Social distancing because of COVID-19 is the thing to do these days, but I seem to only be able to do social distancing-ish. I want to stay inside, but it’s become stay inside-ish.
For the weekend, I’ve lined up a book of short stories, called Mrs. Egg and Other Barbarians. Written by Thomas Beer in 1933, it purportedly had some “lesbian humour” somewhere within its pages. It can’t be that queer: it was reprinted by the US Army for its soldiers in 1945.
Coffee and a Book
Coffee and a book are perfect for social distancing. Right?
Now I need the coffee. Starbucks coffee. Normally my wife and I would go to the Gay Starbucks down the street, but everything is different now. We must practice social distancing. Don’t get me wrong, we are generally very socially distant people anyway. But the COVID-19 thing takes it to a whole other level.
Our Starbucks went from open, to open no seating, to closed, in a couple of days. There are select other Starbucks that are open for delivery (drive-thru is rumored to exist somewhere in the world). One is right up the street. But to order, you need an app, and Starbucks partnered with Uber Eats.
Uber Eats for Social Distancing
This is my first experience with Uber Eats (free local delivery right now!) . It did not go well.
My delivery guy was Walid. He was walking, not driving or biking. He took about 45 minutes. Even though we are about 10 minutes from the Starbucks I ordered from.
It’s -10C degrees out there so I am glad we ordered cold drinks. I set up a “contactless” delivery, and said to leave it at the apartment door. Yeah, no.
Walid is new to Uber Eats and he doesn’t understand the GPS map. He told me so, because we met face to face. Goodbye social distancing, hello social distancing-ish. In the app, you can watch the delivery person’s trip. I watched Walid’s trip. Yikes!
And here are my (slightly wrong) directions as he wanders around the neighbourhood.
I grabbed my coat and headed outside to wave him over, but by then, he had asked someone for directions: I could tell by the smile on her face as she passed me by. Walid and I chatted for a moment, just a foot apart, while he opened his bag and I grabbed my order.
OF COURSE I did not rate him badly – he knows it didn’t go well, I don’t need to tell him again. And he’s new to the job. An older guy, probably trying to take on as many jobs as possible to keep the money coming in. I gave a nice tip as well, because he tried his best, plus now we have coffee. And the book.
I hope your day is going smoothly and if not, then I hope it’s going smoothly-ish.
