I would love to do more online grocery shopping, but the choices in my area are a) horrible websites that make it actively hard to find things we want and order thm, and b) don’t put all of their available items on their websites,. and because I am choosey and don’t want the store brand or some generic crap, I often can’t find what I want. Just as a simple example: none of the local grocers list “Mexican” coke on their websites. I’ve even used the feedback functions for PriceChopper/Market32 as well as Hannaford to ask them to list it, but no luck.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on incorrect items or “substitutes” you aren’t asked about ahead of time, or the shopper can’t find the item you ordered and just throws something from the same aisle into the bag.
vinraith
1773
Yeah, we’re still doing a lot of that. I occasionally also go to the store, but a steady supply of delivered groceries keeps those trips shorter and checkout (which is where the sustained close contact is) as brief as possible.
I’ve thought about doing online grocery shopping but so much of what we purchase is unplanned. We see something and decide to try it, or we see another item and remember we haven’t had that dish in some time, etc. Plus, I like comparing prices between the name brand, the store brand, and generic brands of the same item that are all shelved together.
LockerK
1775
I gave online shopping a try once and was so unhappy with the wait, missing items, and “acceptable” substitutes that I won’t be doing it again. Meat and produce from a farm share this summer and I’ll run into the store quickly for any staples (bread is a big one) or non-food groceries I need. In their defense it was pretty early in the pandemic so I’m sure they were overwhelmed. I’m low risk enough and fully vaxxed so willing to chance it on quick trips.
I don’t find supermarket shopping particularly scary, but I live in a place where masks are required and everyone complies. We go when it isn’t busy — typically first thing Sunday morning when Ecuador is at church — and get in and out pretty quickly.
Scuzz
1777
We don’t find grocery stores so bad, but we still haven’t got real comfortable eating out. We have done it, mainly out of town, but we haven’t done it much at home.
vinraith
1778
Yeah, grocery stores weren’t so bad when they weren’t 67% unmasked plaguebearers (including the damn employees, despite the “mask required” sign at the door) around here.
We just don’t, unless it is impossible to avoid. We ate out when we were traveling, e.g. in airports, hated doing it but had no choice. We have eaten at places here where we could sit outdoors be there was nobody else round, just a handful of times, but even that was just too stressful. We do takeout or delivery occasionally, but mostly just rely on what we buy in the supermarket.
On the other hand, we seem to be — amazingly — ahead of the US in full vaccination status, so maybe things will be more normal sooner rather than later.
I have been using grocery pickup and generally have not got any complaints about the quality of the fruits and vegetables picked for me. I had one bag of lemons where one the lemons was brown and squishy on one end. I called the store and the cost of the entire bag was refunded.
I asked my wife about it, and the low-quality fruit & veggies is probably magnified in my mind. She mentions those, but not when things are fine, so my perspective is distorted. She also said the stores have been good about refunds when she complains.
We did have one substitution that we still laugh about, when they gave us a different brand of hummus. Not really a big deal, but it had a “Reduced for Quick Sale” sticker on it since it was about to expire. Oh wait, not “about to expire,” it had expired three days before it was delivered. WTF, did they dig that out of the trash?
Scuzz
1782
We tried it but it seems like about 1/4 of what we would order would be substituted for. Sometimes that doesn’t matter but sometimes it does.
jpinard
1783
My niece got COVID and exposed me on Friday as she spent all day with me playing games, and my Mom on Saturday & Sunday. My sister and her husband were out of state for the weekend, so my Mom spent the weekend at their house to keep her company after I dropped her off at midnight. My Mom has surgery Thursday and now that’s in jeopardy. I got the call from my niece who was sobbing uncontrollably that she may have infected us. Looking to get tested tomorrow ASAP. When she was here she thought she was having allergy issues which was causing a cough and sinus issues.
We’re all vaccinated, but the school might as well be a fucking weapons grade biolab with the amount of covid going around (and that’s here in Michigan).
