More Adventures in Social Distancing
As the pandemic progresses, my state is reopening businesses in stages. I don’t know how they decide what can reopen when, or more importantly, why? But I have tamped down my panic and gone out while still exhibiting caution. It has been an experience in otherworldly interaction.
It is fascinating to observe people and how they react to having to wear a face mask. If I were more interested in wasting my time with pointless arguments, I’d want to ask people if they are wearing the mask incorrectly because they don’t know it’s wrong? Or because they don’t give a shit and are wearing it just to appease the “world” that is making them wear one?
Is having it sitting below their nose, or propped under their chin a big old fuck you to society? Or are they just stupid and don’t understand how COVID is spread?
One thing I missed during the quarantine was pedicures. I can’t maintain a manicure because I use my hands too much and type entirely too fast at work to bother with nails. But my feet don’t see the light of day strapped in steel toed boots all day, so when I am not working, I like my feet to look nice and feel nice. Could I try to give myself a pedicure?
Yes. Do I want to?
No. The whole point is me treating myself.
One day my mother asked if we could find a place to get a pedicure done. She said she had tried the place she used to go to but they weren’t answering the phone, and she didn’t want to show up and find out they were closed. I tried to call them and they didn’t answer either and their voice mail box was full. when we drove by, there were no lights on. We couldn’t tell if it was because they were out of business or if they had reduced their hours.
So I told her I would check the place I usually go to. It was a larger establishment so it was more likely if they had reopened they would answer their phone. They did a brisk business pre covid due to their location, being on the edge of several affluent neighborhoods meant that they had more than their fair share of housewives and women keeping up appearances.
Sure enough, they were open, I made us appointments and on the day of, off we went. Face masks in place and I noticed that they had implemented many social distancing measures. Taking your temp and writing it on your services card for starters. They had a shield at the reception desk, and between each manicure station. Then I noticed that they had fewer pedicure chairs and had increased the spacing between them.
In the pre pandemic era, these measures would have freaked me out. What were they concerned about? Why were they taking these steps? I probably would have done an about face and never returned.
Instead, these measures made me comfortable and more willing to stay because I will say, I did have my concerns. All the patrons inside were wearing their masks, and perhaps because of it, there was less ambient noise and less conversation. There took extra steps to sanitize everything. The smell of disinfectant and sanitizers permeated the air.
That’s the COVID scent: Eau de Javel*
My mother I can tell is still not used to all the extra measures, and the reminders to social distance. She had a habit of standing too close to other people. She didn’t look down for stickers designed to help you keep six feet away, she wasnt noticing the signs or simply observing a respectable distance just because. I had to bodily pull her away from other people, groups, and counters. Her survival instinct is for shit.
We went to the hardware store after the nail salon, and she made the employee at the key cutting station visibly uncomfortable with how she aggressively invaded his personal bubble and was not cognizant to keep social distance. I would pull her back and she would wander back. Like what the fuck?
Finally, after the third time yanking her back I said “Mother, quit standing so close to the man. You are not keeping a 6 foot gap, you are invading his personal space”. She was affronted that I even suggest she was doing something wrong and she said “I am not”. Bitch, please.
Trader Joe’s with her was worse. The store closest to me has taped out boxes on the floor and put flip flop stickers telling you where to stand. Then they ask you to stand in the box, away from the checkout until you have to pay. They even have it in words in the ground, stand here only to pay. Despite this, she was oblivious, no changes to her behavior. They had to tell her several times to stand back, and to return to the box where I was standing. She just didn’t get it.
It’s not like she never leaves the house. She and my brother have to go out to get food and supplies. They aren’t shut-ins, even if my brother still works from home. Despite that, she seems to be unaware of how social distancing applies to her, and that it isn’t a responsibility belonging to everyone else.
We all have to do our part to keep this from getting worse. I can’t even imagine what it is like in very dense places like New York City. Dallas is heavily populated, and it is a large city. It is also a sprawling metroplex. There are so many ways that one can avoid being close to other people if one avoids things like bars, and large gatherings, sporting events, etc.
This is where my adventure takes a turn.
