Little shopping update. Been to cortonwood today

Well I was going past and it looked fairly quiet so I popped in.

Went to Wilko. A few stickers on the floor but from what I could tell absolutely no other changes to the store and no measures taken to maintain social distancing. No hand sanitiser anywhere that I could see. There was an empty table near the entrance though. No idea why.

Then went to Poundland. A few lines on the floor but no actual information, no alterations to the store, no hand sanitiser. No attempt made from what I could see.

Popped over to Matalan. Bottle of hand sanitiser on a table at the entrance and a woman sat on a stool saying 'no trying on clothes, no toilets'. Stickers all over the floor giving what looked like impossible to follow directions around the store. In the clothing section racks rammed so close together that with anyone else in that area social distancing would be impossible. At the tills only one person serving and 9 in the queue meaning people were standing behind each other for much much longer than necessary.

Morrisons. A store which benefits from two entrances elected to only use one meaning people had to pass each other going in and out. Small empty bottle of hand sanitiser at the door and two security guards standing inches apart from each other right in the middle so had to be brushed passed.
No alterations to aisles in store, no one way system in place. Do whatever you like. Until you get to the checkouts at which point you have no choice but to walk through and queue in the clothing section which was still open and had a lady in it standing right in the middle holding clothes up to herself. If she had anything then it was all over all the clothes she was handling and which every single shopper had to walk right past.

4 shops and not a single one with hand sanitiser at the tills before customers all touch the same screens etc

And this is why I think masks are a silly idea right now. Masks won't stop the spread from grubby hands being everywhere, masks won't stop people brushing past each other etc all they will do is create a false sense of security. If we are serious about reducing the spread then these stores must be ordered to make alterations to their stores. There is absolutely no justification for Morrisons to have kept their (rather paltry) clothing section as ordered customers to queue through it for example.

 

I make rare visits to the shops these days and do it mainly on an evening when there's nobody about but today, with no footy, I went late afternoon.

My impression of Morrison's is similar - they must be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian presidency or something 'cos it's like Covid doesn't exist.

My only impression of the mask situation is that every ill-looking fecker who was wearing anything approaching one seemed to think that gave them the right to come as close as they wanted. Non-mask folk seemed much more likely to stay at the 2 metres or thereabouts.

And to the mucky git raking through the loose apples, you might have a mask on but what good is that if you haven't washed yer hands and cleaned under yer nails for six months?!

 

Exactly my point. Pretty much everyone I've seen in a mask has been acting as though they are immune. In fact I wish I'd got a photo yesterday when I went past a bus stop which had about 7 or 8 people in masks all huddled together close enough that they could lick each others masks off if they wanted. Then at the other end of the bus stop all on her own was a woman without a mask and standing a few metres outside the stand on his own a man without a mask. Summed it up perfectly for me.

You're right about people feeling through things too. Far more lives would be saved if disposable gloves were compulsory in shops than masks.

 

Well I went to Wakey and B& Q and Dunelm were spot on with wiping baskets and hand sanitiser on entry.

 

Anything once in the store though? Any hand sanitiser before everyone touches the same surfaces and uses the same card machines at the tills?

 

The idea us you touch as little as possible and wash your hands once you get home. If shops are open numerous people will touch the same surfaces, you need not to touch you nose, mouth or eyes.

 

But it's not practical to tell people in a shop to touch as little as possible. Providing hand sanitiser at checkouts would be an extremely low cost way of significantly reducing the spread but I honestly feel that people have focused too much on wanting to look like they're doing something than actually doing something. Masks are much more visible than hand sanitiser so it gets the nod for example despite the scientific evidence saying that whilst airborne transmission exists the surface to surface contact is the much bigger risk.

 

I’ve been going to morrisons at cortonwood once a week since lockdown (and before that) and there is definitely hand sanitisers at the till as I’ve used them every time. I do use the self service though if that makes a difference but you could still use them as you walked to the staffed tills. There’s also hand sanitisers in the queue outside too.

I do agree about the aisles inside though. All the queueing outside to then basically have a free for all once inside feels a bit weird.

There should be queueing to get out too so that everybody is at least funnelling in the same direction. Again, I’ve queued to get out the majority of times I’ve been.

 

You all have hand sanitiser on entry. If you don't touch your face or sneeze and cough over the surfaces ( a mask will help with this) it should limit transmission of Covid.

 

Reduce not limit. If you have it and you put your coat on then you can avoid your face as much as possible but get the cash out of your pocket and you've just spread it.

 

I was looking out for it specifically and there wasn't any at the checkout when I went and I used the self service too. There was an empty table where the queues merged though which looked to have a survey or something on it but that's all that was there.
And there wasn't a queue outside when I went but there was an empty sanitiser bottle just inside the doorway opposite the Amazon lockers.

 

Contactless with card as much as possible.

 

Yes as much as possible but still wouldn't hand sanitiser at the checkouts help? Can't think of a single reason why it isn't there

 

I carry my own in my bag, I think quite a few people do from what I've notired.

 

Is this what we've been reduced to.

 

But again wouldn't it be beneficial for the stores who have made an absolute killing during this to provide it so it's available to every customer at the checkouts?

Where I work we are a relatively small operation and we (I) have installed sanitiser stations (not little bottles on tables) at every entrance and right next to the card machine that our customers use too. If I had the forethought to do it and we had the budget for it then the big supermarkets certainly could

 

wash your hands, wipe the goods it’s not rocket science

 

What am I Washing my hands with at the checkouts?

 

Naff all on TV, I can't have a drink as I have to drive later (playing taxi driver) and I'm reading about shopping on BBS. If Carlsberg did Saturday nights.

 

Stop being pedantic you know what I mean, people with less brain cells than you manage it

 

You're going to love the story about when I accidentally picked up a bottle of shampoo instead of shower gel...