JD
1784
Ugh… :| Fingers crossed, Jeff!
rshetts
1785
I am immuno-compromised. I have rheumatoid arthritis as well as another immune deficiency disease call Haglund’s. Because of these I am on chemo. I get infusions of Remicade, and chemical that suppresses your immune system, helping to slow down the RA’s systematic destruction of my joints. Because of this I am consider high risk for COVID and of course got my vaccination as soon as I was allowed. About 3 weeks ago, I started getting sick. I went in and got both the rapid test and the lab tests for COVID, both of which came back negative. They said I had pneumonia, put me on asteroids and antibiotics and sent me home. These helped for a few days but 5 days after this first started my symptoms went nuts. When my temps hit 103, I went to the ER. What a nightmare that was. My vitals were taken by a clerk and I was told to take a seat in the packed ER and to expect a minimum of 8 hours before I could be seen. I sat there for hours and slowly got worse. After 4 hours it got so bad that I could barely breath, so I went to the counter and let them know. They got me to a nurse, who advised me that I was going into respiratory arrest, put me on oxygen and called a doctor, who immediately admitted me to the hospital. The official diagnosis was “respiratory failure due to community acquired pneumonia”. That would change by the time they released me. They did several tests that came back negative for pneumonia, so they tested me for every thing they could think off. Now I had all of the classic symptoms of COVID but the tests for it kept coming back negative. The scans showed spots in my lungs, I had loss of taste, my vitals upon admission? A temp of 104, blood oxygen of 84, heart rate of 128, severe chest pains and congestion. After consulting several respiratory specialists and my rheumatologist, they determined that the Remicade in my system was suppressing the COVID test results causing false negative results. I spent the next 6 days in the hospital while they kept my on a 24/7 IV cocktail of antibiotics and Remdesivir. Fortunately, it worked. When they released me, I was not 100% but I was at the point where they felt that I could finish this off with oral medication and no longer needed the IV treatment, so they sent me home under quarantine and moved the next unlucky soul into the now open bed. On my follow up, my doctor advised me that if I hadn’t been vaccinated, it was very likely I would have never made it out of the hospital. The vaccination did not mutate me, give me swollen testicles or make me impotent but it did help save my life. I am a COVID survivor, unlike my older sister who succumbed to it last year, because I was vaccinated. By the way I too am from Michigan. We have a real Jekyll and Hyde population here. There is a large, bright and well educated portion of the population that is vaccinated but we also have a large, rural and conservative sector that is refusing to vaccinate. After what I went through, the fact that people are latching onto party politics and conspiracy theories over the peer reviewed studies and advice of virtually all legitimate virologists world wide, to rationalized not taking the vaccination strikes me as absolutely insane. Please get vaccinated. If not for yourself, do it for your friends and family. 4,700,000 people have died world wide. This is not a hoax, its not a joke and its not anything anyone should be denying. Its a virus that has killed almost 5 million people. That’s the only statistic that matters.
I am both very happy for your survival and sorry for your loss of your sister? I don’t recall you mentioning it before, but that could just be due to the blur of so many stories.
I’m glad you are here and still with us. Living in Michigan for 25 years, I certainly recognize what you are talking about. Fortunately all of that time I spent in A2, so mostly the smart and educated (and blue) part of the state.
Rock8man
1787
Hoping for the best for you and your mom JP. I hope you both test negative.
@rshetts, that sounds like a really scary time. Sorry for the loss of your sister. I’m glad you’re still with us. And yay for vaccines!
That is a harrowing tale. I am glad you came through it. Very, very scary.
GregB
1789
Holy shit. That sounds like something that should have been known, maybe? Either way, so glad you got through this. Vaccines work. Who’da thunk?
@jpinard : Stay safe and hope for the best. It sucks that even taking all the precautions, COVID can still get through.
@rshetts : Wow. Sorry for the loss of your sister.
rshetts
1791
Thank you every one. I have 9 siblings and Yvonne was my oldest sister. I am 65 and in the middle of the pack and the ten of us had all survived everything life could throw at us… until COVID. She was an incredibly loving and free spirited person who literally cared about everyone and her loss devastated my family. The irony of this is that due to covid my family had to hold off on her memorial until this summer. It was held two days after I went into the hospital, so I was not able to attend, due to fucking covid.
