Open Thread Wednesday

By on July 22, 2020 12:01 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Cranberry Beret

    Anyone else having trouble getting the post office to offer Informed Delivery to your location? I’ve been trying for years and their system always says “Not eligible.”

    Using the USPS address look-up, I see one next door neighbor of mine can get it, and the other cannot. Plugging in addresses in the block around me shows the same patchwork. Doesn’t seem to correlate to whether it’s a 1-family house, 2/3 multi-family house, 4-6 multi-family house, or apartment building.

    This is latest response from DC: “There is no estimated time available. You will just have to check back at a later date.“

    Very frustrating.

  • AEB

    I’m at Hicks and Middagh and I get it. Do you live with someone who receives mail there? If so–and It’s a long shot–try using that person’s name and YOUR email address when applying.

    Alas, I’ve had no luck when discussing ID problem’s with the local PO; most people there seem never to have heard of it.

  • HgtsShpr

    Is anyone else as frustrated as I am by the poor adherence to mask guidelines exhibited by the workers at Key Food and Gristede’s? I’ve complained about the same three employees at Key Food every week for a month and nothing changes. At both stores, the same employees walk around week after week with their masks off of their noses or off completely, and I’ve seen employees in both stores walking around in the store, maskless, eating finger food out of a bag.

    I wrote to the owner at Key Food but got a fairly meaningless response. I did just have a hopefully better call with 311, who filed complaints about both store’s with the mayor’s office for me. Has anyone else ever tried this? If so, did it lead to anything in the way of meaningful results?

  • Cranberry Beret

    Thanks. I can’t even get past the first screen which asks me for my street address (not asked for my name yet, or a unit). If I type in some of my neighbors’ addresses (different buildings), some work and some do not.

  • Jorale-man

    I think the best option is to take your business elsewhere. I’ve stopped shopping at Rite Aid for that same reason. A couple times I’ve found myself inadvertently within a couple feet of an employee not wearing a face covering (or wearing one improperly). I hightailed it out of there as fast as I could.

  • HgtsShpr

    I would love to, but where? Those are the two biggest/most convenient places. Fresh Start is even worse in these areas. Plus, these places are actually in violation of the public health guidelines established by the city, according to the 311 operator, but she had no clue whether there’s any substantive enforcement.

  • AEB

    Virtually everything you can get at either of those two supermarkets can be had (and certainly at lower prices than at Gristedes) at the former Peas and Pickles, now called All In One Mart. Employees there are uniformly masked–and friendly. It’s located at 79 Pineapple Walk.

    And the produce is superior.

  • BH Mike

    Mask crybabies. Everyone wants to try and control the behavior of others and you just can’t do that. You can only control what you do. Wear a mask when you feel you need one and go out as you feel you need to do. Stop whining about others when and worry about yourself. That’s all you can do.

  • Jorale-man

    I see your dilemma. I’ve become a convert to grocery delivery since March. The prices are comparable to Key Food’s and the drop-off is contactless. You could try either Fresh Direct or Amazon Fresh – I’ve been happy with both.

    I don’t get it. Every week on the open thread we talk about face masks/social distancing and yet there’s a group of people who feel they are indestructible and are don’t care if they endanger others.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Another Montague Street retailer bites the dust (Ann Taylor Loft)
    To be seen whether this location is closing
    It feels like soon the street will be half empty :(
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/business/ascena-bankruptcy-ann-taylor-lane-bryant.html

  • Jorale-man

    I see Ann Taylor has filed for bankruptcy.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/business/ascena-bankruptcy-ann-taylor-lane-bryant.html
    That could spell more bad news for Montague Street, depending on what happens with Le Pain Quotidien, right next door to the Loft store.

    Edit: Oops, just saw Cranberry Beret’s post. Great minds…

  • HgtsShpr

    Last time I shopped in there the counterman wiped his runny nose with his finger and then went back to touching my groceries. Also, the refrigeration has never been solid in that place, and I’ve been in there on and off forever. Too many melted and refrozen ice creams for me to deal.

  • HgtsShpr

    Mike, you could apply the same logic to drunk driving, unsafe work conditions, etc, no? Isn’t part of living in a society that we’re respecting each other’s base needs for safety? And, as noted, these stores are violating city health rules. If work being done in your building was exposing you to asbestos, you wouldn’t complain?

