By Eric W. Schoen
Can anybody please tell me what’s going on out there? At first the Covid 19 virus was going to be a short thing. We thought it would be over in 3 weeks to a month. Things got better, we thought the worst was behind us, and all of a sudden (thankfully not for us in the New York area) things seem to be taking a turn for the worse.
In baseball which has suddenly appeared after much delay on our television screens, there is a rule book. You play by the rules. Not however in the case of Covid 19. Are there any rules? Are the rules changing everyday? Who can keep track.
My favorite rule is the closure of fitting rooms in department stores. So now if you want to buy a dress or a suit and like most of us have to try on several to see how they fit, you are out of luck. Fitting rooms are Closed and off limits, so you have to bring multiple sizes home to try on.
As far as the store is concerned when the garments leave the store they are contaminated requiring quarantine upon their return. Quarantining outfits for 3-5 days? Those are days the garments sit in a bin and make no money for the store.
Let’s look carefully at those garments. They are brought from the store to someone’s house, exposed to the air and anything going on (Covid 19, bad odors, bad air quality, sitting in a plastic bag for days.) Wouldn’t it make sense to allow you to try on the garment in the store and not expose it to the the elements from store to home and back if a return is necessary?
If I am trying on a shirt or overcoat, I look for some place out of the way to try the piece of clothing on. I’m not schlepping back and forth to the store 50 times with a garment I want to buy. But that overcoat has my DNA on it. One is expected to try on an overcoat before you purchase it. Is the overcoat a man or woman tries on in store subject to immediate quarantine.
Stores like Lord and Taylor at Ridge Hill Amuse me. No hand sanitizer station when you walk in the store. All the racks of cosmetics samples which an employee or you yourself can use to see if they work are covered over in plastic! Saran type wrap. Now in a good coronavirus free environment I wouldn’t put those samples on my skin yet alone during the pandemic before us.
As we go to press it was just announced that the Lord and Taylor store at Ridge Hill would be going out of business. Frankly I don’t know how they stayed in business. There was never anyone in that store. You could roam around at the Lord and Taylor at Ridge Hill for hours and not run into a salesperson. Well, fortunately the store in Scarsdale is still open. Who knows, maybe they will reopen the Birdcage restaurant at that store and offer men shopping with their significant other dining at the restaurant 2 desserts!
Many of you criticized me when I discussed my dislike for using disposable bags to cart your groceries and other items in. The Governor of New York put a hold on the mandatory use of the bags when Covid 19 hit. Now you have supermarkets like Stop and Shop telling consumers to leave the bags home and that their staff will not pack your groceries in reusable bags. Who knows how clean those bags are?
Then you have my friends at 7-11 in Yonkers who got hit with a violation for using plastic not paper bags. But Stop and Shop uses plastic bags. And some stores like Dollar General don’t give you any bag to pack your purchase. Just imagine have to cart frozen food items in your hands. The reusable bag program was a mess from the start and there doesn’t appear to be any rules in place.
Soap and Water is the best way to cleanse your hands. Wet them, put soap on, vigorously rub them, rinse the soap off and then dry them. Many businesses use the environmentally friendly hand blow dryers, but the minute you dry your hands and open the bathroom door they are immediately contaminated.
You go to some places of business and the middle sinks are closed off. Some are not. Some have soap. At the end of the day many do not. Want a drink of water? Some water fountains are closed while some are not. There is no rhyme or reason for what is taking place.
Check the ‘good to use to’ dates on products you buy. With many stores closed for 3 months you want to be sure the items you are purchasing have valid expiration dates and give you plenty of time to use them.
Some stores like the Marshalls in New Rochelle scrub carts before you use them. Some stores don’t sanitize carts at all. There needs to be regulations on use of carts or at least a sanitary station with products to keep them cleanse.
I like the barber to use a fresh straight razor to clean my neck when getting a haircut. Some barbers will, some will not. As long as the blade is fresh and the razor is sanitized this should be no big deal.
Someone has to codify the rules when we are in the midst of pandemic so that everyone is on the same page!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
