Well if the government decides to lockdown tomorrow all non essential services - I will definitely be 1. jobless 2. homeless 3. starving to death due to not being able to receive any welfare payments for 13 weeks
( if I can even apply for it).
I'll cross that bridge tomorrow. Who knows how long the lockdown will be I can't even get toliet paper ( I won't need it if I become jobless homeless and dead will I???).
Update now down to a minimum of 5 weeks wait for welfare payments apparently - I don't think so - there are lines snaking around the blocks of Centrelink offices of hundreds of jobless people waiting to apply for welfare payments due to a crash on the MyGov website. I just posted on Facebook today less then an hour ago how I tried to get onto the website early this morning and could then tried again around 11 am and could not at all. It looked liked it had crashed again yet again! Same on Tuesday when I received an official phone call from work to advise me that I have just been made redundant although a bit vague about if the company will continue to run with only 3 staff members or eventually close temporarily maybe even permanently. I still can't get onto the MyGov website today and i tried to phone every contact number I could find and either was on hold for over 30 minutes or cut off if I did get through to an automated service. Help online was not very useful either so that's 2 full days I have been trying.
Customer's Corner - What is it? This is about often interesting discussions I have at work with customers - some subjects are serious some theoretic even innovative others just humorous. Here are just some of the discussions I had today. Often customers don't need anything immediately but just have a browse and a chat then return at a later date for purchases.
Indian Tonic Water ( regular type) - list of ingredients - end ingredient reads " contains quinine")
1. A customer comes in and mentions that there seems to be a shortage of Tonic Water as he could not find any for his gin and tonic at either supermarkets in the shopping centre. Why would you want to drink tonic water? It's what you would describe as "rank" or "vile". It is an acquired taste just as gin is therefore if you don't like gin you will probably hate tonic water as well - it is meant to make the gin taste better which I am unconvinced about ( remember my previous blog where I tried my very first taste of gin and I hated it so the stall attendant was about to put some tonic water with it and advised me that it would make it taste better only for me to stop them before they did so!) Anyway tonic water as you know has a bitter taste to it due to a small amount of quinine ( from the bark of the cinchona tree) added to it. Here is how our discussion became inquisitive. It clicked when I asked him what that stuff they added to tonic water was called - it was quinine ( I knew what it was and what it was used for but still could not pronounced it) and he added how quinine was used as a malaria treatment and I said yes that stuff , I then added wasn't that what the US mentioned as a drug once used to treat malaria and HIV is now a possible treatment for the Corona virus? So people are stockpiling Tonic Water to drink as a possible treatment in the event they contract the Corona virus? Either that or there are a lot of Gin and Tonic addicts ( alcoholics) out there ( also a good way to get through self isolation or lockdown periods and now including people that have suddenly found themselves unemployed)! I went and had a look on my way home at a Woolworths Metro and this is what I saw at Woolworths - normal Tonic Water top shelf empty except for a single bottle left , the Tonic Water Zero Sugar shelf below almost full. I have a theory about why. It has to do with a few things 1. chemical contradictions 2. excessive consumption side effects . In tonic water there is approximately 20 mg of quinine rendering it safe to drink ( on any food or drink packet or label in Australia the quantity of an ingredient in that food or drink product is listed from highest to lowest - quinine was listed as the last ingredient in the list hence the drink contained the lowest quantity of it ) however the amount of quinine used in malaria treatment is approximately 200 mg - yes 10 times more concentrated. The reason why quinine is no longer used as the sole treatment of malaria is because it had several side effects on humans ie toxicology. Now I will talk briefly about what I mean by chemical contradictions. You often hear about how you should not mix taking certain drugs together because they can render them unsafe even fatal or render them ineffective eg mixing caffine and alcohol ( probably not a very good example but it will do) This combination could either kill you not just from overdosing each or render their individual effectiveness as alcohol is a downer and caffine and upper. ie a negative and a positive equals zero.
Another example may be Quinine was also used to cure "restless leg" - I think drinking too much gin with tonic would actually give you "restless leg" rather then curing it!
