I don't want to clap

[OrlandoAlice]

I do support the NHS, I'm massively grateful for everything NHS workers are doing at the moment and to everyone who still has to get up and go out to work and keep things going during this crisis. However the clapping just seems a bit pointless to me. As a one off it was fine but to make it a weekly thing feels forced and I resent feeling emotionally blackmailed into doing something so redundant. The Doctors and Nurses I know personally find it cringy and would rather people follow the advice, donate, or volunteer.

A boo for Boris?! Now that's something I'd like to stand on my doorstep looking proud about!!

I’m actually annoyed about how much publicity nhs staff are getting. They do absolutely amazing things and are working hard, but what about all the other people like lorry drivers? People that are keeping the country running?

As an ITU nurse working in the NHS it meant a lot to me last week. I was working a night shift, dressed in full PPE (which we are lucky enough to have) in an area full of sick ventilated patients feeling very disconnected from the world, until you've been in an ITU red zone you have no idea of the atmosphere. The clapping made me realise that I wasn't alone. That everyone is doing their part, the people in the shops, delivery drivers, postmen, everyone who is staying at home... even the politicians!

People who are saying... I'd rather have PPE than the clapping... you realise these don't need to be mutually exclusive?! Also.... the people clapping aren't able to magic PPE out of thin air... so why can't they show support in a simple way without being slated. It's such a ridiculous attitude that kindness is wrong!

Tonight I'll be clapping for my friends, colleagues, family and strangers I've never met. But I'll also be clapping in memory of the patients who have already lost their lives, and in hope for those still fighting.

It’s only NHS staff who are actually risking their lives by getting up close and personal with confirmed cases of the virus. Yes, other workers are absolutely doing a sterling job keeping the country running but they’re not putting their lives on the line if they’re social distancing.

I read that Italy, currently the worst hit place in the world, clap every day at 8pm.

Once a week doesn't seem excessive to me but it is a personal choice, you have you own opinion on it, so do it or don't it's up to YOU and not anyone else's business.

@Alsohuman

I will do it because it is appreciated by many NHS/Key Workers. Last week a local nurse posted on Facebook that she was brought to tears by it (in a good way). That’s good enough for me.

Yes the NHS workers would rather have masks but that is out of most of our hands and anyway it isn’t one or the other. I appreciate all they do very much and think this is a good way to express that.

Don't clap then.

sorry pressed too soon

@Alsohuman

It’s only NHS staff who are actually risking their lives by getting up close and personal with confirmed cases of the virus.

What about those people at the checkouts handling the stock without being provided gloves, speaking directly with customers, some even being spat at; then there are the postal workers delivering you mail?

It’s only NHS staff who are actually risking their lives by getting up close and personal with confirmed cases of the virus. Yes, other workers are absolutely doing a sterling job keeping the country running but they’re not putting their lives on the line if they’re social distancing

Please tell me how I can give a full body bath ftom 2 meters away? I've been doing job as a non NHS care worker wrong getting closer than the recommended distance for social distancing without proper PPE because we have none. Which I also have to do even if someone is showing symptoms. Unless we tell all the sick people they can't eat, be washed or receive medications until 7 days after their first symptoms?

I refuse to clap, it makes Boris & the Tories think they are doing a good job. If they had properly funded the NHS before all this started then maybe we wouldn't be having to clap the burnt out staff in the first place.

We didn’t know about it last week and DH is a Nurse 🤷‍♀️ He will be at work til 10pm tonight from 8am this morning.

I know he would say that he wished people would just have stayed the fuck home earlier and that they would now, that would be the most helpful thing, rather than the clapping.

@snuffles93

Well said.

The word woman is taken I fully agree with you re multinationals paying their taxes , but I don't thin that is enough, people do have this view of the NHS as being free, it isn't , the phrase " free at the point of delivery " has been its downfall as people just focus on the word "free " .It means that the tax paying population needs to be prepared to dig a bit deeper to fund it , other countries manage to do it, there is no reason we can't . The same with social care.

Obviously care workers are taking the same risks @Frequency, completely my fault for not being more specific. I include you with NHS staff.

If shop workers and postmen aren’t two metres away, it’s not because it’s impossible.

Half the people on my street are sending their kids off to skateboard in the local park and then calling out those who didn’t clap as “DISSSSCCCCUSTINK” on local Facebook groups.

I’m a healthcare worker (although shielding), I found some of the images and videos of people clapping quite moving but now I’ve realised lots of the people doing it hung around in the streets with wine chatting for an hour afterward, I don’t want to be associated with it.

My brother is a nurse and he said it's no harder or easier than usual at the moment its always hard work ,often thankless and grossly underpaid, but as he says he mostly loves it and chose to do it and continues to choose to do it .
He doesn't get the thinking behind the clapping as he said it's my job I knew there would be sick people, a lot of them when I decided to do the job,there was last year and there will be next year. He would like better equipped hospitals and better staffed wards ALL the time .

We clapped last week. It was lovely and very emotional to hear everyone on the street who we haven't seen for so long. I wanted to clap for my neighbour who has gone back into nursing. I know she was out there and she heard and was moved. I didn't think I'd bother tonight but my son says he wants to so we will.

So don't then.
You don't have to you know, it's not the law

My husband's a GP - he hates it. Clap by all means, but follow it up by treating doctors and other NHS staff with decency. Oh, and give them the PPE they need. DH received one apron the other day... with no ties. Had to fashion something from micropore tape. Also had to buy own goggles. Muppets.

Well this poster doesn’t want you to clap OP

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3868941-I-dont-need-you-to-clap-for-us

I prefer the idea of shining/flashing torches! Can be seen from satelites in space usually.

It’s a nice thing and a lot of you are miserable fuckers. Of course people would rather have more face masks, enough staff, more money, a different government etc etc than a round of applause but it isn’t either all. I am not clapping for Boris. Nor everything is about him. It wasn’t his idea. I didn’t/wouldn’t vote Tory. It’s a show of appreciation for people working hard and in some cases risking their lives. It is also a moment of togetherness with your neighbours. There is nothing bad about it.

We won’t be clapping either. My husband is frontline in a hospital.....he’s finds it cringeworthy

@Scarlettpixie

There is nothing bad about it.

I disagree. It's bad my neighbours may stand too close together when going out to clap (as it seemed last time). It's bad key workers may be disturbed by the noise when they need rest. It's bad people might actually be thick enough to start setting off fireworks, risking injury and pressure on the NHS. It's bad people think the virus doesn't give a shit if you're hanging around your street clapping for 5 minutes because 'it's community spirit'. It's bad that people think their virtue signalling is actually having much of a positive effect at all, that they dont seem to have the slightest idea of how bad things are becoming and how much the NHS needs you to stay indoors at all costs.

So you can think those who are negative about this weekly clap are 'miserable fuckers', but perhaps try and have a bit of common sense when you feel the need to waste your energy on this meaningless event.