To be sick of companies using “because of Covid” by now?!

[Hotair1234]

Ok, light hearted (ish!) but seriously??

AIBU to think that 18 months on, three lockdowns, and a highly successful vaccine program then companies who are brazenly using “because of Covid” are now just doing it because it worked out better for them?!

Example: local bank reduced opening hours to 10-3 because of Covid! So customers had a smaller window to go in and therefore would be more densely together but staff costs were reduced and the bank saw this as public safety?

My latest sighting: Finally got back to the pool which I seriously missed during all the lockdowns - people dipping themselves in bleach, what could be cleaner but hey, that’s a different thread!

Have to schedule the time to arrive, no issue. Can’t go into the building until five minutes before your booking, ok with that. Did mean you then had to pass everyone leaving the pool down a narrow corridor, ok less impressed, but the clincher was getting out of the pool and, having long hair, headed straight to the showers to find they were all taped off - no showers, “because of Covid”!!!

A) they’re cubicles so literally separated, close every other one of it’s a genuine concern but B) you don’t want people to WASH in order to avoid Covid?! How’s that?!

Come on mumsnet, I’m sure there are other businesses who can put stupid that, help me feel sane again.....examples??

@woodfort probably down to money. Private gyms etc want to maximise the amount of money, so probably have tried to interpret the guidelines as loosely as possible.

A bit like private schools providing a full curriculum in the first lockdown even though the curriculum was suspended so they didn't need to. They knew they wouldn't be able to charge fees if they weren't providing a service.

@Summerfun54321

This thread is pretty goady. There are a million reasons why businesses are continuing to suffer and struggle. Fine to be annoyed like we all are, but many of us running businesses during covid, have faced genuine hardship and suffering. There’s absolutely nothing about the covid restrictions that have been convenient. We continue to have a responsibility towards our staff and our employees and life is still far from normal.

Literally this. Honestly how many threads like this can we see. I called to try and cancel my pet insurance renewal and due to Covid call lines were shut (unless I was claiming). Was it annoying, yes, did I think they're taking the piss and using Covid as an excuse, no.

I’m sick of it too. They’re basically using Covid as an excuse to cover up how crap they’ve always been.

Don’t forget that many companies have outsourced some functions to India, so will have been hit by the awful situation there. We have offices in India that we use for some of our work and they currently have lots of staff off sick so there is an impact on work. Lots of call centres are based in India so that will be affecting customer service.

We went to Wagamama yesterday

Asked for a dish to not include fresh chilli in it so DS could share it

‘We can’t make any alterations to the menu because of covid’

Yes, of course
You are obliged to sprinkle fresh chills over the top of a bowl of noodles before bringing my food over because otherwise the big bad virus will be after you

@GappyValley

We went to Wagamama yesterday

Asked for a dish to not include fresh chilli in it so DS could share it

‘We can’t make any alterations to the menu because of covid’

Yes, of course
You are obliged to sprinkle fresh chills over the top of a bowl of noodles before bringing my food over because otherwise the big bad virus will be after you

@GappyValley

Or maybe that's the response of a restaurant managing limited stock of ingredients because the supply chain for restaurants has been fundamentally affected by COVID-19.

Would you prefer they spelt all that out to you in the detail above, instead of spending time serving the next customer?

Here's a to sprinkle on your overpriced noodles

@JustMarriedAndLovingIt

I’m sick of it too. They’re basically using Covid as an excuse to cover up how crap they’ve always been.

Who is "they"?

Ha ha. Re Wagamama's.

"Or maybe that's the response of a restaurant managing limited stock of ingredients because the supply chain for restaurants has been fundamentally affected by COVID-19."

No. That doesn't apply. Stock availability. Because the customer is asking for chilli NOT to be sprinkled.

I think the Wagamama thing would be a blanket 'no change', again due to social distancing in the kitchen, fewer staff in the same space etc. Having a blanket rule is less confusing for all I think.They can't do a list of 'no change to the menu except for these requests'.
It makes sense to just keep things simple at the moment.

I completely agree with you.

I needed a new nib for a Parker fountain pen and couldn’t find it anywhere online, contacted their customer services to be told they’ve streamlined their replacements because of Covid.

How stationary impacts a virus is totally beyond me.

YANBU
My insurance company can only take calls on a Monday, Wednesday and a Friday because of covid. If a bank holiday falls in that week, they don't open the lines an extra day - because of covid. Instead you have to email, and they can take a week to get back to you - because covid. Infuriating.