Since late March, when the city of Dallas shut down, all the movie theaters closed down for the quarantine. Of all the businesses that remained open for essential work, the ones that reopened first to provide other services and goods needed, and then eventually some personal services, movie theaters were the last to re-open.
Of the theaters in the area, I only visit the Alamo Drafthouse with any regularity. So when I saw an email that movie theaters were reopening, I checked to see if they were back in operation, and not only were they open, they had new movies showing.
I forgot all about upcoming movie releases. COVID has a way of recalibrating priorities of things I needed to focus on. Five months ago, it is unlikely I would have braved a visit anywhere. Three months ago, I upgraded my threat level from Delta to Charlie, and braved an outing to the casino in far North Texas, aka Oklahoma.
In retrospect, is it bravery or foolishness that I was willing to brave the theater to see the Bill & Ted movie? Maybe. Do I regret my decision? Not so much. I think if I was going to go back to a theater, the Alamo Drafthouse would have to be the only option.
Their social distancing protocols are thorough and definite. There is no wavering from the criteria to be met. I went to the app, and had to download an update because they had new features.
For anyone who has never been to an Alamo Drafthouse, it is a movie theaters for people who want the experience of being in a room with other people watching a movie, but none of the annoying shenanigans that are present in movie theaters in this digital age — that is people talking and texting. They will eject you from the theater if you violate this. No exceptions. I’ve watched it happen.
The new app feature in the update was a pop up at the beginning that described the new “House Rules”. These rules discussed the fact that this is a pandemic. If you are sick, you should keep your ass home. If you arrive at the Alamo Drafthouse and fail the temp check, they will not allow you to enter the theater. And that being in a room with a bunch of people you don’t know, even with spacing for social distancing is still a sketchy proposition so you are going to the movies knowing that you are taking a risk.
As a result, you have to buy your tickets in advance AND your food in advance. There is no buying food when you get there. There is no buying tickets from the ticket stand. There are no cash transactions.
You arrive, wearing a mask, and you have to get your temperature checked. If you pass that, they check that you have pre-purchased your tickets by showing them the tickets in the app.
When I bought the tickets, I noticed that the seating arrangements at this location looked like clusters of four seats. It turns out that they physically removed seats to create extra aisles and spacing for seats in the theater.
This location has long tables in front of the seats, so you used to have to scoot in front of people if you were unfortunate enough to not purchase a center aisle or an end row seat. This extra spacing was evidence that someone put some thought into their reopening strategy, and I felt like my movie experience might not be so risky after all?
The menu had been altered to only include food and meals that required no “handling”. I thought about this when I was wondering why sandwiches and burgers had been removed from the menu. My assumption is that those are menu items that require assembly and using ingredients that are usually stored in bulk, such as tomato slices, lettuce, and cheese. That sucks because they made really good burgers, but I get it. This pandemic is our new normal.
The smell of disinfectant and sanitizer was the first thing I noticed as we entered theater room 3. They prepackaged the napkins and note cards for drink refills (only) in little plastic sleeves. Only the seats that had patrons occupying them had these little packages in front of them. So nothing was reused, they clearly were not risking cross-contamination.
The other rule that was explained in the 8-bit animated short film explaining the new social distancing etiquette and steps, was that you are expected to keep your mask on any time that you are not actively drinking or eating a meal. Then at the end of the movie, you exit the theater row by row to avoid bunching and clustering of people in the aisles.
Five months of closure and I take it they really don’t want to get shut down again.
The bars in Dallas opened and closed, then I think only some reopened after they were shut down the second time. Its hard to regulate social distancing when drunk. No one apparently makes good choices under the influence. And this is Texas. The come and get it state. People are ready to scrap over the stupidest things, including their consumption of alcohol in semi-public conditions.
It’s hard to be in the service industry and keep all these new rules and precautions in place. People generally are stupid and won’t make choices to preserve their own safety, much less the safety of others. I think the best thing is to make sure that I frequent places that take the extra steps to stay open, and stay safe. I will jump through the extra hoops if it means that I can avoid becoming another statistic.
