Finally saw some friends! in Adventures in paradise

Work was absolutely insane yesterday, to the point where social-distancing was completely out the window. Even the manager on said he wondered if customers were being counted at the door. I was constantly doing trolley runs. As soon as I collected a bunch, they were all gone again. We were closed for one fucking day, people!
I knew it was gonna be bad when I arrived for work at 9am. We open at 9am on Sundays so I just walk in with the customers when we open, except there were so many that I couldn’t even get in the front door. Thankfully we’re not signing on with fingerprints during the pandamic, do we just write down our hours anyway. Sure enough, on one of my trolley runs, the security guy counting people was just on his phone, ergh, not even watching how many customers were walking in. Thankfully most people are doing the right thing - it’s just in the aisles that it’s a joke, you know, where I have to work. I had one guy take off his mask so that he could talk to me/I could hear him more easily. You better not be a positive-case, buddy!

During the rush-hours (lunch and after 4pm) the security guy was doing his job, thank fuck. The line was out the door, down the stairs, out of the shopping centre and down the street alongside the building lol. I reiterate, people - CLOSED FOR ONE DAY YESTERDAY - SETTLE THE FUCK DOWN!
Anyway. Of course I was fucking exhausted by the end of that shift. I just wanted to go home and do nothing. I’d even bought comfort food. I was in a pretty wild mood by that point.

Then I remembered I’d agreed to go to Rhys and Luke’s for dinner. Ergh. The introvert in my wanting to cancel, and I was tired and moody, but hey of course I went. I stopped in at the bottle shop near my house and bought a bottle of sparkling rose’, my favourite. I knew I needed a drink, and I don’t drink much. It was one of those days. I got home (late cos of course I got stuck back at work) , put the booze in the fridge to keep it cold, showered, threw on shorts and a singlet, grabbed the booze and went and waited downstairs for Rhys to pick me up. Steve had also messaged me that he was going to pick me up, but he never responded to my message and the next thing I knew he’d texted me saying that he was at Rhys and Luke’s. But Rhys said he was on his way. So that was nice to get a lift.

It was fun seeing the boys and finally having some human interaction with my friends rather than with customers demanding shit at me every few minutes. I still can’t believe some people are so rude. I overheard two customers yesterday having an argument the next aisle over. One guy had an issue with another guy touching something he wanted (I dunno, something stupid like that) and next thing I heard was, “Don’t be a dickhead, mate.” Lolz.
Rhys cooked up a chicken stirfry. I thought we were going to have Katsu but I guess they decided differently. Either way, a homecooked meal from friends is always much appreciated. Luke’s cat was very social with us all, which was cute. He’s this flat-nosed breed that Luke treats very rough but the cat seems to love it. It’s the complete opposite of Steve’s princess cat who gets the royal treatment. Steve is actually mortified at how Luke plays with his pet but I don’t think Luke knows that.

We didn’t end up playing a game because we were having an overdue catch-up, chatting. Steve left around 9:30pm, like the grandma he is, but I stayed a bit longer, until I realized it was midnight. Neither Luke or Rhys are working atm because of CoVid, so I don’t think it mattered that much, but I felt self-conscious about squashing their style by still hanging around their place at midnight, so I took that chance to order myself an Uber back home. It was good to have some laughs.

I’ve also been self-conscious about my ‘distasteful’ jokes lately. When I arrived, I warned the guys that I probably have CoVid after the hell of a day I had at work today, and Luke was like “Thanks for that!” (after I’d hugged him hello) but of course I was joking. But it reminded me of my Aunty’s funeral recently in Toowoomba where when I shook hands with my uncle, I’d asked him, “How you holding up?”
I mean, for fuck’s sake Matt, how do you think the guy is “holding up”? He’s just lost his wife of 35-something years. I was mortified that those words came out of my mouth. I only asked out of empathy but maybe I should just not talk to humans, lol. But maybe I imagined it all in my head. His thoughts were probably all over the place that day.
Then there was another instance where I said something I later felt stupid about, but I can’t even think what that was now. I think I’m a bit hungover today. I did go through that bottle last night. But I don’t have a headache thankfully, I just feel a little groggy I guess. I’m glad to be on my days off. I always am lately, especially until things calm down, but they just haven’t.

Our state government is relaxing some of our laws as of this coming Friday at midnight. We will now we able to go on picnics, ride recreational vehicles (jetskis, boats etc, not that I have wither of those), drive up to 50km from home and sunbake. I’m kind of excited for the picnic and sunbaking one, because I might be able to go and do one of my favourite things on my next weekend, which is sitting in the park. But I have a feeling everyone else will have the same idea. Of course social distancing measures need to remain in place and it can only be with immediate household members or one other person. I mean, I’d be alone anyway. I don’t have friends I can just call up and go on a picnic with lol. This is on a trial basis, so if people fuck up, the stricter laws will be back. But it’s where we’re at right now. My state had three new cases in the past 24 hours, but three ‘zero-case’ days this past week, so we’re doing well it seems, and being rewarded for it. But Christ, if parks are anything like my work was yesterday, this will not last long at all.