Some of the restrictions are because of extra cleaning, and the companies don't want to pay put for it. Some of it is an excuse, like seeing GPs. Osteopaths and chiropractors have been working just fine, they haven't dropped dead on mass from the virus. Dentists are doing OK, same for supermarket staff etc who have worked throughout.

You can go in a shop, handle all the clothes on the rail, hold them up against you, even buy them to try on in a toilet and return straight away - but you can't try them on in the shops changing room because of covid.

If they open the changing rooms they’ll have to man them. There will have to be social distancing and regular cleaning.
Can you honestly say you would like to be the person manning the changing rooms currently? Rather than be on a till behind the screen or on the shop floor where there’s more space?
If they have a queue to get into the shop one in one out etc and everyone’s faffing about in the changing rooms that queue is going to be going down very fast.

Isnt

@Ginuwine

That makes absolutely zero sense

The last thing the chef does before putting the food on the pass is sprinkle some chilli on it
There is absolutely no reason that covid compels them to do this when a child would rather not have chilli on their food

It might slow down service, it might mean more food gets sent back and therefore wasted but there is no reason at all that covid prevents small alterations to how the food is described

because you can’t afford cheap noodles from a chain restaurant

@Theoscargoesto

But also was cleaning not a thing pre Covid? Surely we were all vulnerable to flu and other viruses (norovirus for one) so things had to be and were cleaned?

Quite. I'd like to think that public loos were always cleaned to a high standard before Covid anyway. I can't imagine there's much more cleaning involved now to be using the excuse to keep some closed. In fact, with only 50% of the loos open, they're MORE risky as a higher number of people are using each of them, thus more chance of someone leaving some Covid germs behind and more people picking it up.

[quote GappyValley]@Ginuwine

That makes absolutely zero sense

The last thing the chef does before putting the food on the pass is sprinkle some chilli on it
There is absolutely no reason that covid compels them to do this when a child would rather not have chilli on their food

It might slow down service, it might mean more food gets sent back and therefore wasted but there is no reason at all that covid prevents small alterations to how the food is described

because you can’t afford cheap noodles from a chain restaurant[/quote]

Haha touché fair enough!

We wanted to order takeaway from a big franchise. They are on reduced menu at the moment. My DD is Coeliac and requires gluten free food.
I went to make the order and I saw no Gluten Free options. I called them up and they said they are on reduced menu which means they do not have GF menu...because of Covid.
I was so frustrated, we hardly ever get a takeaway but knew this place usually has GF option!
Nope, apparently Coeliacs do not need a treat now and then through Covid.

I completely disagree with Sparkling. We are trying to come out of covid. We had May 17th. Soon June 21st. Restrictions are supposed to ease up, gradually.

But this stick in the mud, blanket rule, 'computer says no' mentality, inability to think outside the box, is actually very little to do with covid. And speaks more about the mentality of the company and the staff.

And I totally disagree about the changing rooms too. This needs to start. Gradually. Now. Or when DO you think such things should start?

I needed to contact my local council about a planning application and was t print the forms from online and post them to the relevant department. I did this and had no reply.
After 12 weeks I phoned the department, no answer. Eventually spoke to a generic council switchboard operator who told me that the whole dept I needed was working from home but that no one was checking their incoming post.

Some of this has been really interesting eg the changing room explanation which I didn’t realise.

Realistically some covid measures are irritating but understandable and will be for the lifetime of the pandemic - but others are completely ridiculous eg Wagamama’s. Im very sympathetic to small businesses which have been struggling to survive and are terrified of being shut down, but less so the big corporations. I’m afraid I expect a large banking chain to be able to arrange additional cleaning outside of its usual operating hours.

What’s important is that stuff doesn’t stay this way by default after the pandemic is over.

Loads of the measures make no sense and are just there because we have to be seen to do something. Maybe the people in charge of the businesses think its to keep people safe, but thinking about it for 2 minutes you can see that it's not.

For example, my local library has reduced opening days and times - so more people at any one time (surely you should make the hours as long as possible to spread out visitors). Only one checkout machine open, causing people to gather around waiting to use it AND every single library user touching the same computer rather than one third of them. A one way system which forces people to actually get closer together than they usually would, and stay in the building longer as they have to go down every aisle. With a waist high barrier between the "in" and "out" paths, like that would stop anything.

