Safeway, covid19 and handicapped people

[eightfingers2.0]

Was waiting in line at Safeway the other day  an older woman walked up and attempted get in the front of the line and go in. The “health people” stopped her and told her she had to get in line. She got belligerent and said handicapped people should be able to go in first. They offered her a chair to sit in while she waited (she had a cane), but she refused it, grumbled some more, then left.

So, should handicapped people be able to go to the head of the line? How should it be handled?

[terracore]

If they are legitimately handicapped (not showing up with a fake emotional support dog) then yes, they should go to the front of the line. I was at the front of the USPS line and an elderly lady came limping in on a cane and I was just getting ready to ask "the line" if she could cut in front of all of us and go head of me, but then as soon as the next agent was available she did it on her own (the elderly lady took cuts without asking anybody if it was okay). Nobody said anything or looked weird about it. It seemed reasonable.

People need to show some empathy. I knew a girl dying of cancer who could barely walk half a block but physically she looked great. She had a placard that allowed her to park in a handicap spot. One time she came out of a store and somebody had left a note on her windshield calling her a liar and a whore (and a bunch of other horrible things) for faking a handicap to get a special parking spot. With all the things she was dealing with at the end of her life it was the absolute worst thing she needed that day. Not all handicaps are visible or immediately apparent. She died a few weeks later, unfortunately with that memory in her head.

"How should it be handled?"

Under most circumstances, I probably would have offered her my place in line and that I would go to the back in her place if the "health people" aren't going to make intelligent decisions.

[ChunksterK]

I shop at Safeway at least twice a month, and since the virus hit, I have been in the line on two occasions when handicapped people turned up. On both occasions, the they were greeted in a friendly manner and given comfortable places to wait their turn to go in. One was given a chair to sit in, and one was given a shady place to park her wheelchair. I heard no complaints from either, and the companion of one of these individuals thanked the staff member for not making them wend through the line.

Would they have preferred to be ushered straight in? I don't know, but I do know handicapped persons whose objective is to be treated as much like everyone else as is practically possible. There may be some medical conditions that might conceivably preclude waiting a few minutes to get into Safeway, but they would probably also preclude going at all.

As for the situation that terracore described at the post office, I think he was right to think of asking his peers if it was OK. It would have been nicer if the lady had asked if it was OK, and I'm sure everyone would have said to go ahead. I would have.

[terracore]

The ADA requires any business to give "reasonable accommodation" for disabled people. Apparently, this means a comfortable place to wait in line during a pandemic.

I think we can do better than that. Many of these people are in pain or are on the top of the Grim Reaper's list. I say give them a pass and move them to the front of the line. If I was at the end of my life I would cringe at spending another second at a Walmart line than is necessary. I understand that many places have specific kapuna hours for these people but "life" gets in the way of showing up the special hours. So a cripple or two get moved to the front of the line and everybody else is delayed 3 minutes getting into Safeway or Walmart. Deal with it. Making the (health) weak wait for their place in line theoretically exposes them to more of the virus we are trying to protect them from.

(edited to add, not directed to anybody on this forum, just population in general).

[eightfingers2.0]

Her attitude didn’t help. She walked away yelling at the staff. No one in line said anything.
I’m of the mind she could have been offered to go on in, Id bet people in line would have been happy to let her go. Problem is how to ask those behind you if you decide to let her cut in. The staff was nice about it through the whole thing.

[macuu222]

I walk with a cane when I go to grocery stores. I don't expect any special treatment to get in. But if I'm hurting while standing I will take a chair and sit until my turn to go in.