Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

We get a takeout or delivered dinner probably once a week on average (which is probably about as often as we dined out in the Before Time). We roughly alternate cooking. My wife's better at planning meals ahead of time; I have always been more "what am I in the mood for?/what looks good?" on the day of.

Lunch, probably more like twice a week (though it's complicated because my wife and daughter and I all do different things).

my friend who owns a few places says his business has ironically been OK, from a bottom-line standpoint, since they are operating with skeleton crews. It really cuts down on operating costs if you have five people working in the kitchen vs. 15.

I read that and mainly think about the 10 people who got laid off to enable that skeleton-crew staffing model. Presumably they were paying rent, feeding families, etc. with those jerbs.

Many of those folks were laid off strategically to allow for unemployment benefits, afaict. My same friend said he is actually worried that when things reopen, in the best of circumstances, their unemployment insurance will skyrocket.

Related, I saw this exchange in a local reddit forum. A bit unwieldy, so I tried to clean it up, but it brought up a lot of the moving parts of the current reopening "phase" that I had not considered:

ts had its ups and downs. The joke is that we shouldn't be surprised what we're getting for customers, as they're all patio people now.
...but at least we get to enforce a time limit.

You gave a little taste of what "patio people" are, can you explain more? I love a good alliterative term.

Patio people are not bar people. Patio people make high demands, run you to death & tip you less than 20% because they felt like you were “too lazy”. Bar people see first hand what you’re doing, and typically are more laid back and more generous. I’ve worked 3 jobs at once for multiple years, I prefer the bar people crowd. Refilling your multiple waters sitting in the sunlight doesn’t make me much money, but apparently I wasn’t fast enough to do it, so i deserve 10% or less.

God damn are people really going to patios right now tipping less than 20%?! I usually round up to 25 or 30 right now cause I know service industry people are having a rough time.

Unfortunately, yes. I have regulars ask how people are being tipped, which I feel uncomfortable telling them the truth, because it’s not their job to try to make up the percentage lost on other people. Thank you for tipping that, we appreciate the hell out of it ❤️

IIt's more that patios are an afterthought in Chicago. Considering how much bad weather and winter weather we see it makes perfect sense to not base your restaurant around patio service when you first construct your restaurant or bar.
As a result the distance between the patio customer and pretty much everything in the restaurant is the longest distance for anything in the restaurant. Along with that you typically have to enter and exit for the bulk of requests through doors built in a city that experiences extreme weather, namely sub degree temperatures. Food, alcohol, even things like getting sodas can be a hassle for a general patio setup when you have to go through bulky doors that can't be propped open for fear of insects or letting air conditioned air escape, and doing this while holding a tray of drinks or food can even make it feel like a game show challenge at times. Good service on a patio for some of the more inefficient setups will actually take an experienced and skilled server to navigate and organize through a long shift. Sounds silly, but some newer servers can easily fall apart during a patio shift.
As a result of the patio generally being an afterthought, and general distance from basic elements in a restaurant it is most efficient to aggregate a single request of a table with the rest of the section. Meaning, if you want a soda refill it makes the most sense to see if anyone needs a soda refill in the entire section as well, to save time and effort. As a result it can make some feel like the request is being ignored, or add on some time to the request, which for many people who don't understand the reason is bad service.
Also, keep in mind that people tend to spend more time on the patio, for various reasons, but they just do. Maybe it's to soak up the weather. Maybe because it's they decide to order an extra bottle of that $30.00 Pinot Grigio for that table of 6 since it's warmer and they're drinking more. Either way, a result is turn times are lower, and you get less tables overall. Less tables means that you are more reliant on the tips you do get, and as a result a bad tip is felt a lot more. Inside you may get your section turned two and a half times, with the average diner taking around an hour. On the patio you can easily get people doubling that, it isn't rare for a single group sitting at a table the entire evening.
Add to the fact that the weather is hot, and humid, that it can rain at anytime killing your business for the night and the patio is a pain in the ass to work. Granted, it can be also the most lucrative at times, depending on the business, it can be the busiest part of the entire restaurant or bar during the summer, but in general, it's a giant pain in the ass.
edit: for spelling, grammar and clarification.

Not to mention factoring in doing all of this wearing a mask for 9-12 hour shifts. It’s hard to find time to break, and eat or use the bathroom. The constant cleaning, seating, and serving people in rotation. 6 people sit, 6 want waters, 3 people order beers. No food. Ice melted, they’d like more ice. When it rains all of shift, some people want to sit through that with their umbrellas, so we get wet doing that or we just sit through the shift waiting for the weather to pass to make some kind of money. So it’s been stressful trying to make money, it’s so inconsistent.

