Coronavirus: What Vintage Skills Can Help Prepare for a Potential Pandemic?

As noted, there are execeptions. But every bizarre interaction I've ever had in a decade and a half of dealing with the public on a daily and up-close basis has been with an individual fitting the description given. It's a very specific sociocultural type that would demand that I admit her two friends -- free -- to a sold-out event that isn't even being put on by us, and would act insulted when I had to explain to her why I couldn't. "But I'm a MEMBER!" (I mentioned this incident to the promoter of the event in question, and she rolled her eyes and shrugged and said, "Entitled, aren't they?") Or the woman who called our box office manager last week and demanded a free ticket to a show because she was coming "only as a companion" to a friend, and wasn't interested in the show herself and didn't see why she should have to pay for a ticket. Or the woman who called me *at home* on a Sunday morning to demand that I come down and sell her a ticket because she was only going to be in town for a few minutes. And I've had enough interaction with other people in the business outside of this area to get the sense that this is not a strictly local phenomenon.

My mother spent twenty years at the admission desk of a local hospital, and when I told her some of my stories she'd say "Yeah, I remember her. What a snotty b*tch." I don't go so far as to say *that*, but I do argue there's a definite culture of personal entitlement going on that certainly seems to be much less common outside this particular socioeconomic cultural group, an expectation that the world should operate at all times according to their personal convenience.

I'd love to be wrong about this, but whenever I think I am, some lady shows up and insists she should be allowed to fill up her 32 ounce personal coffee cup for the same price we charge for a 10 ounce paper cup. "But I brought my own cup! Won't that cover the difference?"

(And these gals never ever have blue hair. It's usually bleached blonde, cut in a chin-length wedge, with a green or purple streak.)

GHT said:

Best give up Corona Beer, can't be too careful.

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On it.

Vintage ways of dealing with a dread disease in the news? I just sweetly lilt the chorus of Some Little Bug. Puts things in perspective.

LizzieMaine said:

With the people I deal with it's mostly an attitude of absolute personal entitlement. "I'm an old white woman. Nobody questions me." And if you do venture to question her, she lets you have it. A few here and there, I could buy the dementia excuse. But an extended pattern of behavior that's been consistent for the past fifteen years, exhibited by a large number of similar individuals, says to me that it's something cultural. Not political, not philosophical, but cultural. They don't have a problem with rules -- they just think the rules don't apply to people like them.

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And they also come in the "middle aged" variety. "What do you mean Hayden and Jayden can't go to school because they're sick? Do you know how much I'm paying to send them here? Well, they can't stay home, I've got my hot yoga class today."

Nobert said:

On it.

Vintage ways of dealing with a dread disease in the news? I just sweetly lilt the chorus of Some Little Bug. Puts things in perspective.

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That’s just precious. I’m gonna share it far and wide.

“ ... and then he’ll send for his bug friends and all your earthly trouble ends ... ”

Buy that gal a cigar!

Since I'm somewhat of vintage age-wise, one of my decades-old rules to prevent getting the flu was to not drink from glasses or use utensils that others are using (e.g., a friend at dinner says "try a sip of my wine, I think you'll like it," or "I can't finish my steak, you want what I can't eat?", or "this is really good, you want to try a bite?"). Until this past holiday season, I hadn't had a cold or flu for, probably, the last 20 years (or longer). In December, I got a head cold and associated cough, after attending a Christmas party. The effects of the head cold lasted for about a month (the cough and feeling "run down"). I had an interlude of several weeks of good health. Next, about a month ago, our daughter wanted the family to go to a countryside micro-brewery to celebrate her birthday. I dropped my guard, when one of the family members said I ought to sample some of the beer in one of those 6-beer sampler flights. I knew immediately after sampling a couple, that the "drawbridge was lowered" to entry of whatever bug somebody had, who already drank from the same glass. The other problem I observed was there were scores of people drinking beer at the facility and who knew how well the glasses were cleaned/sterilized prior to reuse by other customers (including food preparation hygiene.)

Well, about 2 days after the micro-brewery birthday party, I got a bug. For over a week I was sick. I finally got to urgent care (who were excellent) at my HMO. They did the lab tests (all normal), including testing negative for this season's flu (A and B-type). The major issue was dehydration from diarrhea. Apparently, I had a gastrointestinal virus. Before going to urgent care, I was feeling so bad, that I thought maybe this was "it". I'm fully recovered, and feel like I never was sick, though still have an occasional cough, which the doctor said would last 3-4 weeks.

So.... strictly adhere to the vintage skill of not partaking of others' food/drink. As to a restaurant's food and utensil hygiene, the risk is not easily knowable.

Back on topic, sunlight is a good disinfectant and helps us make vitamin D (necessary for your immune system and other functions), though we don't know how effective it is against coronavirus.

This article says to dry your clothes outdoors if you're concerned about harmful bacteria in general. Check! I use hot water for sheets, towels and underwear, too, and leave the washer lid open when the washer isn't in use.

An article on vitamin d; and a scientific paper. A source of vitamin D it doesn't mention is lard. Probably, the piggies have to be grown in the sunshine for their fat to have vitamin D.

LizzieMaine said:

And they also come in the "middle aged" variety. "What do you mean Hayden and Jayden can't go to school because they're sick? Do you know how much I'm paying to send them here? Well, they can't stay home, I've got my hot yoga class today."

