Monday 2 August 2021

Maskless Checkout Queues

Hay and I went to Lidl yesterday and we both felt incredibly uncomfortable - at least 30% of the customers weren't wearing masks. They were predominantly younger customers; however, there was a smattering of older ones who should know better and some who were wearing their masks in a totally inappropriate manner with their noses poking out over the top.


You can do your best to give the non-maskers a wide berth in the aisles, but that's impossible when you're in a checkout queue surrounded by the idiots.

I sought out a manager and suggested they create a dedicated checkout only for those who choose not to wear masks. 

  • Firstly, it will leave them to infect themselves,
  • Secondly, it will make the mask wearers more comfortable at the checkout and,
  • Thirdly, if there's only one checkout for non-maskers it might persuade them to don a mask to get out quicker.
The manager himself wasn't wearing a mask, so I don't think my suggestion will leave the space between his ears. I will, however, call Lidl's Customer Services line today to repeat the suggestion.

If we do enter another lockdown, I can guarantee that it will those not wearing masks who will complain the loudest and fail to see their level of responsibility and stupidity.

There are those who maintain, without any evidence, that masks do very little but, in the area of risk management, a little can have an effect many times larger than that little. Because Randomised Control Trials are almost impossible to conduct, modellers have estimated that mask use by the public could significantly reduce the rate of COVID-19 spread, prevent further disease waves, and allow less stringent lockdown measures. The effect is greatest when 100% of the public wear face masks. They found that, with a policy that all individuals must wear a mask all of the time, a median effective COVID-19 R number of below 1 could be reached, even with mask effectiveness of 50% (for R0 = 2.2) or of 75% (for R0 = 4).

Our government has decided to abdicate all responsibility for ensuring the citizens are protected and I'm furious. The only reason there's such an urgency on the part of the government to open the economy is because they were consistently late - time after time - in locking down, which resulted in such a high loss to the economy in the first place; it's a desperate measure with huge risks. 

It's less costly, in the long term, to nip something in the bud early than to tackle things when the horse has already bolted, as Johnson's government has done. Having the fastest economic growth means more to them and their paymasters than the safety of the electorate, and he who recklessly opens the economy first is bound to have the fastest growth rate - it's a self-fulfilling prophesy and not an equal contest, given the possible consequences down the line, with even more damage should the risk not pay off.

A holidaymaker in the Gower was refused indoor service when he refused to wear a mask, claiming he was exempt, but unwilling to provide any evidence. In Wales, of course, mask are still mandated. He videoed the exchange and put it all over social media, but I wonder whether his partner was wearing a mask - she wasn't shown. If she was, then surely he could have simply sent her in. There again, the shopkeeper wasn't wearing his mask properly either - his nose was exposed.

Anyway, look what I found in Lidl...


Tempting, no?

Hay photographed the staples in my head yesterday.



They make me look like one of the Borg Collective.

2 comments:

Steve Borthwick said...

Resistance is futile! ;) Hope you get well soon!

Roger said...

My wife and I went to an open air Shakespeare theatre at the weekend, the audience is under cover, the stage is outside. I guess that no one was under 50 but much less than 50% of the audience wore a mask even in the bar and toilets.