Gentlemen, you can't discuss Tipping in here, this is the Mostly Apolitical thread!

we've got a lot of restaurants where you can just order online, walk in and pick up your stuff on the patio, without seeing anyone or touching anything. it's nice, I can get used to it.

unfortunately the main appeal of going out is getting away from the kids, I love them but Jesus Christ it's been 3 months

🤪

I miss sushi. I looked at some terrible pre-made stuff at the local grocery and decided against it but it was hard. I did insist on picking up some local bbq the other night which ruined our "primarily salads as meals" diet but was deeply satisfying. We tore into the cheese fries like animals (who haven't had a fried food in 4 months).

I'm starting to abhor cooking. We have salads with a grilled protein and I cut up garden veg and top with tahini dressing. Done.

sushi is one thing I really miss. We do veggie handrolls and poke a lot at home, but ny sushi takeout is the best.

Been craving sushi, but the rest of the family is very meh about it

You’ll all be glad to hear that that founder of uber has a plan for restaurants in the post-covid era

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/meet-travis-kalanicks-secret-startup-cloudkitchens-11573122602

(Amp link because WSJ)

I do really miss sushi (last fall I essentially subsisted on sushi, protein shakes and cheerios) but the place near me doesn't do takeout

A 45-year mainstay restaurant in my hometown just announced that they are closing. Apparently they recently expanded their premises to include a music venue, which probably increased the negative impact for them. And they are part of a local chain with a few other locations that aren't affected yet, but it's still a bit of a shock.

I bought some Whole Foods sushi... I’ve never had anything so flavorless.

Sushi Maki makes Whole Foods sushi here.

“i bought some whole foods sushi” is a line from eliot’s wasteland yes?

yes, from the "A Game of Chess" section:

I bought Whole Foods sushi
Unreal fish
Bowels unraveling
Madame Sosastris, pray for me pray pray
Avocado oh I'm on the rag

it's from Fragment of an Ahi from Sushi Agonistes

Ahi is the cruelest fish
Breeding wasabi out of the dead land

When Braden's wife got demobbed, I said
I told him straight up, I said to him myself,
REVERSE HAPPY HOUR UNTIL NINE
Now Kaylee’s coming back, make yourself a bit swole.
She’ll want to know what you did with that money she gave you
To get yourself some guns. She did, I was there.
Go to Cabela's, Brade, and get a nice weight set,
She said, I swear, I can’t bear to look at you.
And no more can’t I, I said, and think of poor Kaylee,
She’s been in the desert four years, she wants a good time,
And if you don’t give it her, Tinder is a thing, I said.
Ease up bro, he said. LPT, I said.
Then I’ll lawyer up and hit the gym, he said, and delete Facebook.
SAKE BOMBS AND BEER AND WINE
If you don’t like it you can learn to code, I said.
Others can pick and choose if you can’t.
But if Kaylee bails, you can't say I didn't warn you.
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.
(And he only twenty-six.)
I can’t help it, he said, ever since middle school,
It’s them Juuls I vaped, I was so mad at dad that one time, he said.
(He’s had five pods already tonight, and popcorn lung since college)
The guy at 7-11 said it would be all right, but I’ve never been the same.
You are a fucking tool, I said.
Well, if Kaylee's partner won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you go polyamorous for if you don’t want a devil's triangle?
REVERSE HAPPY HOUR UNTIL NINE
Well, that Sunday Kaylee was home, they had Whole Foods sushi,
And they asked me over to hang, or just, you know, whatever.
REVERSE HAPPY HOUR UNTIL NINE
SAKE BOMBS AND BEER AND WINE
Lates Ethan. Lates Conner. Lates Makayla. Lates.
See ya. Lates. Lates.
Lates, bros, Lates, my sweet dudes, lates, lates.

WF sushi is my occasional "upscale" non-restaurant sushi. I sometimes buy Vons (safeway/Albertsons now) sushi.

We enjoyed our budget sashimi platter picked up at the Korean market today, but not as much as the budget (and ample!) sushi platter we picked up at a fish market a few weeks back. Fortunately at the Korean market I bought a brick of sushi grade tuna, too, so I will just roll my own at a future date. It's easy. You don't even have to cook it!

Back to the matter at hand, since I tested negative for antibodies at the start of May but apparently positive for antibodies last week, I don't know where my body stands. It's kind of a bio-medical liar's paradox, because one of those tests is likely wrong. But my wife is donating blood tomorrow, and she'll be automatically tested for antibodies, too. I figure if she comes up positive then my positive was likely accurate, and we got lucky with very minor symptoms (me) and no symptoms (her) and probably negligible and fleeting symptoms (kids). If she comes up negative, then who knows. Regardless, I'm giving blood again in August, so if I come up positive again in 90 days after the gratis test, *then* I think I'll know for sure.

f hazel that is tremendous

Yeah amazing

Tracer, have recent developments in the UK made you reconsider your possible visit to parents, or made you think of it as more urgent?

