The joy has been sucked out of everything

[supadoopa]

Let me start by saying I’m in Scotland so this isn’t about masks per se, but about the whole silly dance we are being made to do in order to go about our lives at the moment.

I went to a shopping centre today and won't be back.

It’s the first time I’ve worn a mask for any longer than a quick run into the local coop. I was probably in the centre for an hour and a half but there was sweat pouring down my neck. I felt suffocated and silenced. Hated it.

My baby looked at me like I was a monster and my toddler couldn’t hear me when I talked.

But it wasn’t just masks that were the issue. There was a ludicrous one way system, which makes absolutely no sense to me if we are wearing masks and social distancing. Then every shop had a makeshift entry and exit and their own one way system which no one was observing.

At every turn I was being monitored by security guards, eyeballing me in anticipation of a wrongdoing, ready to pounce.

Almost every shop had a guard on duty forcing you to rub gel on your hands and that of my child before entering.

There were queues everywhere. All but one set of toilets shut, so queue for that too, and toilets themselves as dirty as ever because so many people using the same ones and no cleaning.

Inexplicably in most shops all but one set of tills were shut, again forcing people to congregate in long queues.

All the restaurants were again inexplicably closed apart from, yep, McDonalds and Costa. Both under small enclaves at the back of the centre. But in them you are allowed to take your mask off and eat off a table more or less. But in the main, high roofed wide open walkways of the centre, the mask must go back on.

The shops had little stock.

When I dared approach an M&S assistant to ask for a size (with a visor on like all the rest of the assistants at an angle that perfectly channels their exhalations directly at the person they’re talking too) I was barked at as if I was a naughty schoolgirl to the extent that I put the item back on the rack and walked out without buying anything.

Does anyone else think this is all utterly ludicrous?

Shops will not survive this.

We are all adults with our own minds and perfectly able to manage our selves. Why make masks mandatory if we then have to do all this makeshift posturing to appear to be avoiding each other when really we are being herded closer together.

As someone who you might consider a “hobby shopper” as in it’s one of my pastimes (and I’m not interested in any opinions about having a better hobby, if there weren’t millions like me there wouldn’t be any shops at all). I’m someone who will browse and buy, will pick up bits I don’t really need but just want. I will spend my money happily- if the experience gives me pleasure.

But now I think it’s going to be online for me. I won’t be back at the shopping centre. I won’t be visiting our city centre either as it’s just the same.

@BlusteryShowers

Long whiskers, I don't think it's that selfish to be concerned about people's livelihoods going down the toilet, people's mental health being hammered and our whole way of life potentially being irreversibly affected.

Two members of my family have been made redundant. One of them was very near to asking to be admitted to hospital with mental health concerns, having been managing depression well with meds for eight years. Another is trying to scrape her, normally quite successful, beauty salon off the ground among all the changing restrictions sucking the joy out of her service.

It is possible to take covid seriously, but also wonder about the toll this is taking on many other areas of life. I don't believe that that is selfish.

You've actually proved the opposite of my point, in that you care about other people! So no, I don't think you saying that is selfish at all. I also care very much about the impact of Covid – I have many friends and family deeply affected by either being ill or losing their jobs in the economic slump. My own employment has been hit really hard (I'm self employed) and if there's a second wave I am well and truly screwed. What I'm referring to is the posters who are complaining about wearing masks because it interferes with their shopping experience, because that smacks of being all about them and not anyone else. Surely what everyone wants is for this damn thing to be over, so if a few weeks of covering our faces speeds it along, isn't it worth it?

I am with you OP. It is all so illogical. Why wear masks in shops but don't wear masks in restaurants for example.

And the virus is so tiny, it will easily go through the masks anyway. Dr Vernon Coleman is right

@SockYarn

One use masks are super good for the planet tho right?

And endless bottles of hand sanitiser, anti bac sprays, disinfectant wipes, single use plastic aprons which hairdressers and similar are using, cleaning products....

Don;t give me concern about the planet when everything we achieved with single-use plastic has gone straight out the window. Single use masks are plastic. Acrylic, poly-something or other.

Couldn't agree more - so surely we should collectively do our best to stop the spread so we can stop using all this crap?

so surely we should collectively do our best to stop the spread so we can stop using all this crap

That ship has sailed. Over the last four/five months the message which has been heard loud and clear is that single use is safe and hygienic. Wipe your surfaces (not with soap and water, but with these handy plastic wipes). Wear a mask (even though they talk about face coverings, everyone hears "single use surgical blue mask"). Clean everything. (Using lots of plastic bottled products).

Nice to see twat Vernon Coleman not wearing a frock. He can't be too stressed out amo (he's a big advocate of it).

He also called AIDS a hoax, thinks it bears virtually no risk to heterosexual people and it's a myth that it's a huge problem in Africa.

Oh, he also writes misogynist porn, thinks women shouldn't be Drs and is also a homophobe.