  • AEB

    The counterman experience DOES sound repellent; I must say, though, in all my days of shopping at the place, I’ve never had such an experience. Also, the freezers in the back were fixed some time ago..

  • HgtsShpr

    Yeah, I called and spoke to the owner at the time about the finger. He clearly didn’t care and wasn’t going to do anything about it. That was it for me. I hear you on the freezers, but I’ve seen them fix those multiple times and kept having bad experiences, so I assumed the location was cursed in that regard and gave up on buying anything from the freezers.

  • HgtsShpr

    Thanks for the tip. I’m inclined to try Amazon Fresh. Obviously, there are reasons to not love Amazon, but at this point it seems like my best bet.

    Glad to hear you had a good experience with Fresh Direct. When we’ve tried them, they missed the delivery window by hours. Hard to work with when you’re trying to maintain a job, family schedule, etc.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Corcoran has moved out of their Montague Street location

  • GHB

    The chocolate place on Montague has also packed it in.

  • Alix

    You could try Perelandra. They are one of the strictest local shops when it comes to health & safety guidelines. All customers must wear gloves or use hand sanitizer when entering and their staff are all very compliant.

  • aeshtron

    @ BH Mike — I strongly agree with you that one can not control the actions of others!

    Individuals can choose to act in ways that are safe/kind to others. IMHO, it is a role of government to encourage behavior which is for the greater good of society.

    Although I might feel that it violates my individual liberties, I refrain from leaving my human waste on the sidewalk and choose to not walk around nude because I care about the opinions and well-being of those I share eARTh with.

    Peace : )

  • HgtsShpr

    Perelandra has been amazing during all this, and in fact we do an order from them weekly. There are just a lot of things we need and use that they don’t carry, but if they did, they’d get all our business in full.

  • BH Mike

    While I get your point. Legislative measures to control peoples behavior almost always leads to the reductions in freedoms. People need to make their own decisions, take responsibility and live with the consequences.

  • Jorale-man

    Not so sure I can heartily support someone else’s “freedom” to make me sick and possibly die.

    I’m old enough to remember when seatbelt wearing was made mandatory in cars. There was a crowd in this country who resisted at first but they eventually came around to it. This is no different really.

  • HgtsShpr

    Hey, Mike. In this case, not wearing a mask makes other people deal with the consequences. The mask is less about protecting oneself than protecting others. So the lax attitude of the employees in question puts every customer in the store with them at risk. That’s why the city has these guidelines in place for businesses right now and why I hope the enforcement is not toothless.

    I don’t have any inherent desire to control others; but when they break rules that have been set by our elected officials (so, basically, us), and put my wife and I at risk, I’m certainly going to report it (and vent on my neighborhood blog).

    Honestly, right now I’d welcome a local mask mandate like they have in West Hollywood, where it’s a $250 fine for being out without one on. I’d like to be able to take a walk occasionally without having to dodge the large number of people walking around without, which really dulls the restorative function of the walk and gets me home more stressed than I was before.

    In any case, STAY SAFE and take good care.

  • HgtsShpr

    Jorale-man, agreed. We have laws in this country to deal with conflicting rights, which can exist all the time (for example, my right to free speech doesn’t allow me to post a yard sign on your lawn, or a poster in your apartment). The right to walk around maskless because you don’t like wearing it shouldn’t trump my right not to be exposed to COVID.

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, it’s a basic tenet of living in a civil society, as you say. I’m with you on walking in the Heights though; it’s turned the sidewalks and streets into a real obstacle course this summer. I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage about it, but I guess it is what it is…

  • Karl Junkersfeld
  • ColumbiaHeightster

    It’s not about worrying “about yourself.” When someone chooses not to wear a mask, they are putting everyone around them (and then everyone around that person, and so forth and so on, exponentially) at risk. It’s about everyone else, not about our individual selves. It is about the greater good, not about individual liberties. It’s about being a responsible participant in a society. We can all do this, and we can all take care of each other. This community has always done that, and I’m hopeful that we can do it now.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Had that problem early on (in March) with FreshDirect, but they really figured it out. We get weekly deliveries, which are now always on time and the delivery team is great about social distancing.

  • SongBirdNYC

    I’ve had other frustrations with Key Food, like poor line management during the pandemic, lack of signs. They did nothing about it. I’ve stopped shopping there. I go to Wegman’s and Whole Foods, both of which have mask compliance and excellent crowd control. I am fortunate to have a car and a regular parking spot and understand that not everyone has this convenience.

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