Back to my theory of why people are avoiding the Indian Tonic Water Sugar Free and hoarding the Indian Tonic Water Original ( at this point I am putting a DISCLAIMER on any information I write on this blog) . Most so called "Zero Sugar drinks or products " may not contain natural sugar but are substituted with artifical or other types of sweeteners such as aspartame , stevia, saccharin . So maybe these artifical sweeteners ( not to say any of the other ingredients could not also interfer with the quinine) could interfere with quinine as a possible treatment - maybe a tad too far fetched for the ordinary Tonic Water Hoarders - probably these artifical sweeteners just change the taste of the Tonic Water or they could just have side effects from these artifical sweeteners or whatever else is thrown into Tonic Water Zero Sugar. Conclusion - there sure is/are a lot of ingredients in Indian Tonic Water whether it be Original or Zero Sugar!
Final Conclusion : The amount of Quinine in Indian Tonic Water Original will not cure restless leg(s) and certainly isn't enough to cure Corona virus. If Quinine is actually found to be a possible cure for the virus, you would have to drink 10 times the amount of tonic water and possibly die of all the side effects of consuming that much Quinine!
2. Everyone knows how difficult it is to get your hands on toliet paper, tissues, paper towels, disinfectant and now flour, sugar, pasta, rice, canned and bottled products just to name a few basic products and especially Hand Sanitiser but as customers have mention there still is plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables available! ( except for potatos and pumpkin because they last forever are relatively cheap and an easy meal substitute - who doesn't like the occassional huge bowl of hot chips or wedges on it's own for lunch or even dinner?). So I am hearing people everywhere finding ways of making their own hand sanitiser including my suggestion to my manager who went out searching for anything antibacterial for our store by yelling out to her "If you don't find anything can you get a bottle of Vodka? ( in order for something to kill germs it has to have an alcohol concentration of 60% and Vodka has this alcohol concentration however Vodka will not kill Corona virus neither will a higher alcohol concentration of 100% - it will probably rip your skin off overtime due to its drying effect though). My manager's response was "That's a very expensive bottle of hand sanitiser and I'll probably need a bottle of Vodka by the end of today!" There is actually no need to panic over hand sanitiser shortage as there are always alternatives - I prefer washing my hands with foaming soap or using diluted hospital grade disinfectant if there is any 1 part to 20) . So I have found something that might be an alternative to hand sanitiser although it will still dry your skin out from constant use and I will suggest others I have heard. So another customer I spoke to had a son or grandson with a distillery and she suggested to him to start making hand sanitiser so he did and he sold it online and it was a success however it is not as simple as people think and the first hurdle as I previously mention was getting the right alcohol concentration through the distillation process next was trying to get your hands on appropriate containers to fill with the hand sanitiser to sell. This is a problem as the store I work at does not sell any and it is a common customer request.
Whilst I was walking home I overheard someone talking about making hand sanitiser out of fresh aloe vera ( probably mixed with alcohol as well) which makes sense as it is used for skin irritations burns and grazes etc and when you buy it in tubes it always has a slight alcoholic scent to it and the fresh aloe vera leaves when cut leaks a clear sap like clear gel which is sticky but can be rubbed straight onto skin. I was once given a live aloe vera plant many years ago as a gift from a work collegue who was a naturopath and tried to help me relieve my often severe skin allergies. She would tell me to cut/split open the aloe vera "leaves" and scape the clear sap/gel and rub it onto the areas of my skin affected by my allergies and ezcema to soothe/calm it.
