There seems to be a lot of confusion concerning social distancing, etc in supermarkets.
I have been to a few stores but mainly visited Cactus and Lidl during the lockdown, and each time I went I felt quite anxious, especially inside one well-known franchise.
Too many people inside, not enough space to distance yourself from another shopper, especially at the fruit and vegetable area.
The security guard outside the store didn’t seem to care about how many people were inside. On Sunday, I needed to go to my local store, and was shocked when I saw how busy it was.
Shoppers were wearing masks, although some people had their mask under their nose!
When I arrived at the checkout, I asked the cashier if social distancing still applied and she said, yes. I left the shop quite irritated and confused. “Social distancing or not social distancing”? Had the rule changed, and I didn’t know about it? I tried talking to the guard about it, and he said it was the director’s orders.
I arrived home and decided to phone the local police. The officer that answered wasn’t really interested in what I had to say, and answered, as long as people were wearing masks, they couldn’t do anything about it. I got the impression, he couldn’t be bothered.
Yesterday, I went to a large out of town complex with my daughter to buy her some new jeans.
There weren’t many people at all, and we felt safe. On entering a clothes shop, I was a little shocked to see a tiny bottle of sanitizer available to use, if you wanted! There was a lady inside, but she didn’t seem to care whether you used it or not.
We then decided to visit another shop. We went inside and looked around. My daughter found some jeans and other items of clothing that she liked and I asked whether it was okay for her to try them on. I was prepared for the assistant to say no, that she could buy them and try them on at home. We were astonished when she said it was okay to try them on in the changing rooms.
We entered the area where the changing rooms were, there were notices on changing rooms that you weren’t allowed to change in.
I expected an assistant to control the area and take away clothes that you had tried on and didn’t want to keep. That wasn’t the case, or at least I didn’t see anyone else other than one assistant in the shop.
At home, my other daughter told me that she had visited a newer complex on the outskirts of the city, and that she felt really safe and secure because it was well organised, and the clothes shops didn’t allow you to try on clothes in the store.
I personally think that rules should be the same everywhere, not differ from place to place.
Supermarkets should still limit how many people enter at one time, otherwise we are going to see an increase in infections.
Just because we are wearing a mask, it doesn’t mean we are safe from the virus. We have to remember the other important things, social distancing, washing hands, and not touching our faces, etc.
The government needs to be more clear with the rules and make sure that everyone respects them.
