good advertisement for Casey's, her in her red t-shirt emblazoned with "Casey's," sucking on her cancer stick. Surely they could designate a space around back, where only the drive-thru customers would see smokers, and not everyone parked out front, and the traffic backed up at the STOP sign 100 feet away.
Anyhoo... I went in and did my business. Came back out, and was shaken to hear "HAROUGH HAROUGH HAROUGH HAROOOUUUGGGHHH" from that employee. It wasn't just a throat-clearing. Not a nagging cough. She sounded like a lung was about to pop out of her pie-hole. She was NOT wearing a mask.
I don't fault her for not wearing a mask outside, in the 87-degree heat, with fresh air blowing around. At this Casey's, ALL employees inside wear the mask. They have special red ones with their logo, matching their shirts. I'm sure THIS employee wore her mask while inside.
However... masks don't stop the VIRUS. Sure, they might catch some droplets, for her to re-breathe the rest of her shift, probably prolonging her recovery. But they don't stop the actual VIRUS particle. The part that infects people. She'd just be forcing that through the fabric with each exhale, pushing smaller particles of the droplets through the weave.
What kind of employer lets an employee with obvious symptoms of a cold/flu/bronchitis/covid come to work like that? I know people need to work. To earn money to live. But SWEET GUMMI MARY, at least stay home a couple days if you have a cough like that!
Not saying Casey's Cougher had the covid. Only that she shouldn't have been working with that cough. Especially since I would have walked right past her before I saw her, had I gotten my usual parking space. Hopefully not at the instant she let out a cough.
No. I don't believe a mask on her or me or both would have protected me one bit, short of a giant loogie leaving her mouth and entering mine. I think the odds of that are infinitesimal.
There you have it. A man protecting no one... and a woman endangering all. That's the way we roll in Hillmomba.
If that was SOME loogie, it could have made a 90-degree turn, mid-air, and landed on you...
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteYes. If it was ONE MAGIC LOOGIE, mind you, defying the laws of physics. But that Casey's Cougher was no Keith Hernandez.
Cancer stick - erupting lungs = smokers cough and she probably has the beginnings of lung cancer to go with it. I'd be more worried if she also looked flushed and feverish, maybe with watery eyes too. It's not a lovely sound is it? That cough. I once lived across the road from an elderly Greek man who came outside every morning at 6am, for his lung-ripping, coughing episodes, lie a personal alarm clock just for me, a mere 15 yards away.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI didn't get close enough to check for flushing and fever! I'm putting all my eggs in the DISTANCING basket! And of course hand-washing and no face-touching.
The dang checker at Country Mart yesterday stopped to cough while I was using my card! She was wearing a mask and gloves, and turned away, but I jumped behind the clear plastic shield anyway. Of course she adjusted her mask, with her gloved hands, before handing me the receipt, and touching the next person's groceries! There's no avoiding the VIRUS. But at least the sickies could stay home.