COVID-19 Minor Inconveniences Thread

[Glynda]

... I wonder what the next hoarded item will be....

Jim

From almost the beginning, our grocery stores have had a shortage of bags of rice. Not sure why.

 

[clifffaith]

@VegasBella - our local grocery store will not pack purchases in bags we bring from home, but are more than happy to let us do the bagging. Are you saying your grocery store does not allow them in the door? That seems weird....

Our bags are washable and I leave them outside regularly to bathe in the sun...

When this all first started, no reuseable bags unless you bagged yourself. Which believe me was a relief to any bagger who had experienced Cliff's micromanaging to get super full bags (kitchen is upstairs and he refuses to use the "dumb waiter" (stair chair)) and Cliff's wife saying "give me the damn eggs so I can hand carry them". The whole world is happy to have him bag his own, and he prefers it. But by April no reuseable bags were allowed inside and the door monitors would practically faint dead away at the sight of our own bags. Then three weeks ago at a store we only shop at occasionally, they wanted to hit us with the 10 cents a bag BS because they were back to bring your own bags. Um, no thanks, we'll bag at the car just put it in the cart loose. Our regular Vons is now back to bring your own.

 

[clifffaith]

From almost the beginning, our grocery stores have had a shortage of bags of rice. Not sure why.

Rice, except for 15 to 50 pound bags was in short supply here (large Asian and Hispanic population) through mid-May, as a result we became hoarders because we'd buy when we saw a 3pound or smaller bag. We have more rice now than we'll eat in two years, and I do have past experience with rice tasting "stale" to me in the past.

 

[geekette]

From almost the beginning, our grocery stores have had a shortage of bags of rice. Not sure why.

I've noticed that. I think it's because you can get mass quantities cheap and it can fill up a crowd of new household members.

 

[clifffaith]

Our biggest inconvenience, once we got used to the grocery lines and availability issues, was hair salons being closed. Cliff never did get a haircut because he felt it was unsafe, but trusted me with his clippers on Saturday. I expect my second haircut, due July 31st, will be cancelled. But just this week we had to go to four stores to find my DCPIAB (Diest Cherry Pepsi in a bottle), and then we had to "demand" the must buy 3 price because there were only 2 bottles to be had.

 

[bbodb1]

From almost the beginning, our grocery stores have had a shortage of bags of rice. Not sure why.

Living in Arkansas, we have plenty of rice. But even here, I have seen some empty slots in the rice displays which I have not seen previously.

 

[WinniWoman]

Masks. Making reservations to use state parks. Limits on our local beach. Shortages of stuff at the grocery and hardware and dept stores. The way medical appts. are handled. Having to wipe down everything at the pool after use.Not having venues opened that I would have liked to do.

All minor in the scheme of life.

 

[geekette]

....Making reservations to use state parks.

Have not had to do that. On my "vacation", we visited many parks, drove right in.

I rarely visit the big one near me, but they had a 'no driving in' policy a while back. If you were using the park, you could walk in or bike in. I'm sure that helped keep crowds down, as there is no where to park near either entrance. guess I have my Curiosity Quest for the evening!

 

[linsj]

* Masks. No matter what kind I wear or how I position them, I can either breathe or see (glasses) but can't do both at the same time.
* Some grocery stores won't allow reusable bags anywhere; some OK them in self-checkout. No consistency anywhere. At least the CVS by my house is back to the clerks packing them.
* One-way aisles in grocery stores. Half the time I forget about them and don't notice the signs so I'm going the wrong way. And not every aisle is one-way.
* Running the dishwasher every other day instead of every 4-5 days. I've never gone through washer tabs so quickly!
* Washing my hands every time I enter the condo.
* Using hand sanitizer every time I get in the van after I've left home.
* No 12-pack cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke anywhere. I'm rationing my last 4 cans.

 

[mdurette]

My biggest one is not having my house cleaner. It really has been minor and we have managed just fine.....but I REALLY, REALLY detest dusting.