Now my suggestion - cheap perfume however not just any cheap perfume. Back in the good old days real perfume was imported from France and was really expensive. That's because the perfume was very concentrated and the smell lingered for a very long time and you only needed a tiny amount of it to last all day. This is due to a much lower alcohol content and more "parfume" or fragrance. These days perfume is a lot cheaper to buy because as a cost cutting measure more and more alcohol is used in place of the parfumes or fragrance therefore a lot more is needed to be sprayed or dabbed on in order to sustain the fragrance as most of the fragrance in these cheap perfumes evaporates rapidly due to the high alcohol content (always at or near the top of the ingredients list). So I went to Miniso the Japanese equivalent of the chain Dollar stores on my way home as they had heaps of wet wipes for sale ( although they were not marked antibacterial ones there is probably so much alcohol content in them they would do the same job!) to see if they sold any type of disinfectant. What I saw was heaps of cheap perfume in all forms spray dab ons roller ball etc. After looking at the ingredients list on the back of them and doing a quick Google search of "Can you use perfume as hand sanitiser?" with a yes response, I notice that alcohol is always the top ingredient in all perfumes Miniso sold. I think the best perfume I found to use as a hand sanitiser was the marvel series men's non aerosol body mist/spray. After sniffing the testers the scents were quite suitable to male and female and because it was in a small sized plastic non aerosol spray form and slightly more diluted then a perfume in bottles, it was suitable to use as a spray hand sanitiser without being too sticky. Now you can kill germs or bacteria and smell nice at the same time! There are perfume sprays to avoid and they are room sprays which are also suitable as linen water - due to the fact that these aren't usually alcohol based ( as not to stain or damage fabrics and to ensure the fragrance won't evaporate instantly but linger in the air or on fabrics for a longer period of time) but water based with the fragrances from the by product of essential oils therefore rendering them useless as antibacterial hand sanitisers.
3. One of my work collegues walks in with her boyfriend to purchase a scale and they are holding hands and all over each other - typical Gen Y not setting a good example by disregarding the social distancing rules. Another couple comes in and although they were not as close to each other, they were debating what type of frypan to purchase. I asked them what they were going to cook with it and they said eggs but they needed an induction fry pan so I showed them the single egg mini blini pan before showing them a 20 cm pyrostone fry pan which could easily cook 2 eggs in . Strangely they decided to purchase 2 of the 20 cm Pyrostone frypans - 1 for each egg so I asked them whether they were social distancing their eggs in their fry pans - initially they didn't get my joke then it clicked and thought it was funny.
4. I mentioned previously how I wear a mask all year round due to allergies and not just to protect me from the corona virus. Fact is masks don't actually protect you from the Corona virus fully. Plain surgical masks are designed to protect others around you if you cough or sneeze containing your germs from passing onto others. Some masks are designed to block dust, chemicals, smoke, pollen or other fine allergens depending on what type they are. Then there is the problem of contaminated mask disposal. I mentioned to a customer today who happened to be a nurse that I thought everyone should wear a mask especially if you are out and about near other people ( regardless of whether you have the Corona virus or not) to prevent you giving it to anyone else rather then preventing you from catching it. Theoretically this should at least slow down if not stop the corona virus however there is a catch - you only have about 40 minutes protection from wearing a mask because as soon as the moisture from your breath starts to saturate the lining of your masks , it is no longer effective in preventing the spread of the virus. The customer made a comment of at least it will give you enough protection time for commuting on public transport to and from essential services eg work, grocery shopping, pharmacy to pick up perscriptions, dentist and doctor appointments or banking. We do have one other problem and that is getting enough supply of masks and other medical supplies for people and in particular hospitals who desperately need them It was sad to hear that there is even theft of hospital supplies by patients and visitors apparently. To combat this problem Australia is beginning to follow in the US' footsteps and approaching companies such as 3 D printing companies to develop ways to produce the much needed masks and other medical supplies such as respirator parts much like the way distillers of gin are now switching over to produce alcohol to produce handsanitiser to try and combat the shortage. As they said in the Bionic Man and the Bionic Woman tv series ( remember Steve Austin & Jamie Summers?) "We have the technology" - and yes we certainly do. We just need funding for research and development/ production. It's probably called yet another "stimulus package" from our government.
Conclusion : I mentioned the shortage of Indian tonic water, if gin distilleries are converting to distilling alcohol for hand sanitiser production instead of gin - wouldn't that also lead to a shortage of certain types of gin as well - no one has mention that to me yet? Maybe it takes a bit more time for people to stop hoarding toliet paper and start hoarding gin - alcohol does kill the brain cells but only slowly!
Postscript : Alcohol purchase limits per customer are now enforced due to higher demand then normal outstripping supply. People have started posting tutorials online particularly on Tiktok on how to make your own masks or making and donating masks to hospitals and other medical organisations to keep up with demand resulting from a shortage of masks. Tutorials include sew and non sew masks. Some countries have even made mask wearing compulsory for everyone.