The state the planet's in, it's obvious we now live in a completely self-absorbed society where people only give a shit about themselves.

Totally agree. These selfish pigs and their masks discarded everywhere, along with other single use plastics, wipes, chemicals, carrier bags etc because all people care about is not catching Covid and don’t give a fuck about the planet. So selfish and depressing.

I think you're being melodramatic. 'I felt suffocated and silenced.' I hate the feeling of slightly compromised breathing in a mask too (my biggest fear/nightmare has always been unable to breathe). But it's not being 'suffocated'. Nor are you 'silenced'.

I don't think security guards are waiting to pounce; I think they're trying to do a difficult job.

'Almost every shop had a guard on duty forcing you to rub gel on your hands and that of my child before entering.' Well yes. It's a good precaution.

The M&S assistant was probably having a bad day. I can't stand bad service and I'd have walked out too. But you can't blame that on the covid situation (except maybe the assistant was more on edge than usual because, again, retail staff are working in very difficult conditions at the moment).

I've admittedly only been in a supermarket and a post office/corner shop since yesterday when masks became mandatory. But the vast majority of people were wearing them; and I didn't sense that people who weren't were being judged or particularly avoided, beyond the bounds of sensible distancing. Shop assistants IME were friendly, mindful of distance and tolerant of me being muffled when I spoke to them (I have a quiet voice anyway and I know people often find it hard to hear me even without a mask on).

You just had a bit of a bad experience on one day, and are using quite exaggerated language about it, IMO. I'm not sure in what way you imagine 'all this nonsense' stopping; this is, for now, how we must act. It's either that or many businesses and people's livelihoods will be ruined. Plus we'll all go mad from lack of simple social contact.

What's so depressing about it, @SengaStrawberry is that there are so many alternatives.

Nobody needs plastic wipes when there are alternatives like a cotton cloth and soap. Or liquid soap when you can use paper wrapped bars - or bars sold loose. Reusable face coverings are perfectly acceptable, I made DH and the kids some out of an old duvet cover and hair bands. But the push from the start of the pandemic has been disposable. Disposable is better, safer, more hygienic.

And agree, all that matters is Covid. We will look back in 10 years and think of hundreds of ways we could have handled things better.

I would be happier wearing a mask if there was a defined end point to it.

If we said it was until new infections were consistently under x number for say a month - and would be reintroduced if they went up again.

It's the open ended nature of it, that seems to take it above a simple preventative measure, to one of control, along with the 1984esque think speak, where it's not enough that we wear the damn things, we have to be happy about it as well.

I am interested in the opinions from other countries. Have they experienced any pushback ? In the USA it has become completely politicised - I don't think it's possible to be an anti mask wearing democrat.

I think we’re in for one hell of an adjustment and can’t help think it might not be a bad thing.

Good for the planet - yes.

Good for you or I or anyone on here - highly unlikely.

Consumerism is bad for the planet, however stopping it virtually overnight is going to affect all of us , we need to take care what we wish for!

Very quickly someone who thought their job/income had little to do with disposable-purchasing culture discovers that the economy is all connected, and if one major sector goes down the pan we'll all feel it.

Exactly @SockYarn. Makes me feel I am pissing in the wind trying to keep our use of single use things down when so many people don’t care because they see themselves and them not getting Covid as more important.

The point people seem to be missing is that as the OP points out a lot of it doesn't seem to make sense though, and might even make things worse

Like the toilets and queues. It's the same at the newly opened swimming pool here. Only one toilet, shower meaning queues

It is like a lack of basic common sense.

in addition to the stress and bad attitudes.

Totally agree with the post about wanting to know an end point to the compulsory mask wearing. This might then make people feel like this isn't intended as long term and normal. That is what is scaring me and also a lot of people I've talked to.

I am interested in the opinions from other countries. Have they experienced any pushback ?

It has also caused pushback and aggression in other countries. A bus driver was killed trying to enforce it, in Italy I think or France..

I am really hating the phrase ‘social distancing.’ Why not just say physical distancing?

Social distancing sounds like no social contact of any kind is allowed. But I actually think some people like that because they want everyone to be fucking miserable.

I haven't read any poster here telling people with mask anxiety or lockdown depression to STFU

Oh I have. Not specifically this thread but at start of lockdown there were lots and lots of absolutely vile posts where the self proclaimed superior people would call others murderers for merely saying they were finding lockdown hard. The only thing that mattered was Covid. Anyone who died of anything non covid related, children and women from abusive homes, those who had their cancer treatments stopped and those who were suicidal due to lockdown didn’t matter one jot. It was revolting.

@SockYarn

One use masks are super good for the planet tho right?

And endless bottles of hand sanitiser, anti bac sprays, disinfectant wipes, single use plastic aprons which hairdressers and similar are using, cleaning products....

Don;t give me concern about the planet when everything we achieved with single-use plastic has gone straight out the window. Single use masks are plastic. Acrylic, poly-something or other.

