(no subject)

[girlofprey]

Also trying to figure out the ethics and risks of ordering takeout right now. For about a year I've been ordering pizza from a local place on Saturday nights. Mum doesn't have anything else in for me, although I could certainly make do with beans on toast. It's odd to think that if I don't get one from one of those places right now, I might never get one again, if those places end up having to close down from lack of business. Especially the chinese takeaways, since people are awful, sadly. Bizarre times.

Comments

[jekesta]

WHAT DID YOU DECIDE?

I totally know what you mean, it feels like if you're still allowed takeaway maybe having takeaway is supporting local businesses and also we should have any small things we can to make the world feel more normal, but also I feel bad for the delivery people and maybe they don't want to be delivering things and I haishdf9jweojfsdf.

[girlofprey]

After much research, I ordered some. I went through Just Eat, which my local place is thankfully on, so we didn't have to exchange money, and I know my place is definitely local (lit. up the hill) and uses their own drivers, so I wouldn't be going through the potential abuses of Deliveroo. I was concerned about the whole thing about them going house to house and therefore being more likely to get it, mostly just because I didn't want to bring it into the house with my mum, but they were doing all non-contact deliveries, and we arranged a system where I'd open the garage door, back off, and he could leave it on the side and back off. And you can still go into shops and buy things people have touched, so I assumed it was as safe as can be. Still freaked out and kept washing my hands though. And yeah - I guess you can never know exactly how much the delivery people want to do, but I figured maybe they'd like to get paid for some kind of work. Not exchanging money meant I couldn't give a tip, unfortunately. But I know my place is local and it felt like supporting a local business, so I don't know. I ordered it but then felt a bit guilty and tense. I probably won't order it again. If we're even allowed to after the next briefing. They delivered it even more quickly than they usually do, so I think I was probably their only customer for a while. A cafe in my town has already closed down permanently. It's hard.

[alicamel]

I ordered takeaway last night because I didn’t know how long we would be allowed. But then I felt guilty and gave the Deliveroo person a bigger tip than normal to make up for having made them go outside. It’s very difficult.

[girlofprey]

I couldn't even give the man a tip, because I was concerned about bringing Coronavirus into the house with my mum most of all, so arranged it online so we wouldn't have to swap money. If there's a way to give a tip on Just Eat, I don't know it. Going outside isn't so much a problem, they say, as actually interacting closely with people, so we figured out a system where he could wave through the window, I'd open the garage door and let him come in and put it on the side. It was as much social distancing as I could manage. And I guess it's stressful for the delivery people not knowing how much social contact each customer is going to try to force them to have. I don't know. It's hard. I just figured if the restaurants were now allowed to do a takeaway service, maybe takeaways were fine? Still a bit of stress and guilt though. But the pizza and onion rings were nice. What did you have?

[breyzyyin]

It's a really difficult decision to make right now, because you want to support local businesses but at the same time...you don't want to put delivery people and restaurant staff at risk. It is definitely bizarre and sad to think about how those businesses might close due to lack of business, especially Chinese restaurants. It's just such a sad and difficult situation all around.

[girlofprey]

Yeah, I think because everyone's so upset about places shutting and potentially not being paid, I just sort of assume everyone wants any business they can get? But you don't know how many people actually don't want to be there, and it's just that their manager's making them be there, on the threat of definitely permanently losing their job. But a cafe in my local town has already permanently closed, so you do want to support local businesses as well. It's hard. I did it and then stressed out about something potentially being brought in on the containers anyway. I just tried to make it as safe and socially distant as possible. But you don't know if the drivers even want that at all. You just do what you can I suppose, to try to balance the offer of work and safety. It's hard.