Finding Humor in this time of quarantine

Finding Humor

Last week we were running low on groceries and were exploring delivery options to help us avoid facing the ‘hazards of the supermarket’. We had unsuccessfully tried several stores to get a delivery option. The answer that we could get our shopping done and delivered in early June wasn’t the outcome we were looking for. Someone had told Sandy to give Smart and Final a try. We made up a comprehensive list and with growing excitement watched as things went into the cart. Alas, when it was time to schedule the delivery, all the available times slots were blacked out. Since he wasn’t otherwise occupied aside from watching the same news cycles repeat over and over, Sandy kept trying. The list and check-out were done, so it was simply a matter of going back in and clicking. Eureka! This was a Tuesday.The food would be delivered on Thursday morning. Thursday morning we got the text that it would come in the afternoon. In the afternoon, it was pushed to the evening. In the evening we were told that we would get the delivery on Friday morning. The following day, it was actually going to happen. We got a confirmation and the credit card was charged. But hey, wait a minute. We were only charged $30, the original order was $150+. The Instacart employee came and brought us our bag. We peeked inside. It contained butter, margarine, whipped cream cheese, and a bag of Oreos. Yup, that was it. It reminded me of those cooking shows that give the contestants an odd assortment of ingredients and they have to create a meal. This could be the COVID cooking show. “You have anchovies, a bag of polenta that you never figured out what to do with and a pint of blueberries.....GO!” When Sandy and I were doing our shopping list, we were given the option to substitute for items that were out of stock. We had clicked NO. It turns out that that was probably wise. Alana had me cracking up when she told me that she had allowed substitution on her most recent instacart order. She had the “use your best judgement option.” Her shopper ended up taking full advantage of that. His best judgement consisted of substituting 3 unrelated items - ground turkey, gluten free pasta and some nuts (none of which were available) - with flaming hot Cheetos. One bag for each. Fortunately Alana loves her flaming hot Cheetos, but……. Dr Anne's father in law got beer and a cake from instacart on his 87th birthday. That wasn't part of his order, but he enjoyed the mistake. Sometimes things work out. My friend Miriam had paper towels substituted for the toilet paper she had requested. Uh, no. On the other hand, Dr Anne ran out of paper towels. She ended up using the rarely brought out cloth napkins. Her kids were not used to those and tossed them in the trash when they were finished with them. Fortunately she retrieved them. Last week, I put out a request for people to share anything positive or funny that is going on in their lives. I also posted on my Facebook page. Anybody laughing about anything??? I was mostly met with silence. Alana came through once again. She had me in stitches as she described a situation that happened to her this week. As I am sure many of you have found out, working from home has its challenges. Alana’s cats have made themselves known to her clients, by pussyfooting across the keyboards and meowing at the screen. In this case, in the middle of a session at an especially emotional moment, Taco Cat appeared in the home office, direct from the litter box, with a piece of poop hanging from his butt. Lani was not in the position to do much. She tried to stay engaged with the client as she watched in yuck while Taco managed to clear himself of the poop, lick it up and then promptly throw up! Sandy is keeping me amused by toying with the telemarketers. Happily the number of those calls has dramatically decreased, but when they call about the car warranty or the fact that we are wanted by the IRS he keeps them engaged for a bit. Without humor we can slip into a muddy place. Hopefully from wherever you are you can find something to giggle at.