I liked you better when you weren't posting on Facebook
Blogging this because I need to vent without a friend seeing and I don't want to do it on Facebook.
I have a friend who I've known for a decade that I love dearly. We met when we worked together at Kohl's. I've known her daughter almost her entire life (she was born on 10/10/10 and my friend started on Black Friday of that same year). If I could guarantee I'd have a child like hers, I'd totally be up for having kids.
My main point of conflict with this friend is that she is uneducated and very conservative. I have plenty of religious friends and they're all very accepting people. Even ones in the LCMS (same denomination as Elaine's college) are very adamite that the thing their religion gets wrong is its stance on the LGBT community. She's more of a Baptist (I cringed when she posted the umbrella of protection meme) and very much values traditional gender roles.
At any rate, ever since COVID hit, she's fallen into the conspiracy crowd. She didn't think it was a big deal, was frustrated by restrictions and didn't think mask wearing was a necessary thing to do. I got so frustrated with her posts because my dad has COPD and lives alone, making me feel very concerned about his safety. It still baffles me how many so called Christians just don't care about the people around them. I've noticed tons of hypocrisy in her over the years (my favorite being she always votes Republican but complained about losing her energy assistance and other government aid when her husband got a raise), but it enraged me even more because I was so concerned about my dad's safety. She took a long hiatus from Facebook and I felt much better not seeing her posts.
She's been back for a few weeks now and I decided to engage when she posted this:
🤦♀️
Her issue was, when it came to whether or not you chose to get vaccinated, "I don't like any of the name calling. Just let people choose what they feel is best for them." I decided to say that if you're going to make those sorts of choices, you need to accept the consequences. I rewrote my response several times and tried to be as cordial about it as possible, but she just wasn't having it. Businesses shouldn't bar you or make you wear a mask if you're not vaccinated because, "I don't want an unknown substance in my body and still have the right to participate in life." She doesn't think she needs to get vaccinated because she already had COVID, so I linked an article from the Mayo Clinic explaining the uncertainty of immunity.
Then she really went down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. "Consider your sources. Pharma = 💸💸💸" The Mayo Clinic is apparently biased, even though they're a nonprofit research hospital. I did ask her for her credible, unbiased sources. I think she gave up the fight.
All of this is frustrating enough, but she never was antivaxx before this. I did a search on her profile for the word vaccine and as recent as February 2020 she was posting a story about people not getting the MMR vaccine and how dangerous measles is. She posted a lot of "vaccines don't cause autism" memes too. This is why I'm so frustrated by this. My last comment also said that I was wondering how she became anti-medicine, anti-science and stopped caring about the people around her.
I really wasn't arguing to argue, which she accused me of. I just know how uneducated she is, how blindly she embraces her echo chamber and that deep down, she can be a good person. If I come across one more post like this, I might have to do another snooze. I did it to her before she left Facebook last year. Hell, I had to completely hide my dear friend's widow because I just couldn't take her right wing nonsense anymore. I unfriended another former Kohl's coworker when she posted something terrible about Demi Lovato coming out as nonbinary. I snooze people all the time, but I just feel more willing to try to get through to her because I care and because I know deep down, she has a big heart and strives to be a good Christian.
In other news, we've managed to get out of house showings for a little while (yes, it's still on the market and no, she hasn't lowered the price again) because my upstairs neighbor got COVID. I'm pretty confident Elaine and I are fine because the closest we've been to her in the past 2 weeks was when I handed her a package. I usually leave them outside her door to the laundry room, but that day she was waiting for her dog to do his business outside. I don't remember exactly when it was, but it was before Thanksgiving and I know it was cold because she complained about it, so probably the weekend before. Before she got sick, she didn't want to do any showings because she was getting geared up for an upcoming craft fair. When she rejected the second one that week, our landlord got pissed. My neighbor agreed to allow the showings, but she wasn't going to be leaving the house during them. Then she got sick.
So there were supposed to be 2 showings this week, but they cancelled the first due to her illness. The buyer still showed up 15 min after the original time, even though our landlord's agent said they had cancelled. "They said we could still see the downstairs and basement." I shouted over the dogs barking that I was in the middle of something for work and he said he'd officially reschedule. The next showing (which they wanted to do at 10am on a Wednesday) was actually going to be a video showing for an out of state buyer. We're hoping this is someone who invests in rental properties and will just buy it and hire a property management company to take care of things. Everyone wants this to be over, but my landlord doesn't want to budge on the price and nobody wants to buy it for that price because she didn't maintain the property and when she did make repairs, she did them as cheaply as possible.
Another hilarious thing in this whole saga was when the laundry room ceiling started leaking again. I told her about it and sent her pictures. Radio silence for 12 days. She didn't acknowledge my message, but she was very concerned because she got an email saying the online payment system we use to pay rent was supposedly shutting down. That sums up her attitude about this place completely.
In case you're curious, when my neighbor confirmed she tested positive for COVID, I bought some rapid tests and mine came back negative. I was actually scheduled for my booster, but wasn't sure if I should reschedule. The pharmacist said that if it was negative, keep the appointment. I then went in today for a PCR test. The PA who swabbed me agreed that my contact with my neighbor wasn't enough to be all that concerned, but getting tested wasn't a bad idea anyway. I actually went to the chiropractor yesterday (the office said I could still come) and I'm getting my hair done tomorrow (I asked my stylist if I should reschedule and she said she wasn't concerned). We were actually supposed to have a holiday gathering with my knitting friends, but they decided to postpone. One of them also came down with shingles. I wear masks pretty much everywhere indoors but home, which I'll continue doing just to be safe. My booster/flu shot combo actually hasn't made me feel too icky anyway. My arm is a little sore and I'm a little tired, but I also stayed up until 4am last night because I took yesterday and today off work.
I'm a little mad at myself because I've been wanting to put up my lights on the porch all week, but I've been too lazy. I've got the on the railings, but they're not plugged in because I have 6 strands and I can only do 5 together. I have my giant hanger snowflakes to hang, but that requires a tall stepstool and fishing line. It was somewhat warm this week, but now it's going to get colder. My laziness always gets the best of me.