Day: April 18, 2020

The Caramel Crunch (18 April 2020)

Over at Caramel (Learner at Love), CARAMEL has started a new prompt. I’d like to see her prompt do well, and I had some time today to write a post, so here we go…

The prompts are called the Caramel Crunch and so far are centered around a moral question. For your convenience I shall repeat her question.

Your boss is very friendly towards you and very supportive at work. You are grateful because you love your job. But your boss has asked you a number of times if you would like to go out for a drink after work. You are not sure if they are just being friendly or if they perhaps have a romantic interest. Your boss has not done anything inappropriate, but they are persistent in asking you out after work. You are concerned that it might affect the dynamics between you in the workplace. What do you do.

Okay, a couple of things. One, it might already have changed the dynamic, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If somebody is sweet on you, it will change how they behave toward you. That might be nice at first, but what about when they finally say something, and you reject them?

I’m ssuming here that you would reject them. Nothing in your question suggests that you are the slightest bit interested.

Second, I must admit I never wanted to have a relationship with anybody I worked with – I always wanted to keep the two separate. My work suit was my uniform, for that same reason. Work and home. I worked in a very male-dominated profession, so there was never really the opportunity, anyway. Plus, on the flip side, even though my wife and I have very different jobs, there is still common ground, because when you talk about work, what do you talk about? So-and-so is an asshole, right? I bet that happens in every job.

I did tend to socialise with workmates, but never anything romantic, and mostly men in any case.

Sorry I have nothing more to offer.

Mythbusters

For Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), guidelines.

I read today’s prompt, and it did indeed prompt me to look again at the WHO web site, in case anything had changed re COVID-19. The link I found was https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

I paid particular attention to their Mythbusters page, but I have to admit I was quite disappointed. Because the myths included things like you can’t catch the virus in hot countries, which I though had been debunked long ago. By now the answer to that is pretty obvious.

I was also quite disappointed by some of the things that weren’t there. I’m reading that people have been advised not to sit on seats in public areas, and am wondering just how probable it is that an infected person would sit of a seat, sneeze, leave the virus on the seat, then an uninfected person would come along (within a certain time period), sit on the seat, pick the virus up, then transfer it into their eyes or mouth. I’m sure it must be possible, if improbable, but unfortunately the WHO do not attempt to quantify the risk.

I’m looking at articles from March, which say that close contact was a problem. In March, less than 2m for more than 15 minutes was considered close contact (probabilities again!). Today, the WHO web site says that we should keep 1m distance from anybody showing signs of the virus. No time period mentioned any more, but they introduced that bit about people showing symptoms. So, I’d like to read something definitive. I’m reading anecdotally that people are afraid to pass each other in the street. That sounds like nonsense, (in that, I’m sure it is happening but the risk seems like nonsense), but all the same I’d appreciate if the WHO could bust that particular myth.

Before you jump in and tell me, I’m sure there is a reason why they are afraid to publish anything that might not be cast in stone, because they don’t want to publish things that might be subsequently found to be wrong. But they are the WHO, after all. People look to them for guidlines.

The Song that Got Away (2)

I’ve been looking through my drafts folder at some of the songs that I didn’t quite get to presenting as part of my Song Lyric Sunday posts. This one has sat there for months, I can’t even remember what the prompt was. But, you know … Barry White! I kept hold of it because I knew it was a good post.

The song is real Seventies – first performed in 1974. He reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and on the R&B chart, #8 in the UK.

We lost Barry White in 2003, aged just 58. He had various health problems in later life, and suffered a stroke while undergoing kidney dialysis in May, 2003. He clung on until July. Every time I read something like this, I realise how lucky I am – because not all of us survive. But what a voice he had!