Exactly. For all the good grounding planes might have done will be essentially cancelled out by all this single use shite.

All the cleaning stuff at work Is single use. We all have massive packets of wipes in our office. That can't be very environmentally friendly can it. We all have to wear single use masks too.

they see themselves and them not getting Covid as more important

But where does that rationale stop? Presumably you travel to places and consume things that aren't necessary to sustain your life? Aren't you then seeing your desire to go and buy xyz as more important than the envirnonment?

I'm not disagreeing with the concept that we could all do more for the planet, but I don't think it's helpful to start down a road of the planet-is-more-important-than... because let's face it, the planet would be better off if all the humans stopped breeding and died out in 100 years - a compromise is needed!

@AgentCooper

I am really hating the phrase ‘social distancing.’ Why not just say physical distancing?

Social distancing sounds like no social contact of any kind is allowed. But I actually think some people like that because they want everyone to be fucking miserable.

Agree. It’s a horrible phrase.

The Scottish government use “physical distance”

@Orangeblossom78 I totally agree. Things seem to take so long now, especially supermarket shopping until they scrapped the one way system. I had to queue outside the GP surgery when I took my daughter for her imms and ended up far closer to people having to squeeze past to shout through the door to the receptionist than I would have had we just been able to go in and sit apart.

@GrumpiestOldWoman

they see themselves and them not getting Covid as more important

But where does that rationale stop? Presumably you travel to places and consume things that aren't necessary to sustain your life? Aren't you then seeing your desire to go and buy xyz as more important than the envirnonment?

I'm not disagreeing with the concept that we could all do more for the planet, but I don't think it's helpful to start down a road of the planet-is-more-important-than... because let's face it, the planet would be better off if all the humans stopped breeding and died out in 100 years - a compromise is needed!

Of course not. But I do try my best to minimise the environmental impact of what I do. People using single use masks, wipes, disposable carrier bags, bottles of soap etc clearly aren’t doing that. Why? Because they give a shit about nothing but themselves and not getting Covid.

Only last year people were banging on about the evil that is single use coffee cups. Coffee shops were charging extra for them or offering discounts if you brought your own. Now that’s all been forgotten and back to single use cups because Covid matters more than the planet. And that’s even assuming there is a particular risk of Covid from not using a disposable cup!

Agree re the disposable items. When we've been out for meals, they now give you single use sachets of salt and the sauces. When I asked for mustard it was in a plastic disposable carton, rather than spooned out in a ramekin as normal.
I can't see where there is any more risk from spooning it into a washable dish versus a disposable one, but will cost more for the restaurant and add to the recycling bin ( or be chucked out - one place that was serving delicious takeaway meals had no recycling bin, so the glass bottles and used coffee cups were just going in with the general rubbish.).

@Orangeblossom78

The point people seem to be missing is that as the OP points out a lot of it doesn't seem to make sense though, and might even make things worse

Like the toilets and queues. It's the same at the newly opened swimming pool here. Only one toilet, shower meaning queues

It is like a lack of basic common sense.

in addition to the stress and bad attitudes.

Surely logically, you want people in and out conducting their business as efficiently as possible.

While in early lockdown, the queue at the supermarket looked intimidating from outside, once inside (no one way system) it was actually easier. Less people. No people chatting across the aisle with strewn trollies, go a central point be allocated a till and loadup straight awau without analysising how many at a till vs contents of trollies to guage queue length.
That wasn't bad actually.

I've been to 3 different chip shops with 3 different set ups of going in/ordering at the door etc. In itself, learning a new set-up is not too bad, but layer in umpteen businesses with umpteen variations, some contradictory, some just illogical and it does get stressful to the point of off-putting.

This is the 19th Saturday since everything shut down. We're getting random torrential showers so getting outside is not appealing (plus not all playgrounds have opened, the next village has invested in new padlocks since 4th July)
The DCs and I went to town on Thurs prior to mask day. The museum which is always easy to social distance in now needs masks. The local swimming pools within a 30 minute drive are either not open or not having family friendly sessions. The library is not open, but they don't seem to be family friendly browsing anyway. Trampoline park not open yet, but in the pipeline.
I can not think of anything pleasurable to do outside the house that isn't at high risk of being soaked to our pants within 30 seconds next time the heavens open.

We should have been on a week long Scouting/ Guiding camp, now cancelled until the next one in 2025.

Once again my city has one new case identified in 250,000 people. I shake in terror

Because they give a shit about nothing but themselves and not getting Covid.

Yes but not getting covid is a reasonable thing to want to do isn't it? You cannot possibly be saying that they should risk catching covid in order to protect the environment?

Using disposable masks because they can't be bothered washing a reusable one - now that's unreasonable.

Some of the guidelines are very wasteful. I'm no longer allowed to send my son to nursery with lunchboxes- it all has to be in sandwich bags. I didn't realise the first couple of times and they just binned about 4 items of brand new Tupperware!