Like the rest of America, we have been in quarantine. I live in rural Tennessee. Currently Tennessee is in Phase 2 of reopening, I believe. I personally don’t agree with the state legislature; I don’t think it is smart to reopen. I am just one person who isn’t trained in medicine or virology, so what do I know? Obviously no one asked me my opinion, but here it is. I believe we are too new to this new virus, and don’t know enough about it to not only effectively treat/cure this illness but we don’t know how to actually fully prevent the spread of it either. This seems like important things to know, in my humble opinion.
That being said, my family and I have been doing our best to stay home and only send one person out to run errands for the family. This past Sunday we decided to go out to eat at a restaurant just to see how it went. And I’m not sure we will be going to another restaurant again for a while. I don’t think that I will be saying the name of this establishment, as it is a chain and I don’t want to be sued, on the small chance they would come across my small blog.
We chose this particular establishment because we thought that it was large enough (space wise) to keep patrons the recommended 6 ft. apart. We also assumed they would take all necessary precautions. We went in and went straight to the hostess station and everything looked perfectly fine. People were either waiting outside or staying away from each other inside. The hostess had on a mask. All of this gave me great hope. We were told there was a 15 minute-ish wait. This also seemed good to me. This led me to assume that they were seating people far enough apart and that the wait was to make sure that people weren’t being seated to close to each other, and that they were quickly cleaning and sanitizing the dirty tables after customers left. I gladly waited.
Once our name was called we went to the front in order to be seated. I was disheartened to see that the person seating us had on a mask incorrectly. Then on the way to our table I noticed that not every party was seated 6ft. away from other parties. We actually go seated in what I would call a crowded area. There was only a table or maybe two marked so that customers weren’t seated at them. This was not enough for this section of the restaurant. This isn’t just a matter of my opinion, it’s a mathematical fact.
There were no extras on the tables and this helped me feel more chill about being there. Less things to collect germs, and less things that need to be sanitized. I feel like this would give people more opportunities to forget or miss something. So the fact that the extras were gone was a good sign to me.
After this we quickly noticed that our server had on a mask, but it was on incorrectly. They had in on their chin/neck area. This was alarming to me. I was very uncomfortable with this. I think I was the only one who was concerned. Everyone else was just enjoying their meals. If you can’t tell by now, I’m a people watcher. I will never not people watch. Anxiety won’t let me not continuously scan wherever I am. It is what it is. So while waiting for our food I was people watching, and observed that not one single server wore their mask correctly. They all had them on, so I assume that they are required. Honestly what is the point of making your staff wear them if they don’t have them on properly? That 100 percent defeats the purpose. You might as well just skip the mask and leave them available for people who need them.
I don’t feel comfortable with the level of precautions I witnessed. I honestly don’t think we will be going out to restaurants as a family, and eating in the dining rooms. Take out will be what we do. Maybe I’m being overly cautious, but whatever. I’d rather be too worried about it, and never come in contact with the virus and never have to worry about passing it. That’s just me! I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Stay safe, stay rad, and wash your DANG hands!
Comments