Life Spugs because...

[JayzusB.Christ]

Jesus wept, my blood boils just reading that.  I almost wish your new dog was less barky with strangers and more tear-out-throaty.

I had a similar experience with a Covid See-You-Next-Tuesday just before Christmas, when I was in TK Maxx looking for a present for my niece.  A guy (who looked young and trendy enough to know better, though that's probably my own prejudices) without a mask was walking towards me in the narrow aisle, so I moved quickly to get to another aisle before the fool came near me.  He noticed this and started pretending to breathe in loud wheezy gasps.  I still fantasise about destroying his youthful good looks with a fist in his face, like Sláine did to Diarmait the Handsome.

[The Legendary Shark]

I don't wear a mask when I go out, but I do carry one with me purely for social reasons. If nobody asks me or if nobody's afraid then I don't put it on but I will if I need to. Most people seem happy with this so long as I also distance from the people who want to distance - which not everybody does.

What I think about masks is more important to me than others - so others must feel the same way about their thoughts on masks. If I want others to respect my thoughts then I must respect theirs, which requires of me a little flexibility and understanding. Acting like the person in Funt's post helps absolutely nobody.

[Funt Solo]

I don't wear a mask when I go out, but I do carry one with me purely for social reasons. If nobody asks me or if nobody's afraid then I don't put it on but I will if I need to.

I found curious your use of the phrase of "if nobody's afraid", because when I see someone who's not taking the current scientific advice by mask wearing and social distancing, I never feel the emotion of fear.

I do think: fuck, how do I avoid this person? You know, because they're doing two things: they're endangering me, and they're endangering themselves, and they're doing it willfully. I need to give that person a wide berth - because they're demonstrating that they're unreasonable. They're demonstrating that they're selfish, credulous and that engaging with them in any way is going to be a negative experience.

So, it's not fear. Irritation. Annoyance. Bewilderment. Alertness. Incredulity, still, after all this time and so many examples.

The best I can hope for all the people I know who've taken (charitably) a relaxed stance on managing their end of the deal during this pandemic , is that they survive. And, when things (hopefully) move into a time when the virus has less of a stranglehold on our lives, and those people say "See - I told you it was nothing all along", I'll have to just grin and bear that bullshit as well.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I don't wear a mask when I go out, but I do carry one with me purely for social reasons. If nobody asks me or if nobody's afraid then I don't put it on but I will if I need to.

I found curious your use of the phrase of "if nobody's afraid", because when I see someone who's not taking the current scientific advice by mask wearing and social distancing, I never feel the emotion of fear.

Me neither. Viruses don't take emotional state into account, but don't quote me on this because, and I cannot stress this enough, I KNOW FUCK ALL ABOUT MEDICAL SCIENCE AND VIROLOGY. The people that do think I should. I did wear a mask and still got infected*. I still wear a mask. It's not difficult. To be honest, when I see people without a mask I don't feel fear, I feel resentment of their selfish arrogance.

*even though I have the big manly muscles and cool hair and so forth...

[Jim_Campbell]

The people that do think I should. I did wear a mask and still got infected*. I still wear a mask. It's not difficult.

Good man!

This is the thing I find about masks and the wearing/not wearing thing both perplexing and enraging. Masks don't stop you catching covid* that's not the point. If that was the point, then not wearing one would be a personal choice you could make, based on your own assessment of personal risk. Masks reduce the chance of you spreading covid, which you could have, and be contagious, for up to ten days before symptoms appear.

That's not a matter of personal choice because 1) you have no way of knowing whether you have covid unless it's on the day of a same-day negative test (and even then, none of the tests is 100% reliable) and 2) if you're in a situation where 99% of the people in the vicinity are masked and 1% aren't, if any of the 1% has it, they're endangering the rest.

*As I understand it, the primary means by which covid travels is in droplets of water in exhaled breath. These aerosolise the further they travel but are quite large at the point of exhalation, so even a fairly basic, non-surgical mask will catch the droplets when they're large and contain them.

[TordelBack]

What bothers me most about the incomprehension* around the purpose of mask-wearing is the near-certainty that this extends to washing your hands after going to the toilet, around food-prep etc. There's no functional or theoretical difference, you're mildly inconveniencing yourself to reduce a possible risk to others.

*I'm being charitable.

[JayzusB.Christ]

What bothers me most about the incomprehension* around the purpose of mask-wearing is the near-certainty that this extends to washing your hands after going to the toilet, around food-prep etc. There's no functional or theoretical difference, you're mildly inconveniencing yourself to reduce a possible risk to others.

*I'm being charitable.

I was in a tiny filling station paying for my petrol yesterday when a maskless woman came in, stood right beside me and started leafing through newspapers and the like - normally they have two staff members on, one to serve and the other to limit the number of customers to one at a time, but I think the second staff member was doing something else at the time.

It's hard to think charitable thoughts about that other customer.  The first thing I think is that the person is ignorant, selfish or a combination of both.    An electrician I worked on the same project with last year refused to wear a mask because nobody died OF the virus, they died WITH the virus. 

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

When I'm feeling at my most charitable I assume they're not wearing a mask or not wearing it correctly, because the have horrendous breath and don't want the smell trapped and redirected up their nostrils.

Did you know Listerine invented the medical condition, halitosis to sell their mouthwash. They could adapt that ad campaign. "Can't stand wearing a mask because of your corpse breath? Buy our mint juice!"

[Funt Solo]

Spent much of last night passing a kidney stone - for anyone who hasn't experienced it, may you never. Twas mucho ouch.

But, if you ever get a ridiculously severe pain in your back, off to one side and below the ribs, then don't worry! It subsides eventually. You're probably not about to expire.

[von Boom]

  Geez, Funt, I hope that's your last. My brother-in-law had them. You have my sympathies for your pain.

[TordelBack]

Spent much of last night passing a kidney stone - for anyone who hasn't experienced it, may you never.

Can confirm, and extend my sympathy. I too had this wonderful experience a few years back, eventually ended up in hospital doped to the gills awaiting surgery.  Oddest part was a procession of sympathetic female nurses telling me it was "worse than childbirth", which is not an attitude I'd enjoy better before or since.

[paddykafka]

Add "Aaargh!", "Aieee!" and whatever other comic-bubble expletives yer having yourself, to describe the absolute shudders of horror that go through me when I hear of this. My oldest mate went through a similar experience and filled me in on all the details. Best of luck with your recovery, Funt and Tordel's, I'm glad to hear that you got through your own encounter with this medical menace.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

I had a kidney stone once. When diagnosed, my wife went from "shush you big baby" to uttering the immortal words: "Oh, that will be quite sore."

If you ever suffer one, drink spirits. Seriously. It dissolves the bugger. The stronger the better.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I find myself coming out of the Covid testing centre three days before my vaccination is due.  The fella I pay to help me with my mural painting tells me his daughter has gone into hospital in fits of coughing and I've been in contact with him.

I like the fella and he does a good job but it seems that every time theres a big job to be done there's a family emergency. This the worst yet though, by far the best case scenario is that I'm out of work till I get my results.

Also I can't afford to employ anyone on a full or even part time basis, and it would be very hard to find anyone else who can turn up for occasional work like that.

Sorry to rant but I'm just very anxious and I don't know what to do.

[Funt Solo]

Sorry for your troubles, JBC. Is the problem that you need to isolate or that you've lost a worker because he needs to isolate? Or both?