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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think restaurants & coffee shops aren’t safe!!

210 replies

shesfancy · 23/09/2020 15:27

Okay, I haven’t yet been to a restaurant or coffee shop since lockdown was lifted, but I don’t understand at all, how they can be safe.

I considered a drive thru coffee a few days ago but changed my mind. I mean how can it be safe drinking from a cup someone has touched moments before? Surely this is worse than being less than 2m to someone?

I’ve made the decision to not eat or drink out for the foreseeable, DH said I’m being over the top.
I don’t think it’s safe and I’m sticking with that.

AIBU?

OP posts:
cardibach · 23/09/2020 21:14

Well I’m going to say it. Maybe if you were an NHS worker/teacher/bus driver/shop assistant/barista you would have had to develop a more reasonable risk assessment. What those groups all do (I’m a teacher) is genuinely risky. Drinking from a cup someone with sanitised hands touched? Not so much.
What would you do if you were, say, a teacher, OP.

Boobissue · 23/09/2020 21:20

Bloody good answer @cardibach !

WTF do some people thin the people that do the store pick, teach their children, deliver their letters and parcels and work in the medical profession go through?

And OPs biggest worry is a cup of coffee!

MadameBlobby · 23/09/2020 21:38

@cardibach

Well I’m going to say it. Maybe if you were an NHS worker/teacher/bus driver/shop assistant/barista you would have had to develop a more reasonable risk assessment. What those groups all do (I’m a teacher) is genuinely risky. Drinking from a cup someone with sanitised hands touched? Not so much. What would you do if you were, say, a teacher, OP.
Indeed. Not many people have had the luxury of choosing not to go anywhere for 6 months.
Skyr2 · 23/09/2020 21:46

Yes exactly cardibach.
I think sadly some people have become a little institutionalised and have become used to lockdown at home and not going out. This is not healthy in my opinion.

All we can do is follow guidance, hygiene, mask and distancing where possible.

When lockdown was lifted first time it was strange going out to eat and do ‘normalish’ things but it is necessary, we can not stay at home indefinitely.

At the end of the day, you have to do what’s right for you. I hope you feel you can start living at little again though and not just existing .

DolphinsAndNemesis · 23/09/2020 22:03

I’m not ready to dine in a restaurant or a cafe, but I have no issues with takeaway food or coffee. I’m far more concerned about potential transmission in an enclosed space than I am about the much smaller possibility of surface transmission. Admittedly, we don’t have a full understanding of this virus yet, but it seems that it is highly unlikely to catch the virus from a cup of coffee bought in a drive through. A lot of the obsessive cleaning of surfaces strikes me as hygiene theatre, reminiscent of the security theatre at airports.

But of course, everyone has to make their own risk assessments. If you’re comfortable with your approach, that’s what matters.

Starlightstarbright1 · 24/09/2020 11:40

OP --

I see people that have been in finding it harder to readjust.

I went in a pub for the first time last week..If I didn't feel safe I wouldn't go again.

You say you aren't anxious - wiping shopping with Milton is extreme.

I have never understood takeaway coffee but actually we do need to push ourselves for our MH..

We have to find a new way of living..

Are you actually getting out every day because you really need to to help you learn to cope with the new way the world is.

lioncitygirl · 24/09/2020 11:42

Your being OTT - but that’s ok. You just stay in your house and dont come out until you feel it’s ok.

LindainLockdown · 24/09/2020 11:46

If you choose to stay at home, good for you, no one is forcing you to go out. But all the cafes/pubs/restaurants I've been to have been perfectly safe and I will continue to support them and still have a bit of enjoyment in my life.

BlackberrySky · 24/09/2020 11:48

Nowhere is 100% covid safe because that's impossible to achieve. It's about balancing risk with reward within the rules, which is a personal decision for everyone. Personally, I am doing most things that are permitted because I am sick of this whole thing and don't have any vulnerable household members. If I enjoyed sitting at home and/or lived with someone vulnerable I would make different choices.

YewandOak · 24/09/2020 12:06

Okay, I haven’t yet been to a restaurant or coffee shop since lockdown was lifted, but I don’t understand at all, how they can be safe

I'm a supervisor in a cafe.

We do all that we can to make sure that tables,toilets,door handles,edges and ledges are cleaned hourly, if not more often. We have sanitiser as you come into the cafe and another sanitiser station by the till and another bottle of sanitiser on the ''front table''

We have one entrance and one exit,with a one way system in place. We've removed some tables to create extra space for people (and staff)

The kitchen is constantly being cleaned and sanitised,our hands are washed every 15 minutes (or more often,if necessary) Cups/plates/cutlery etc is hand washed then put through the dishwasher which is running at 83 degrees to eliminate germs and bacteria.

