This picture shows a grouse, a bird "from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae."
In another sense of the word, to grouse is to complain or grumble.
In this post, expect the latter.
I like library work. I like helping people enrich their lives through education or entertainment. I like supporting my community. I like my co-workers.
What I do not like is the bureaucratic bullshit, financial waste, and arbitrary COVID-19 policies.
Our district serves many communities of varying sizes, and my library is in one of the smallest. The directors and administrators live in the largest two. They want consistency throughout the district, but what works for them does not work for us, and it pisses me off to be told I must turn people away for no good reason.
Just today, one of our elderly patrons was understandably frustrated because we had our front door locked and wouldn't let her in to browse our DVD collections. With two staff members and one patron, we would have been well within even the most stringent social distancing measures. But nooooooo. We can't let people browse the stacks, because.... reasons.
COVID-19 is potentially a very serious disease, but people are not responding rationally. Social media and politics have turned everyone stupid, it seems. There are people in our district with conditions that place them at a higher risk. I don't deny that. But this isn't the 1918 Spanish Flu. It was here before the experts even knew it existed. Surface contamination does not present a high risk of transmission. Mask hype is at an all-time high, but it seems masks vary in efficacy, and some may even worsen the problem due to creating finer airborne particles or even straight up dumping what you exhale via an unfiltered valve, rendering them useless against the fearsome threat of asymptomatic carriers who are used as justification for mandating everyone mask up in the first place.
I'm feeling kinda asymptomatic today.
Pretty sure it's the 'Rona.
And all the while, there is poor correlation between mask mandates, mandate obedience, and infection rates anywhere. Governments spent all their time and money crafting policies that impose restrictions, and nothing on expanding ICU capacity as we enter the WINTER COLD AND FLU SEASON when RESPIRATORY ISSUES ALWAYS SPIKE.
So get off your high horse, Karen, and let us do our jobs while taking precautions WE deem necessary for OUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES!
Unintelligible screams of frustration and assorted creative profanities