For those of you that discuss banking, keep this in mind next time you go. I work for a bank (not in the retail division) and we have just started to open our lobby doors. two things:
1. It can be very stressful for tellers to see masked people approach (think robbery)
2. If you can make your transaction at the drive-up, please do.....it limits the exposure to all inside and you.

 

[Luanne]

My biggest one is not having my house cleaner. It really has been minor and we have managed just fine.....but I REALLY, REALLY detest dusting.

For those of you that discuss banking, keep this in mind next time you go. I work for a bank (not in the retail division) and we have just started to open our lobby doors. two things:
1. It can be very stressful for tellers to see masked people approach (think robbery)
2. If you can make your transaction at the drive-up, please do.....it limits the exposure to all inside and you.

The bank I mentioned that I go into doesn't have a drive through.

 

[easyrider]

My first great grand son was born at home about two months ago. That isn't the inconvenience. The inconvenience is that we have never been able to hold him.

Today's problem was I took one of the motorcycles out to make sure it will work tomorrow so my son can ride with us. I had to stop at Lowes but didn't have a face mask so I put my helmet back on and made my purchase. I did get a nod from the manager.

Bill

 

[PigsDad]

Rice, except for 15 to 50 pound bags was in short supply here (large Asian and Hispanic population) through mid-May, as a result we became hoarders because we'd buy when we saw a 3pound or smaller bag. We have more rice now than we'll eat in two years, and I do have past experience with rice tasting "stale" to me in the past.

Sounds like it would be a good idea to donate some of that to a food bank.

Kurt

 

[dioxide45]

The one way aisles in grocery store!! ugh not sure of reason why as if you miss an item then you have to walk twice as much and MORE areas in store to get that item.
Also no reusable bags in grocery store (also not sure why?) it is driving me NUTS to have so many environment killing plastic bags Plus my resusable bags are insulated.

Big picture definitely minor things

I agree with this one and most people ignore it anyway. I really don't see the point as I still often have to pass people who are standing around looking over a product for 5 minutes. So doesn't matter if I pass them going one way or the other, I still meet people in the aisle, one way or not.

As for those plastic bags, just dispose of them properly and there is no harm to the environment.

 

[jabberwocky]

Our favourite restaurant reopened but will only seat parties of four or less together. This means our family of six will have to stick with take-out for the next while.

 

[bbodb1]

...As for those plastic bags, just dispose of them properly and there is no harm to the environment.

In our case, it isn't the plastic bags that cause the damage....rather....um...what is...put...in them...that causes concern....
And a funk greater than forty thousand years...

 

[Krteczech]

When I received my Easter cards from Europe mid-June, I asked around. Turned out USPS sends and brings first class mail from/to Europe by ship. I better start on my Christmas cards before Labor Day this year...

 

[moonstone]

Also no reusable bags in grocery store (also not sure why?) it is driving me NUTS to have so many environment killing plastic bags Plus my resusable bags are insulated.

That was one of the things that bugged me most when we started shopping again a few months ago. I have a large assortment of reusable bags, insulated and not, that we've been using for years. My (& DD's) solution was take the reusable bags but leave them in the car, then I piled all my groceries back loose in the cart after checking out and took the cart full of groceries out to the car. I would then pack our groceries into our reusable bags at the car. Of course that method is dependent on good weather and I'm sure I annoyed some people in the Costco parking lot who were waiting while we packed the groceries to nab our good parking spot.

Thankfully all the grocery stores in our area (2 hrs north of Toronto) allow us to bring our reusable bags into the stores now.


~Diane

 

[louisianab]

My first great grand son was born at home about two months ago. That isn't the inconvenience. The inconvenience is that we have never been able to hold him.

Today's problem was I took one of the motorcycles out to make sure it will work tomorrow so my son can ride with us. I had to stop at Lowes but didn't have a face mask so I put my helmet back on and made my purchase. I did get a nod from the manager.

Bill

Congrats on the new great grand baby

I wore my full face helmet in to pick up our to go froyo two nights ago!

 

[Glynda]

Living in Arkansas, we have plenty of rice. But even here, I have seen some empty slots in the rice displays which I have not seen previously.

