This morning the Boston Globe headline is Massachusetts Hospitals prepare to fire hundreds of employees who refuse covid vaccine. I can't even believe that these folks have been allowed to go unvaccinated all this time in the hospitals. Mass General Hospital is a crowded place. Very crowded. It's rated one of the top hospitals in the world. The lobby is packed. The cafeteria is jammed with people much of the day. When you enter a specific office, like say, one of the Infectious Disease lobbies, again, you are jammed together in there. So it is with great relief that they are going to fire those folks.
I had a situation at a hair salon this week. When I arrived, I asked the woman at the front desk, "Is everyone vaccinated here?" Her reply stopped me short. She said, I can't tell you that. It's HIPAA. (HIPAA is the medical insurance privacy law.)
I gently explained to her that HIPAA only applies to medical professionals and it only applies when the patient is paying with insurance for a covered procedure.That's why HIPPA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. At a hair salon, they can withhold employees' vaccine status, but not because of HIPAA. If there are other legal reasons, then please explain.
After I explained the HIPAA law, she said, the owner has conferred with lawyers about this but neither she or the owner offered details. Maybe it was a mythical lawyer?
I took the non answer to mean that the stylist is not vaccinated and I decided to skip the appointment. I am grateful to @bluebelle, one of my heroes, who courageously stopped going to her salon for the same reason.
As I was about to leave, the owner, who disclosed that he was vaccinated, offered to cut my hair for the same rate as the stylist who lost the sale because she wasn't vaccinated. He normally charges more than double what the new stylist charges, but he was going to do it at the stylist's rate out of the goodness of his heart.
My husband later said, you should have just walked out.
But this guy really can cut hair better than anyone I know. I didn't think twice. I took his offer. (Vanity trumped principles.)
Later I was sorry because of the series of right wing spins he delivered.
First he tried an old Right wing talking point: He said that there has been disinformation on both sides of the vaccine argument. I blocked my ears and said, "Stop this now. Do not equate the two sides."
Then he tried a new one, piety: He used a pious voice. He put his palms together in a prayer position. He said that during the pandemic these same people had to show up and deliver our packages and serve us, so it's not fair to.... But this argument made no sense. "It's not fair that they must protect themselves and others with a vaccine?" Is this a Hannity argument? I wouldn't know since I never watch FOX.
Then came the third argument, he said that people echew the vaccine for medical reasons. Medical contraindication is rare and compared to the evidence-based risk of getting Covid, it is much higher risk to go unvaccinated. Also they are nine times more likely to shed covid, get sick, make others sick, oh, and die.
I stopped the discussion because like all discussions with cult members, there is no end to their arguments. It's like the Greek myth of the Hydra. You cut off one head and three more heads sprout.
It was a warm and cordial conversation, and I do love this man. I do. You can love someone in a cult. But I got home feeling stressed. I will look for a new salon.
Good gravy, Jeanne! ? God love ya, you are twenty times more patient than I would have been.
I am so done with these idiots. How ignorant and weak-minded does a person have to be to swallow the crap that spews out of the mouths of these Faux weasels? People who openly admit they lie because it gives them some kind of sick power rush?
I always knew there were stupid people in this country. I just never realized there were so many of them.
@jeanne-mayell Good for you, Jeanne! When I finally made my decision to move on from my unvaccinated hairdresser, I felt so much better and I haven’t looked back. A friend recommended a hairdresser who had her own salon and she required all employees to be vaccinated. I like her! Plus, starting this month, she’s going to inform her (two) unvaccinated clients that they will need to get vaccinated if they want to come back. I applaud this decision.
Honestly, I don’t know what took me so long to move on. I had put up with many hair appointments that were full of Covid denial and adherence to the former guy’s cult, misinformation from right wing media and endless bs. I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes. Maybe I had to get to the point of being “absolutely fed up with the unvaccinated.” I want to know that the businesses and services I use are concerned about the common good. By the way, I just hosted a zoom meeting with a group of people and it was a slow, hesitant start. However, the meeting took off when someone admitted to being angry with the unvaccinated prolonging the pandemic. Whew! Everyone had words to say. Everyone was fed up. We are living through the dumbest timeline ever. This is not how I envisioned living my so called “golden years.”
It can be daunting to stand up to someone who is standing behind you with sharp scissors.
Posted by @bluebelle:
We are living through the dumbest timeline ever. This is not how I envisioned living my so called “golden years.”
I hear ya, sister!
@ana, ?!
We are living through the dumbest timeline ever.
Hahaha!
That sentence was unexpected and so accurate Bluebelle.
But it also is such a sad reflection of where we are as a nation, even as a global community. I find it morally repugnant to realize future generations will believe those of us living through this time are people who not only drank the Kool-Aid but willingly helped dispense it.
I disavow any relation to the Kool-Aid. I don't drink it, I don't dispense it, I don't spout its medicinal benefits, I don't encourage others to try it, I don't go near it and I carry bleach and hand sanitizer to halt its sickly spread.
Let's get this straight.
The vaccine is life.
The Kool-Aid club is a toxic plague spread by death eating Zombies, brainwashed by narcissistic cult leaders who want everyone to live and die in their cult created dark dystopia.
I think that about sums it up.
@lovendures I probably should have clarified that statement: “We are living through the dumbest, most dangerous timeline ever.” You’re correct in saying the vaccine is life. It’s true in so many ways. The vaccines’ efficacy may wane over time, but they still protect against hospitalization and death. Plus we have boosters coming that can raise the vaccine efficacy. The vaccine is our pathway back to any kind of normal life and these Covidiots are blocking our best chance to do that.
"the dumbest timeline ever" LMAO
truer words never spoken