Wednesday 3/18/2020
Today was the last time to enter the dining room for breakfast, and only to choose takeout. And to pick up the menu form for tomorrow’s meals; please return to your lounge by 2pm.
I idled away a lot of the morning; then went for a walk. At lunchtime they implemented the first meal of the new system. You go to the lobby in your floor’s appointed 15-minute slot; you wash your hands (full hand-washing replaced the little bubble-sanitizers three days ago — a monitor puts a sticker on your shoulder as you exit the washroom); you stand around with others (maintaining 6-foot distances, and yes, a staff person is watching to enforce it) until they call your name and hand you your takeout box, packed with what you asked for on the form yesterday. Back to your room.
So that was another day of alternately reading Query Shark (my gosh that is a deep archive, I’m starting to skim) and fiddling around on Zooniverse.
At supper time there was a surprise. Over the last three days the facilities gang has converted what was a small, rarely-used staff dining room into a full hand-washing station, with counters, plumbing, and four basins with soap and automatic paper towel dispensers! To pick up your meal now, you go into the hand-washing room, and exit from it directly into the (sadly deserted) dining room, where to-go packages are arrayed on a table and yours is handed to you.
Have I mentioned how proactive and imaginative our staff has been? They’ve completely upended the dining service to make an assembly-line takeout system, they’ve installed a completely new washing facility, they’ve organized pre-printed menus, they’ve got the temperature-taking station at the front door staffed full-time. It’s quite amazing.
Codgerville 