Chiff and Fipple Forums

chas wrote:Seriously, I hadn't heard that one, Nano.

It's only just hit the news. Apparently it's not a fresh idea, but now some have been ramping up the shrillness to fever pitch. And in all honesty, I can't say I'm surprised.

chas wrote:When I go out running, I see a LOT of lawn-service workers, some construction workers, roofers, and such, all with masks around their necks. They put them on when they approach their coworkers.

That tactic seems quite reasonable.

chas wrote:They have also been wearing masks talking to each other or my neighbor. The combination of beer drinking and physical labor kind of indicates to me that they're not girlie men.

Oh, just you wait. A couple of months from now and they'll be shaving their legs. Mark my words.

chas wrote:I do live in an extremely liberal county, and also that I've also never gotten any dirty looks when running without a mask.

Good to know that at least somebody's reasonable out there; there are going to be reactionaries on either end of the wear/don't wear spectrum. I try to steer clear of both.

chas wrote:Only tangentially related, my neighbor has been having some work done to the exterior of his house. I went to the orthopedist this morning, and when I pulled into my driveway, the first thing I notices was three cases of beer behind the workers' van. Two guys up ladders working on the slate roof. My first thought was, "Three cases at 10 AM, two guys on ladders, this ain't gonna end well."

Geez, its lunch time in a short bit. And the afternoon heat with manual labor will need some fluid intake. There's all kinds of possibilities here. Maybe three cases are gifts. As long as the quality of work doesn't suffer.

ytliek wrote:

chas wrote:Only tangentially related, my neighbor has been having some work done to the exterior of his house. I went to the orthopedist this morning, and when I pulled into my driveway, the first thing I notices was three cases of beer behind the workers' van. Two guys up ladders working on the slate roof. My first thought was, "Three cases at 10 AM, two guys on ladders, this ain't gonna end well."

Geez, its lunch time in a short bit. And the afternoon heat with manual labor will need some fluid intake. There's all kinds of possibilities here. Maybe three cases are gifts. As long as the quality of work doesn't suffer.

Well, these days, the prevailing practice is not to drink (hooch) on the job. You save that for after. If you need to hydrate, there are better options; for the workplace, it's become a point of professionalism. If I were doing a home project, it might be a different matter.

Back when I worked in a factory, during lunch break we'd go in droves to the bar and down a couple of pitchers. Nobody thought anything of it; you'd even see foremen in the mix. But standards are different now, and have been for a good long while. Nowadays I wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing; there's too much liability involved.

Here's an unexpected use for a facemask: tying an umbilical cord.

Nanohedron wrote:

ytliek wrote:

chas wrote:Only tangentially related, my neighbor has been having some work done to the exterior of his house. I went to the orthopedist this morning, and when I pulled into my driveway, the first thing I notices was three cases of beer behind the workers' van. Two guys up ladders working on the slate roof. My first thought was, "Three cases at 10 AM, two guys on ladders, this ain't gonna end well."

Geez, its lunch time in a short bit. And the afternoon heat with manual labor will need some fluid intake. There's all kinds of possibilities here. Maybe three cases are gifts. As long as the quality of work doesn't suffer.

Well, these days, the prevailing practice is not to drink (hooch) on the job. You save that for after. If you need to hydrate, there are better options; for the workplace, it's become a point of professionalism. If I were doing a home project, it might be a different matter.

Back when I worked in a factory, during lunch break we'd go in droves to the bar and down a couple of pitchers. Nobody thought anything of it; you'd even see foremen in the mix. But standards are different now, and have been for a good long while. Nowadays I wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing; there's too much liability involved.

My dad was a non-drinker, except for two six packs a year in the month of August. He was a carpenter and drank a beer a day during the dog days of summer. He swore it was the only thing that quenched his thirst. Since he didn't work Sundays six beers a week were fine.

