Why didn’t I realize UPS would be a zoo? Because of the pandemic, everyone’s buying all their stuff online, then returning half of it. In this case, my finger slipped on the keypad when ordering a jigsaw puzzle. Or maybe it was Amazon’s mistake. At any rate, we received two of the same puzzle. Since we couldn’t think of anyone who would want it, returning it seemed like the best move. I printed out a return label and drove to the store. It is usually a very quiet, uncrowded place, but not now. Beware of chaos at the UPS Store.
The only store in our city is five miles away. It’s an extremely small office, dark, with low ceilings. Remember, we’re supposed to avoid small, crowded, enclosed places now, right? Anyway, I drove into the parking lot and stopped to put on my mask and gloves. Looking in the window, I could see two people with stacks of packages to be processed by one clerk. I guess these were “pick up” items. I didn’t know about scheduling a pick up, but I do now. There were several people standing in line for the other clerk. It looked like I was in for a long wait.
I picked up the puzzle and Amazon return paperwork, and stood outside the door, thinking it would be safer to wait in the fresh air. I’d no sooner got there, when two younger people got out of their cars and proceeded to open the door. “I’m waiting in a line, here,” I said. Neither of them were masked. They glanced at me briefly, brushed past . and went on in.
Okay, I was mad. I took a few deep breaths to control my rage, but it wasn’t having the desired effect. Two things seemed very wrong here. #1 They weren’t wearing masks. Inside, both clerks were masked. Did these people not respect the health and safety of the UPS employees? #2 They had pushed ahead of me, taking advantage of the fact that I was social distancing. Now, it was even more crowded inside.
At that point, another woman got out of her car. She looked at me and said, ‘I forgot my mask.” Went back to her car, returned, and stood at a safe distance behind me to wait her turn. Well, at least there are some decent people in the world.
As the two offenders left the store after completing their business, I went into crabby old lady mode. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” I said. But they weren’t. Not in the least.
What goes through the mind of the unmasked during this coronavirus pandemic? Do they think they’re immune because they are younger? If so, they should look at the demographics on the department of health website. The majority of cases in our state of Indiana are with people age 20 to 60. Worse yet, do they not care that they could be infecting their fellow human beings? Don’t they have any respect for the store clerks who are risking their own health to serve them every day?
Beware of chaos at the UPS store.