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There was a partner exactly like that at my former employer--right down to the haircut and expression. In 45 years, at some 25 jobs, she was the only person like that I ever encountered. Maybe it was just the people I was around, but pulling rank in a persnickety manner was something I rarely ran into in Denver. I haven't run into it here. It may be commonplace elsewhere, but not in places I've lived. Thank goodness!

GHT said:

Survey: 38% of beer-drinking Americans won’t buy Corona beer amid Coronavirus outbreak
There’s also been an uptick in searches for ‘corona beer virus’ and ‘beer coronavirus,' per 5WPR
https://www.click2houston.com/news/...nt-buy-corona-beer-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/
Best give up Corona Beer, can't be too careful.

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I wonder if they made the connection between the beer & the virus themselves or were helped.

GHT said:

Survey: 38% of beer-drinking Americans won’t buy Corona beer amid Coronavirus outbreak
There’s also been an uptick in searches for ‘corona beer virus’ and ‘beer coronavirus,' per 5WPR
https://www.click2houston.com/news/...nt-buy-corona-beer-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/
Best give up Corona Beer, can't be too careful.

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We are most all occasionally guilty in lapses in logic but things like this are becoming too common and make me question the time remaining before idiocracy fully overtakes us.

3fingers said:

We are most all occasionally guilty in lapses in logic but things like this are becoming too common and make me question the time remaining before idiocracy fully overtakes us.

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My Godson sent me the link to that headline, I did have a reluctance to post it, being a Brit and poking fun at Americans, but The Lounge members are not the insular type. Believe you me, Americans do not have the monopoly on stupidity, we do very well at that subject on our small Island, thank you.

Fading Fast said:

From my time in retail sales, the ugly behavior Lizzie so often describes does not seem to me to come from thoughtful practitioners of libertarian ideology, but simply obnoxious, bullying, entitled personal actions. I know many libertarians; overall, while they'll tell you all that is wrong in the world (like many here who aren't libertarians), I've not seen any proclivity toward being rude or obnoxious in their day-to-day intereactions. Most, like me, follow our laws and unwritten rules of civility just like most everyone else.

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Once I retire (soon) from my career in pedagogy, I may very well go into retail sales, as sort of a break from the stresses of teaching.

I may wear a body-cam.

3fingers said:

We are most all occasionally guilty in lapses in logic but things like this are becoming too common and make me question the time remaining before idiocracy fully overtakes us.

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Indeed. Especially since this isn't true. The 38% figure reflects what respondents in America said about drinking Corona beer when questioned whether they would drink it for any reason.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/about-corona-poll/607240/

Meanwhile, eBay speculators are selling ten-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer that normally retail for less than three dollars for as much as $14.99 each or three bottles for $39.99. God bless America.

^^^^^
Right up there with war profiteers.

LizzieMaine said:

Meanwhile, eBay speculators are selling ten-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer that normally retail for less than three dollars for as much as $14.99 each or three bottles for $39.99. God bless America.

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The flip to that is private companies who make hand sanitizers are working like mad to increase production right now without any gov't action, approval, sign-off, bureaucratic inefficiency, etc. as those companies want to make money. To be sure, they'll say things like, "we want to increase production in this time of need -" and many at the company truly feel that way - but it's the free market that will get them pumping that product out as fast as they can. In a short time, our shelves will be restocked with normal-priced hand sanitizers. The American system has a genius for producing things people want.

And if they overproduce and the virus turns out to be mild, no one will care that these companies are stuck with inventory that they paid workers overtime to produce (the workers will keep that additional money) and, quite likely, more for the raw ingredients. The stockholders will simply take the hit. And that's not just theory as I've done the research and real-time analysis on many companies that take meaningful earning hits (losses, etc.) for ramping up production into a crisis that turned out milder than expected.

Edit add: I have no truck with price gougers: a local retailer - you know, the kind that we are all suppose to love versus the chains, big box and internet giants we're are all suppose to hate - was selling the N95 (is that the #?) mask that everyone seems to want for ten-times the normal price; whereas, the national chain stores in NYC never raised their prices and just sold out their inventory at normal prices.

They better hurry up. I just saw two women at the grocery store get into a ferocious grabbing contest over the last bottles on the shelves.

Or you could just forget about commercially-manufactured "hand sanitizer" altogether and use plain alcohol. Or, if you're bibulous, vodka is a good substitute.

I've a co-worker who went to his home country of Ecuador in mid-February to handle some family affairs. He text me this morning saying approximately 6 people have the virus and airports are temporarily closed. He is wondering when he can get back to the states.

LizzieMaine said:

They better hurry up. I just saw two women at the grocery store get into a ferocious grabbing contest over the last bottles on the shelves.

Or you could just forget about commercially-manufactured "hand sanitizer" altogether and use plain alcohol. Or, if you're bibulous, vodka is a good substitute.

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I'd agree, but wasting good vodka on your hands seems like a sin and if you imbibe it, wouldn't it sanitize your insides?

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LizzieMaine said:

They better hurry up. I just saw two women at the grocery store get into a ferocious grabbing contest over the last bottles on the shelves.

Or you could just forget about commercially-manufactured "hand sanitizer" altogether and use plain alcohol. Or, if you're bibulous, vodka is a good substitute.

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Kidding aside, SGF came home Friday with a giant bottle of plain alcohol (89 cents) for us to use.