And certainly the worst is telephone customer services having longer waiting times because of covid.

We can’t make any alterations to the menu because of covid’

There are many valid reasons why this may be true - there may be just a blanket statement or it may be that processes have changed due to covid so now things are pre-prepared in bulk before service or the chillies are now used during the preparation so can't be removed etc.

How stationary impacts a virus is totally beyond me.

Stationery doesn't directly impact a virus but there are many ways the supply chain can be impacted which will then affect their availability. There may be issues with the availability of the raw materials used in the production; issues with transport to/from the manufacturing sites (especially if anything has to come from overseas); issues with staff availability and reduced levels they are allowed on site to make it covid safe (since I presume they can't all work from home); issues with machinery - making them covid safe or perhaps they need maintenance that hasn't been available and therefore can't be used etc

So stationery doesn't impact covid but there are many indirect ways that covid can impact the production process.

You can go in a shop, handle all the clothes on the rail, hold them up against you, even buy them to try on in a toilet and return straight away - but you can't try them on in the shops changing room because of covid.

I already posted in detail why my store has shut the changing rooms a page or two ago but it basically boils down to not having the staff, needing the space to quarantine returns and maximising stock availability for the most customers. Is it inconvenient for customers? Of course, but I'm glad that our employer, for once, is putting staff safety over customer convenience.

I went to make the order and I saw no Gluten Free options. I called them up and they said they are on reduced menu which means they do not have GF menu...because of Covid.

I used to work in a restaurant as a teen and we had a totally separate area/tools etc for GF food prep to prevent cross contamination. I would imagine that due to social distancing measures being taken in the kitchens they may have needed to use the space/tools they normally reserve for GF prep for regular prep and so cannot guarantee no cross contamination. Therefore the restaurant may have removed GF options to prevent a safety/legal issue if someone got sick because their supposedly GF food was contaminated during preparation.

Does it suck for GF people? Of course but the restaurant are trying to do their best safety and legality wise.

@melj1213

We can’t make any alterations to the menu because of covid’

There are many valid reasons why this may be true - there may be just a blanket statement or it may be that processes have changed due to covid so now things are pre-prepared in bulk before service or the chillies are now used during the preparation so can't be removed etc.

How stationary impacts a virus is totally beyond me.

Stationery doesn't directly impact a virus but there are many ways the supply chain can be impacted which will then affect their availability. There may be issues with the availability of the raw materials used in the production; issues with transport to/from the manufacturing sites (especially if anything has to come from overseas); issues with staff availability and reduced levels they are allowed on site to make it covid safe (since I presume they can't all work from home); issues with machinery - making them covid safe or perhaps they need maintenance that hasn't been available and therefore can't be used etc

So stationery doesn't impact covid but there are many indirect ways that covid can impact the production process.

You can go in a shop, handle all the clothes on the rail, hold them up against you, even buy them to try on in a toilet and return straight away - but you can't try them on in the shops changing room because of covid.

I already posted in detail why my store has shut the changing rooms a page or two ago but it basically boils down to not having the staff, needing the space to quarantine returns and maximising stock availability for the most customers. Is it inconvenient for customers? Of course, but I'm glad that our employer, for once, is putting staff safety over customer convenience.

I went to make the order and I saw no Gluten Free options. I called them up and they said they are on reduced menu which means they do not have GF menu...because of Covid.

I used to work in a restaurant as a teen and we had a totally separate area/tools etc for GF food prep to prevent cross contamination. I would imagine that due to social distancing measures being taken in the kitchens they may have needed to use the space/tools they normally reserve for GF prep for regular prep and so cannot guarantee no cross contamination. Therefore the restaurant may have removed GF options to prevent a safety/legal issue if someone got sick because their supposedly GF food was contaminated during preparation.

Does it suck for GF people? Of course but the restaurant are trying to do their best safety and legality wise.

Are you arguing that all measures put in place because of covid are reasonable? You seem really keen to defend all of them.

I’m surprised by your comment about GF food. Coeliac isn’t an allergy. It’s not like nuts where even a tiny amount of cross contamination is a potentially fatal issue. If my coeliac sibling and I order the same dish off the menu eg a salad, she’s doing it for dietary reasons and I’m not. The restaurant doesn’t know that. Some dishes happen to be gluten free because they just are, they aren’t routinely prepared in a separate kitchen in case the customer is coeliac?