Sign of the Times

Yesterday, both Sam and I received emails from the two grocery stores we hit up on Saturday mornings. The emails were about the precautions these two stores were taking due to the increasing encroachment of the coronavirus. The emails went through some of the protocols these stores were initiating in response to the threat.

The emails mentioned stocking more in-demand products such as disinfectant and, presumably, toilet paper. And they mentioned increasing in-house cleaning in the stores, with a particular focus on doing more wiping down of shopping carts and touch pads and checkout lanes and the like.

One other thing they both mentioned was the discontinuing of handing out food samples - at least for the foreseeable future (or as one email put it, placing it on hold "indefinitely" - the meaning of which I had to explain to Sam - unfortunately using my patented style of over explaining before walking part of it back and then reexplaining it, thus making it even more confusing than it ever needed to be).

Anyway, I've been wondering when this shoe would drop, and it's with mixed feelings that it finally has.

Being the coward that I am, I'm glad that I'm not the one that had to break this news to Sam; that it was time to put this sampling stuff on hold - at least for a little while (and having to put it on hold was rapidly reaching a point where we would be foolish not to).

But getting samples on Saturday mornings, which led to being "friends" with the Sample Ladies, has been a big deal to Sam for quite some time now. And it's been one factor, among many, that's contributed to Sam's growing confidence (relatively speaking) and independence (very relatively speaking) in dealing with the outside world.

More than missing the loss of the samples, Sam's concern, unsurprisingly, was over what would happen to the "Sample Ladies". I pointed out that this was for their protection as much as ours - maybe even more so. And this time, I kept it pretty simple - which, also unsurprisingly, seemed to help.