He must have been the model for my drinking. After a bunch of social imbibing in my youth I lost interest and now also drink a couple of weeks a year, but mine are around Christmas.

I go to a small butcher in town for bones for my dog. He's the only place I can source them these days. He has a stand of booze on his back shelf behind the register and starts drinking with customers around 4. He still has all his fingers. It's become a bit of an open secret speakeasy in the past couple of months as the bars are all shut down. HaHa.

busterbill wrote:I go to a small butcher in town for bones for my dog. He's the only place I can source them these days. He has a stand of booze on his back shelf behind the register and starts drinking with customers around 4. He still has all his fingers. It's become a bit of an open secret speakeasy in the past couple of months as the bars are all shut down. HaHa.

He sounds like quite the jolly sort. What you didn't say, though, is whether or not he's selling it. Might make a difference when the Man gets wind. Just sayin'...

It's almost like turning the meat raffle concept inside-out, isn't it. "Honey, I'm going to the butcher's." "And marinating your brisket, I suppose - just don't forget the real one this time, or you'll be the one getting a roasting."

He gives it away to his loyal customers. I'm sure he's factored it in to the prices he charges. Bargain hunters do not shop there. And if it weren't the only place I could get bones I wouldn't be shopping there either.

I'm sure it isn't legal, it is in plain sight and no one's complained. He's second generation in his storefront and a stand alonge butcher shop is dying breed in the general economy so his behavior is grandfathered in.

If I opened a pizza joint or a cupcake shop (there has been an inexplicably large number of cupcake shops per capita in my town) and behaved the same, I'm sure I'd be shut down in a week.

busterbill wrote:... a stand alonge butcher shop is dying breed in the general economy ...

Ain't that the truth. I know of only one in my community, although I imagine there must certainly be at least one other, maybe two more. I hope. Yes, the supermarkets have their butchers, but somehow you don't get anywhere near same sense of rootedness, tradition, craft, and that certain something that is part of the fabric of what makes a neighborhood. Stand-alone bakeries are comparatively more common.

busterbill wrote:... there has been an inexplicably large number of cupcake shops per capita in my town ...

Thankfully the herd delirium for cupcakes seems to have passed us by. We have one shop that I know of, and that's it. But maple and bacon? Let's put sprinkles on our fish while we're at it.

Speaking of sprinkles, here's a socially-distanced priest administering Holy Water in a novel, if somewhat grim, fashion:



I think he should switch to this:



Way cooler.

Mask wearing and 'feedom'. Really, I don't know what to say to this. Well, I do, but I better not.

Mr.Gumby wrote:Mask wearing and 'feedom'. Really, I don't know what to say to this. Well, I do, but I better not.

It's an issue.

Freedumb.

Dumb, ignorant? Perhaps. I read it as baiting, triggering or giving the finger to everybody else. A deliberate disregard of the common good. It's malicious at its core. There are no excuses.

Malice can be dumb

Mr.Gumby wrote:I read it as baiting, triggering or giving the finger to everybody else. A deliberate disregard of the common good. It's malicious at its core.

Naturally. Everyone knows it, and the offenders don't care.

Mr.Gumby wrote:There are no excuses.

But there is rationalization, and it's even believed, so if there is anything to be called an excuse, that would be it.

I'm in a discussion elsewhere about how defiance of the shutdown plays out, particularly in the US. Non-citizens are baffled at how we could make it political at all, but even for those of us who oppose this development, to a Yank it's really not so surprising, given our popular historical narrative. And politicizing it happens on both sides of the spectrum, now. Telling us to get over it is like telling fish not to swim. I personally think that this is absolutely the wrong time for politicizing something so urgent as a pandemic, but a lot of people are thinking only of themselves. In the end the greatest chunk of the problem, I think, is economic. None of us are untouched in some way by the prospect of not only hard times, but utter economic devastation, and I'm seeing its looming specter all around me. People I know personally, who used to have thriving businesses, may well end up on the street. This is no exaggeration.