Tables and chairs are cleaned and sanitised after customers leave and before we let the next customer sit down.

It's as safe as we can possibly make it.

borntohula · 24/09/2020 13:57

I work in a restaurant and don't feel as though I'm risking my life by going to work.

MrsMomoa · 24/09/2020 18:31

borntohula
**
I can't believe that generally healthy people haven't just accepted that they will catch the virus at some point in their lives, just as they do other contagious illnesses. I don't even care if I get flamed for that.

This!

MakeOfThatWhatYouWill · 24/09/2020 18:41

I work in a restaurant. A very busy restaurant. Part of a larger business. Staffed by many people. We all hand sanitise, wear masks and try to distance as much as is possible. Not one person employed in that building or restaurant has caught Covid, despite being exposed to the public on a grand scale 7 days a week. One of us caught the common cold (and it was the cold, people were tested) and it ripped through the entire department. Make of that what you will in terms of risks. Personally, I would therefore have no worry in eating out.

PablosHoney · 24/09/2020 18:41

If you can keep up this level of panic for at least another year then YANBU also going to a restaurant isn’t compulsory as long as you don’t stop him from going.

BigBreastedMumma · 24/09/2020 18:43

I don't think its normal or good for your mental health to stay at home all day and not go out. If anything a walk will do you the world of good for your wellbeing & arthritis. You say you're not anxious op but you definitely are and that's okay. I've been on the front line since day one and believe me when I say, I am anxious, scared, terrified... etc who isn't! But we can't let this beat us. Chances are you'll be okay if you got Covid.

PablosHoney · 24/09/2020 18:45

Is your BMI so high because of your Arthritis?

Strawberrypancakes · 24/09/2020 18:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lollyneenah · 24/09/2020 18:53

I'd not normally agree with you OP,but I saw your BMI and while I am not fattist in the slightest,I do urge you to try and lose the weight, just through diet if you cant exercise

FallonsTeaRoom · 24/09/2020 18:59

@Strawberrypancakes

You’re absolutely ridiculous. Hope that helps.
Harsh. I suspect OP is suffering extreme anxiety due to the self isolation and lockdown and is struggling to come to terms with the new normal so this kind of comment is unhelpful.

I'm living with someone whose anxiety has gone through the roof over the past 6 months, it is mentally debilitating for me to shore him up and keep myself going too. At one stage he was talking escape plans for "when looters come looking for food because there is none"... it's mind numbingly excruciating to have to keep being positive.

If OP is like this then she needs help not pithy sound bites.

KarmaStar · 24/09/2020 19:00

LuckIly not everyone thinks the same or the hospitality industry would be in an even worse state.
Yabu

Malteserdiet · 24/09/2020 19:13

I’m sorry but this is utter madness.
This is a virus that most people need to take a test for to find out if they even have it. This is a virus that 99.9% of people survive and where the average age of death is higher than the average life expectancy of both men and women in the UK. And this is a virus that will never go away and must be incorporated into daily life along with all the thousands of others that we have all lived with forever and never once thought that maybe we shouldn’t buy a bloody cup of takeaway coffee and Milton all our shopping just in case we got infected! Just madness!

Southernsoftie76 · 24/09/2020 19:32

I’ve eaten out twice in the last week and I’ve felt safe both times, had to give name and number at the door, temperature taken, sanitizer everywhere, tables spaced apart, waiting staff wearing masks. I can understand why you are anxious but the cafes and restaurants I’ve visited have gone above and beyond to be covid safe, I consider them far safer than supermarkets and schools!

waitforitwaitforit · 24/09/2020 20:11

It's a personal choice but I think to say that restaurants aren't safe when you've not been in one is a little misguided.

AlwaysCheddar · 24/09/2020 20:12

Some people need common sense and a grip.

borntohula · 24/09/2020 20:12

@Malteserdiet

I’m sorry but this is utter madness. This is a virus that most people need to take a test for to find out if they even have it. This is a virus that 99.9% of people survive and where the average age of death is higher than the average life expectancy of both men and women in the UK. And this is a virus that will never go away and must be incorporated into daily life along with all the thousands of others that we have all lived with forever and never once thought that maybe we shouldn’t buy a bloody cup of takeaway coffee and Milton all our shopping just in case we got infected! Just madness!
Hear hear!!