Category: Rants

It Means You, Too!

Will live a few miles from West Virginia in SW Virginia in regions that have no REPORTED cases of COVID-19. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t cases. It means that they haven’t been tested or they are walking around with no symptoms, or “just a cold,” and possibly spreading it throughout the community that will suddenly show a handful of cases, then double that, then double it again in a few short days.

The schools in Virginia have all been closed for at least 2 weeks to try to flatten the spike, try to slow this health disaster before there are so many ill the hospitals have to make decisions on who to treat and who might die like they have done in Italy.

Yesterday, my social media feeds were full of “What time do you want us over?” “We will meet you at…” Pictures of local music venues where you were eating, drinking, and jamming. That is not social distancing. Maybe the person next to you is an UNREPORTED case. That doesn’t mean they don’t have it and aren’t spreading it, it means they have not been tested. You might get sick, you might heal, you might spread it to a child in fragile health who won’t survive it, or a senior citizen in the grocer who had no choice but to shop for sustenance, one whose immune system isn’t as strong and may not survive.

If we can’t self police, the next step will be total isolation like Spain, France, and Italy. They have had it for a couple of weeks longer and it spread.

I would love to have weekend time with my grand children and children. Love to have hugs. Love to go to my social places, but I can’t risk it, I am one of those senior citizens and I know that my immunity isn’t as strong as it was, my hubby’s either.

It isn’t about you. Think of others. If you miss a few weeks or months of being in groups, you will get over it. If you give this devastating virus to a sick child or immune suppressed adult, they may not get over it.

If you have to go to work, wash your hands often. Don’t hug or shake hands. Stand at least 3 feet apart. If you are trying to support a local venue, buy a gift certificate so they have cash now and use it when and if this passes us by.

Arghhh, shipping companies

About 10 days ago, we found out that we were the victim of credit card fraud. Fortunately, our card holder is terrific and they caught it before we did, notified us and hubby had an extensive conversation with them to establish which transactions were ours and which weren’t. They had already refused the fraudulent charge attempts and cancelled the card. We were told to destroy the card and a new one would be priority shipped. In the course of the conversation, it appeared to be hubby’s card so we destroyed it. No new card arrived.

Last Thursday, we took our German Shepherd to the vet to get her routine vaccinations and tried to use my card. It was denied, so a different card was used. Once home, I called the card company to find out why, only to discover it was my card that had been hacked, not hubby’s, so I had the card company send a new one to him. His arrived today, mine was still missing. Another call made to the card company. They said they would cancel the new card even though it had not been activated and would send another new card, and in the course of the conversation, I was told who the shipping company was, not the USPS. I asked them to not send the new card priority, just send it via USPS and explained that I had a history of missed deliveries by that shipping company.

After being told how it was shipped and finishing my call, I decided to scour the front area of the house. I had not been given a delivery notification, did not have a tracking number. On our front porch is an old fashioned milk can with a collection of walking sticks in it. Folded in half and stuffed to the bottom of the can was the envelope containing the missing card. According to the delivery date on the envelope, it has been there for almost a week. No note on the door, no electronic delivery notice. I am not in the habit of checking the inside of that can for mail or packages.

I’m not sure how that company stays in business.

Sounding ignorant – 1/12/2020

Don’t young people realize that their language usage is often one of the first ways that others judge them? While sitting in a local restaurant, a trio of college women were sitting in the adjacent booth. Two with their back to us, but the one sitting across the table from them was facing us, and she wasn’t speaking quietly. In two sentences, she used “like” half a dozen times.

Shortly after that, I was reading an interview with a young man who was identified as a journalist, and though he probably does not write the way he speaks, he also used “like” an inordinate number of times in just a few sentences.

Reading a news article this evening on student debt, an interviewer asked college students how much debt they had, what they thought about proposals to forgive debt, and whether they would be willing to help pay the debt for others. This comment again caught my eye. “Cause like, I have to make my own money, so like, if I make my money, like, I kind of want to keep my money that, like, I make, and not have to, like, give it to my friends.”

Does this young woman have any idea how that would sound in an interview? And when she isn’t hired, will she realize that her inability to put together a coherent sentence might have had an impact on her potential hiring?

“Ya know, like, you know, you like sound like ignorant, when you like speak this way.”