I decided to wait till August but now I'm thinking that by then we might be back in lockdown.

They have decided they don't want me to come. I think the rising numbers are spooking them. In my heart of hearts I think it's the wrong decision, because 1) I think it's likely I'll be less immune at Christmas, so would need to quarantine between landing and seeing them (??) 2) that we might be in a big second wave by then, so it would be impossible anyway and 3) that if I wait til next spring I'll be even less immune, making a 2-week quarantine pretty much mandatory. So I'd be travelling across the country for ~3 weeks, only 1 of which I'd actually get to spend with them.

I think we could have safely avoided all that nonsense by me just visiting now. But my dad is in his 80s, and had a massive heart operation 2 years ago. Numbers in Tennessee are rising. So it feels too risky to him.

That's a shame, but yeah, can understand your father being reticent in his situation.

Swinging back to more mundane COVID fallout, anyone have any recent experience with shipping or receiving things shipped via USPS media mail?

Had something shipped out on June 3rd that completely stopped updating on June 7th and is still "In Transit to Next Facility" as of today. Trying to figure out whether this is worth an email to USPS, or if this is pretty much in line with what others are still seeing.

I'd do it; had a similar issue myself a few weeks ago.

the sushi wasteland from f. hazel and Alfred: bravo bravo bravo. snorted smoothie through my nose.

i don't know my eliot well enough to intelligently comment but it sure looks like hazel came hard there

xp -- it may just be at the post office, that's happened to me before

My media mail orders from the last couple months have been a day or two late.

I haven't noticed any delays mailing and shipping, except a handful of packages that went through Chicago during the first week of protests.

Went through Chicago via UPS. USPS didn't have any issues.

Well I made a "where's my package" request through USPS, we'll see what they come back with. I am just outside of Chicago and this would have been the tail end of that first week of protests, so maybe that might be the issue.

I had a nice slow media mail shipment arrive yesterday that I ordered 6/9

i ordered usagi yojimbo saga vol 6 in early april and just got word this week that the publisher is out of stock. okay. lowest price i can find on ebay is about $70.

would a digital copy get you set?

I ordered 6/9

Didn't know one could get that by mail!

good idea ulysses but no :(

xpot lol YMP

I’ve only had one issue with a package being stuck in transit for over a week. It was a yarn club, and the seller posted pictures on Instagram. It turns out there’s at least a few of us in this situation so she contacted the Post Office. They said there’s nothing they can do, but it was nice of her to look into it.

I had ordered from her last month, and everything went fine!

I ordered some dumbbells about six weeks ago and they never arrived. The tracking number showed they had been delivered somewhere in HI in February (I'm in NY). I cancelled the order and received a refund. Then they showed up about two weeks ago (four weeks late).

Wow. Apparently the USPS is even worse shape than I'd imagined, this was the response I received:

After investigating the service request this parcel is still in transit. I currently have over 50 customers who have been waiting for package well over 45 days. We are understaffed and transportation is limited across the the country. We are doing our best to get all shipments delivered as soon as possible. Please continue to patient with us and the parcel will be delivered as soon as it arrives at (your local) facility.

I have acquired a new mask. (Prior to this I was wearing a black bandana across my face, antifa supersoldier style.) It's one of those that has a little pouch that you tuck a filter into; the seller sent me about 30 filters, so I should be good for a while.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbdVwA-XQAA78fJ.jpg

I haven't had any mail disruptions lately. A month or so ago, though, I had several packages that wound up sitting in distribution centers for weeks at a time (one of which, when it finally arrived, looked like it had been jammed up someone's ass just before that unfortunate individual was hit by a train and dragged for several miles).

I got word last week that I’d be working from home until September at the earliest, and now an email suggesting that since I can do my job entirely from home I’ll probably not be back in until next January. And then who knows.

my company just changed their WFH policy to basically allow you to do it whenever you like, indefinitely. That's pretty nice. It doesn't look like having everyone abruptly work from home has caused any disruptions or loss of productivity whatsoever.

my wife's job on the other hand is making her go back Monday, 2 weeks on then 4 weeks WFH. it's really dumb. there are no in person meetings or anything.

does her job require someone to actually keep the doors open or something?

We were just told this week that it will be Labor Day before they even weigh the option of reopening our office and that, even when/if they do reopen, on-site attendance will be strictly voluntary for some time to come. I mean, doy, everyone has continued working from home without much of a hitch so why not, but it's still pleasantly surprising that my workplace is being sensible about this.