5. My final rant and it is a really important one to all those hoarders stockpiling supermarket products ( this one has nothing to do with toliet paper or lack of by the way or does it have to do with empty shelves but there is still plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables) I had an audience of customers for this rant and a couple agreed that this was a breach of product safety. It's about this crazy no refund no exchange and even no return policy supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles have implemented due to the Corona virus. Buyer beware - this was not covered under product safety recall when I lodged my complaint to Fair trade ( unless other customers who purchased the same food product complain) . I posted this on Facebook a few days ago with photos.
"This has got to be a new low from Woolworths today. Take note everyone Here's my story :
How' this from woolworths. I purchased a ready made pizza dough from Woolworths Metro and tried to call them twice but there was no answer so I rang the Woolworths customer service # to lodge my complaint. The pizza dough I purchased was in a sealed opague bag with an expiry date of 30th March on it. When I opened it up and tipped it out onto a piece of baking paper straight off the roll I noticed it had a black swirl of something in it - wasn't sure if it was grease from the factory or mould whatever it was I wasn't going to eat it. So I asked for a refund or exchange and was put on hold forever. When the customer service officer returned she said Woolworths had a new no refund no exchange policy on items purchased that just came into effect on 19th March due to the Corona virus - how convenient I just had advised them that I made the purchase on the 18th March and my complaint had nothing to do with the Corona virus - I could have gotten food poisoning or become sick . Chucking the product ( packaging already in bin which they asked me if I still had, of course I didn't!) and they won't get away with this one!
I took photos which I will attach. You can see the black specks in the wet pizza dough and a line of black through it. Gross! I could name the brand but I think I could be sued for that so won't but I will be lodging yet another complaint to Fair Trading!!!!!"
Update After work I decided to go past Chatswood Woolworth Metro but not go into it. Peeping through the double emergency exit glass doors I see in the fridge that the product was still there and that it had not been recalled - it looked like nobody wanted to buy it. By Tuesday I received a response by phone from The Department of Fair Trading in regards to my above complaint who explained to me that they could only request a refund to me - big deal it was only $2! and that a company cannot recall a product based on a single complaint. That's just stupid - what if others are not so lucky and eat the product and become sick. How do I know if there have been others who have experienced the same product contamination but just didn't lodge a complaint. I was advised by Fair Trading that I should have kept the product and returned it to where I purchased it - the wrapper was already in the bin and there was no way I was going to hold onto raw pizza dough until I could return it - it would have not been until the following day - I just arrived home and making dinner, as if i would travel all the way back that night to return it! It was not really the $2 refund i wanted - it was more the principle as I didn"t want another needle in the strawberries incident to occur especially with the Corona pandemic. Just because there is a Corona virus it does not mean thst product safety should be ignored - Product safety should be priority in any situation or circumstances.
End of my rant now for some other older customer humour stories.
1. A customer comes in looking for a specific type of cork remover for wine bottles. Instead of the traditional cork ( screw) remover which drills a hole in the cork and destroys it especially older corks which crumble and fall apart this specific cork remover has 2 prongs on either side which grips the corks on either side to be pulled out like a normal cork screw except keeping the cork intact. It is called an Ah- So ( not an arsehole) . I asked the customer I wonder why it was called that. The customer replied "Probably a Chinese man invented it.!"My response was ( in my very badly mixed Chinese possibly Japanese accent " Ah Saw!" ( which I think was meant to be a Chinese mispronounced and sounds like "I see") - Get it? Customer had a chuckle after I said that .
2. At the beginning of the Corona outbreak a customer was paying for something at the counter and was making a joke about where the corona virus originated from ie Wuhan and I responded "I'm Chinese and I have never heard or been to Wuhan - I don't even know where it is" My manager adds "Now you do and so does everyone else!" The customer then adds " I think i just received a parcel and I think it's from wuhan" I added "Are you sure it's for you?"
( I hope it is not a parcel carrying Coron Vurus - if you remember the letters containing Anthrax you will understand what I mean and the latest update is cardboard boxes from China can carry Corona virus)
I am trying to stay positive by writing now that I am unemployed.
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