I went to the big-box building-suppply store today. First big store I have been in since the coronavirus stuff started.
It was....different. The parking lot looked pretty full and I almost turned around and went back home. On closer sight, the parking lot was much smaller; the garden department has been moved outdoors, and it was surrounded by closely-parked cars. That's where most of the people were.
It was lumber I was after, at the other end of the building. The lot was not even half full over there.
Inside, people were keeping their distance, but pleasantly enough. Nearly everyone was masked. A couple of African-American men -- father and adult son, for a guess, and busy working modifying their project to suit the available materials -- and I were the only people in the aisle where all the plain boards are kept, and we kind of danced around each other, keeping our distance. I was gloved up, work gloves, lumber not being very hand friendly, and so were they. When the older man asked to borrow my tape measure (don't visit the lumber department without one!), I was happy to help. Arms-length to arm's-lengths and returned the same way, with what I think we both hoped were readable as smiles despite our masks.
Life goes on. Most people want to get along the those around them. Nobody was swapping stink-eye or making comments, not even between the masked and the maskless.
Tomorrow, I've got a project to start. I hope it goes well.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
2 comments:
Made my first visit to Lowes since the pandemic yesterday too, only I was in the paint department, only needed a couple of paint rollers and some masking tape. Parking lot seemed pretty full, inside not so much, check-out lines seemed pretty short, so I decided it was going to get what I needed and leave. Grabbed my rollers and tape, made a quick turn into the self checkout lane, and was quickly and politely informed by the checkout matron that the line starts there-she was pointing down the aisle toward the back of the store. There were at least 20 customers with carts and arms loaded waiting out of sight for the registers-Doh! It was the same for all of the registers. I quickly put the stuff back and headed for the smaller locally owned store.
I think that your experience was more nearly "typical" than not. Most humans usually display their humanity pretty well.
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