Our rice shelves have looked like the toilet paper, paper towel, cleaning and hand soap shelves. Empty. Except for some boxed varieties.

 

[clifffaith]

Our rice shelves have looked like the toilet paper, paper towel, cleaning and hand soap shelves. Empty. Except for some boxed varieties.

Early on our pasta shelves were the same. I've made tacos close to a dozen times since the shut down started because the aisle with the taco shells, while scant on beans and tomato sauce back in March, had plenty of taco shells. I hadn't made tacos in years, and in fact had twice put the "taco stander upper" in my garage sale pile, only to reconsider because if I ever made tacos again it really is a useful tool. And I bought several different types of taco seasonings, both dry and liquid, and will hopefully remember that we find the dry McCormick packet way too salty.

 

[Glynda]

Early on our pasta shelves were the same. I've made tacos close to a dozen times since the shut down started because the aisle with the taco shells, while scant on beans and tomato sauce back in March, had plenty of taco shells. I hadn't made tacos in years, and in fact had twice put the "taco stander upper" in my garage sale pile, only to reconsider because if I ever made tacos again it really is a useful tool. And I bought several different types of taco seasonings, both dry and liquid, and will hopefully remember that we find the dry McCormick packet way too salty.

Our pasta shelves emptied quickly earlier on. Also dried beans. I was ordering some things online from Walmart recently and looked to see if they had rice. I saw a bag of Mahatma and just put it in my cart. A few days later, Hubby asked me what the huge box from Walmart contained. Opened it and was horrified and tickled at the same time. The package contained a 10 pound bag of Mahatma rice! I wouldn't use that much rice in 5 years! I would take it to our local food bank but I cut a little bit of the bag open when opening the box and I doubt they'd take it.

 

[clifffaith]

Our pasta shelves emptied quickly earlier on. Also dried beans. I was ordering some things online from Walmart recently and looked to see if they had rice. I saw a bag of Mahatma and just put it in my cart. A few days later, Hubby asked me what the huge box from Walmart contained. Opened it and was horrified and tickled at the same time. The package contained a 10 pound bag of Mahatma rice! I wouldn't use that much rice in 5 years! I would take it to our local food bank but I cut a little bit of the bag open when opening the box and I doubt they'd take it.

You could consider Nextdoor or Facebook -- that's what I plan to do. Hope to sneak Cliff's bag of dried beans in at the same time. He won't miss it if he doesn't see me giving it away (sorry Cliff, I've told you over and over that Bush's makes better beans than you do!).

 

[clifffaith]

Our biggest inconvenience, once we got used to the grocery lines and availability issues, was hair salons being closed. Cliff never did get a haircut because he felt it was unsafe, but trusted me with his clippers on Saturday. I expect my second haircut, due July 31st, will be cancelled. But just this week we had to go to four stores to find my DCPIAB (Diet Cherry Pepsi in a bottle), and then we had to "demand" the must buy 3 price because there were only 2 bottles to be had.

Locals on FB also said they couldn't find Diet Cherry or caffeine free Coke. We set out today, planning on going to multiple stores, but hit the jackpot at the Vons on the "wrong side of town". Not only did we find 9 bottles of DCPIAB (although when we got home it turns out we picked up a non-cherry bottle too -- I'll drink that first), we also found hand sanitizer in a pump bottle that we wanted to have near the kitchen sink for guests (we'd just wash our hands with soap and water).

 

[VegasBella]

Another inconvenience we have experienced: we adopted a dog this time last year. A puppy actually. Well, he promptly broke his leg after adoption (at the vet's office!) and had to be crated after surgery so he missed out on a lot of puppy socialization and training. After he was healed he started training and completed the first level class. He was in the middle of his second level class when the class was shut down due to COVID. So now the poor dog is still not truly properly socialized and well trained. He's like half trained.
It's a minor inconvenience because he will certainly catch up and do the rest of his training and because we love him no matter what, even if he likes to bark at other dogs inappropriately