Mean Ol’ Jay

This may come as a surprise to some but I am not always a nice person.

Yes I will wait for you to recover from your fainting spell/loss of breath/falling to the settee melodrama but there you have it.

A character flaw and one that I work on daily.

But there are times when mean grouchy old lady Jay comes out.

You know who I mean…..

Every last one of you know what I mean.

That old say it like it is pull no punches because I am old damn it who resides in all of us.

That person.

Well she is alive and well residing in the dark recesses of my mind and coming out when I am annoyed.

Delighting in situations where maybe I should be a little more caring.

A little more understanding shall we say?

But I am not.

In my head I am judging and saying things that thank goodness are not coming out of my mouth.

This week has been a trying for me.

We are in Code Orange restricted level.

Masks are mandatory inside all public places.

Unless you have a medical condition.

A medical condition.

We have young adults walking into the store unmasked and saying exempt.

Exempt from what?

Being a considerate and caring member of society?

****Since writing this this morning it has been announced that our Southern Health region will be moving into Code Red. As the cases continue to rise.****

School is now going for the short term-two weeks is our first test-with some students at home accessing the Emergency Remote Learning that has been set up.

Those who are going in-school such as T will now be going every other day.

A or B who knows until the email flows. (Sorry it sorta fell out of the fingers)

So now I have to trust that T is going to do his work.

Will also have to check said work on the days that he is home when I get home from work.

Have I mentioned lately how if I get a cold that it always settles in my lungs.

As it does with T.

So I am all good with wearing a mask.

Which again is mandatory in all indoor public places.

Unless you have a medical condition.

One of my regular couples comes through and the wife goes on a tirade about the masks.

How she hates them.

Wants to rip them off her face.

She is tired of Covid and cannot wait for it to be gone.

For life to get back to normal.

I adore this couple.

They are favorites of mine.

I had to bite my tongue hard as she was going on and on.

In my head I was saying:

Better than the alternative. 

You know?

The one where you are dead.

I need my job and well I am an adult now and you cannot say things like this.

Out loud.

To their face.

I also discovered yesterday that in fact wearing a mask indoors in a public place is in fact not mandatory despite what the government has put out there.

That is right folks all this time I was mislead into believing that I should listen to the Public Health Authorities….

that they might have some better sense of what is going on with this virus then I do…..

nope masks are a choice.

If one does not choose to wear one one does not have to.

Despite what the government says.

Despite the fact that Manitoba is now at the top of the list for infections.

That is right the province that was lauded for its quick response and containment has now fallen to the bottom of the Covid heap pile.

And we are not talking about a fall in the right direction.

So yes it is a choice.

Do not want to wear one.

Don’t.

It’s okay what is the worse that can happen?

Now you might wonder where snarly old Jay is going with the above sarcasm.

How she might have discovered this astonishing fact of not having to follow a public health mandate.

Without having a medical condition.

Putting through a regular customer and chatting away.

She is hefting around two cases of 1kg bags of sugar.

8/case.

16 bags in total.

Chatting away and asking her if she found everything alright.

Which is when I was informed that she had not appreciated another customer following her around the store calling her out for not wearing a mask.

That it was HER CHOICE if she did not want to wear a mask.

Yep you read that right.

Her choice.

Despite the government mandate.

Granted we can not force people to wear masks but you would think common decency would prevail.

Our cases are rising daily.

Our death count is rising daily.

Our ICU’s are nearing full capacity.

And we still have adults acting like petulant children.

Put on the mask.

Cut down on outside contact from the home.

Cut down on unnecessary trips outside the home.

But no.

Where I live the common theme is ‘I am protected by God. I am a good Christian living a good life. I will not get it.’

Now that I have offended about half my readers today maybe more grumpy old lady Jay is the one ranting and raving right now.

And she could care less because she wants this Jay-

the 48 year old Jay typing this-

to be around to become a crotchety old lady wearing her nightie in the middle of the street with a cardigan hollering for her 12 cats to come home-

and this Jay-

well I am hoping I will not be wearing tattered nighties and cardigans in the middle of the street bellowing for my 12 cats when I am old crotchety Jay.

I have ranted.

I have raved.

I have blasphemed.

What I am not is sorry.

I wear a mask for 7.5 hours straight in a day.

T wears one for call it 5.5 hours straight in a day.

You are shopping for what maybe .5 of an hour.

Put on your mask.

Unless you have a medical condition.

Which I completely understand.

But do not make a mockery of a serious illness which necessitates this individual putting their life at risk because of your desire to choose not to believe…..

©Nov. 6/20

Picture via Pinterest