Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (27)
December 7, 2020
Week 37 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 37, Day 255: I wanted to support a local bakery for our holiday meals. I found one nearby and we ordered two large pies. The online order form offered free delivery to locals but we couldn’t pick a date or time at the time of ordering, we had to call to arrange that. We asked for a delivery well before the holiday, to avoid a rush right before Thursday, but that’s when things got odd. We agreed to a late afternoon delivery. That evening I got a message asking (basically): you want the pies or what?
I called back ten minutes later and the guy said he had already gone home. He was willing to go back to the shop if we wanted them tonight, though. Erm. Yes, that’s why we set up a delivery timeframe and date? Please, my pies…
He then started debating when would be best and kept asking for directions which confused me. Surely you have a method of getting directions based on the address provided when offering a delivery service?
Then he decided that he had to charge me a delivery fee of “only” $15 (just about the cost of a pie) in addition to the prepaid pies. I … What? When he finally showed up, three calls and more than an hour later, he said that they couldn’t charge our card we’d previously used before to pay the delivery fee. We’d have to go order $15 worth of product on the site instead… and not pick it up. This whole experience was deeply confusing.
To top it off, the pies weren’t even as good as your average grocery store quality.
We had Thanksgiving Round 1 and most if it was delightful with one exception. I am really glad we chose to order in this year. We were in no shape at all to cook and bake and cook and bake.
Week 37, Day 256: Every so often I wonder if I remember what I’m aiming for with our hopes of early retirement (along with CAN we do it?). Sometimes I wonder if I’m motivated solely by a crankiness that comes with dealing with selfish or incompetent people too often (I am), or what I would DO. But Mr. 1500’s summary of their version of early retirement with two kids helped remind me My retirement is an expansion of everything I used to do on weekends.
This feels a lot like what I’m seeking. There’s the from the negative space creation which means removing the requirement to report into a set obligation for five days (or more) a week to generate income. Then there’s the desire for freedom to do what I would normally choose all week long, not just on the weekends. More reading. More cooking. More dog time. More cleaning of the sort that I enjoy. Maybe not more long term commitments? But I seem to be incapable of not creating projects for myself…. and honestly that should be fine because I care about those projects but necessarily limit them when 40-50 hours of my life a week are committed.
Week 37, Day 257: It’s always confusing to me why contractors or subcontractors who are doing work for you don’t bother to tell you when they’re not going to show up for the day. I find it infinitely more annoying that they didn’t inform us they weren’t coming so we wouldn’t wait on them than the fact they didn’t come. That’s so inconsiderate!
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I have been consuming excessive carbs and sugar this indulgent week, but I’ve also been extra sleep deprived and working harder than usual, so it’s a tossup whether my hands are swollen because of overuse or because of what I’m eating.
Week 37, Day 258: We ate Thanksgiving leftovers again for actual Thanksgiving Day. I have no regrets. Except maybe for the pies. Maybe I would have paid extra for another type of pie from Mariposa Bakery instead. We won’t be ordering from this bakery again though, I know that much.
Week 37, Day 259: I spent a few minutes browsing Black Friday sales but mostly wanted to focus on shopping from small businesses if we bought anything. I’ll decide tomorrow if there’s anything we particularly could use.
Bookshop.org has free shipping all weekend too so that’s something I might want to check out. But I am pretty much done with holiday gifts so this would be gratuitous shopping…
