Read chapter 37 here
Last week I dropped off the Matrix at Smart Motors, the Madison Toyota dealership where we’ve purchased our last two cars. It was due for its 135,000 turn-up. As I drove into the large reception bay in the service department, I didn’t see anyone wearing a mask. Not the older man who waved me forward to a specific location. Not the younger man who placed the paper mats on the front seat floor of the car. Not the customer service specialist who greeted with “Do you have an appointment today?” None of the other customer service employees, all of them men, wore masks. Sneeze screens had not been installed at the counter-height desks. Neither were there any kind of barriers to insure the standard 6 feet of social distancing. Even the women who work at the payment desk did not wear masks, although a sneeze screen had been installed at this location.
I made a return trip this morning, as some hardware, not in stock last week, had to be installed to complete the replacement of the front fender guard. Cruising into the bay, I saw that everyone present wore a mask. And sneeze screens had been added to each of the customer service counters – a dozen altogether. They even placed a very unsteady-looking, cardboard Purell tower next to the payment desk. (I didn’t test it
out for fear it might topple over.)
Toyota was certainly late to the coronavirus safety party, but at least they finally arrived. Considering the number of cases in Dane County – 477 as of today -- I suspect customer feedback played a key role.
By last week, the number of shoppers wearing masks in the stores that we patronize approached 100%. Moreover, as of a week ago Monday, Costco and Menard’s require customers to wear a mask in order to enter the store. (Staff are also required to wear them.) Menard’s even sells masks for a buck apiece at a greeter counter just inside the store’s entrance. Predictably, this requirement resulted in protests on social media. The best response I read was a reminder to the Trumpers — who else would be so small-minded — that businesses already have certain restrictions in place, ones that can be implemented as long as they’re not discriminatory.
Masks are a sensible addition during the pandemic.
The young woman you see in the photo at the top of this post, taken at Menard’s before the mask requirement was implemented, certainly believes that there is no such thing as too much protection. The plastic rain poncho appears roomy enough for a 300-pound NFL lineman. The woman’s face was completely covered with a combination mask and veil, obviously a homemade piece of personal protective equipment. The contrast with the maskless guy wearing a cap, waiting for a printer to spit out his receipt, a pre-Covid convenience, is stark.
Read chapter 39 here
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