I heard a recording of his rant on the radio this morning. He sounded pissed.
I have new respect for Cruise now.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/enter...rnd/index.html

I respect Cruise's vigor for COVID prevention, but as an employer he crossed a line into abusiveness. There are more professional ways to get that same message across without screaming and hectoring for 2-3 minutes. Say it once quietly and firmly to everyone, post the same message on a big poster and repeat it in an email, then start making examples of people by dismissing and firing them one-by-one as they screw up.

"Where's Bob the PA?"

"Didn't wear his mask, Tom saw it, so he's not here anymore."

". . . oh."

As for the masks, I'm thinking that at some point we'll have enough immunity and perhaps treatments, to tame this down to the level of the flu -- perhaps the flu in a very bad flu year. Which I hate to say, since "flu" is one of the covidiots talking points, but we ought to get there eventually. Flu is still scary -- I've been citing it for years, as killing more people than drunk drivers or guns -- but it'll be a risk we live with, mostly maskless.

My hope is for Summer 2021.

I really don't want to think about having to wear a mask for indoor public settings the rest of my life.

If that ends up being the case, I honestly think theaters, concerts, sporting events, conventions....

Pretty much anything that puts bunches of people in close proximity to each other for a few hours could be dead, or look entirely different.

*pictures new stadium circa 2025... hardly any seating. :\*

I doubt my personal decisions will drive much public policy. It is flattering, though. <3:D

Because being calm and asking nicely as worked up to this point?

I think he had good reason to make sure people knew he was serious.

I've said before and nothing has changed, I have no idea when I'll be comfortable going to see live music in bars again. Outdoor concerts or larger venues with reduced seating is one thing, but jam packed into a small space like sweaty sardines is something completely different. And it makes me sad because most of the bands I see play smaller venues.

Yep. I was already done with large venue concerts, now I am just plain done.

The convenience store and gas station are not the same as a film set. At the former, we seethe in impotent rage at the other customers, and the management and staff are reluctant to alienate customers. At the latter, a dictatorial master can fire people at the drop of a hat, and often will. It's a much more controlled environment.

If anything maybe it’ll have people take the winter cold/flu season more serious? Maybe not as diligent as things are now with masks, but more mindful of sanitizing and not touching your face?

I could see people in the higher risk groups continue to wear masks maybe? If it helped prevent Covid surely its helping prevent other things? Everybody has burned out in one regard or another, but this has been going on long enough where it’s changed people’s habits...not like the initial 2-3 weeks of staying home like a lot of people thought back in mid March.

It’ll be interesting to see what will be changed forever and what reverts back to how it was pre Covid. I personally think you’ll see a lot of people realize how many things in their lives weren’t necessities and once they gain access again won’t see them as a big deal.

I know once pro sports returned I haven’t been able to take any of it seriously...

We are 9-10 months into this. No one on this planet should be surprised they are expected to wear a mask by some people.

One month in and I agree he went overboard, but not now. And we don't know if he already did the nice route multiple times.

Or maybe he's just an *******, that is definitely a possibility.

I have heard that he's a bit excitable.

I agree with you that everyone should know better by now, and I think much of the ongoing problem is willful disobedience.

Just making sure, did you read what all he yelled?

I listened to it last night.

I'll never respect Tom Cruise.

If we can get shots in arms in the numbers that they’re aiming for, we’ll be back to normal by midsummer. Remember, 40% think it’s overblown, and the rest of us who are taking it seriously, whether we’ll admit it or not, have short memories. I’ll call it a win if this whole thing inspires people to stay the f home when they’re sick but given that American culture disincentivizes that I’m not holding my breath.

I hope that voluntarily wearing a mask in public places becomes more common during future flu seasons. Simple precautions can prevent a lot of disease and suffering, for COVID and for flu.

Same. We had two trips postponed from this summer to 2021, so hoping for the best. I missed out on some excellent bagging opportunities on those trips: Minneapolis, Highbridge Hills, Horning's Hideout, Lucky Mud . . .

And, um, weddings and stuff. :rolleyes:

I was to be married 9/12/20.
We postponed to Sept 21 and I'm hopeful we can do so. (Plus honeymoon to Maine to eat all the seafood.)

Please let me know if you get to Minneapolis next year.

Couple of disc golf courses in Maine, too. Just sayin'. ;)

Will do!

Ran across this on Twitter just now, and thought it would be good for those who hadn't seen it.

It's a video that shows how the mRNA Covid vaccine works.

https://twitter.com/ScientistSwanda/...88328362090500

If you wanna make it a party, twin cities is only an hour and a half from me.....id happily meet up with ya over there too!

Need an excuse to get my butt over there n bag some courses!

Sounds great! The wedding is near Chippewa Falls, so no need to drive unless you want to. :D

Ha! That's right in my backyard! 25 minutes from where I currently live. Half hour from where I grew up. Small world haha.

Rumor has it I was named for the founder of the famous brewery in town there.

First things first, two wrongs don't make a right. Secondly, Tom Cruise is crazy AF. However, I felt this his tone was likely justified (there's no video, we don't know that kind of covidiocy was allegedly taking place).

Complacency kills. Simple as that. I work at a hospital and frequently see staff not following protocols. It's mind numbingly absurd and frustrating. Pandemic fatigue is real. The only thing that kept me from blowing a gasket was me realizing that ultimately it's not my job to police that mess.

I can't imagine being the face of a franchise or production the way that Cruise is. (yes, he's formally credited as a producer). I can see where his frustrations come from... He's not just bring a diva, he is one of the bosses. Was his tone abusive? Yes. Could be have acted differently? Of course. Are the pandemic protocols new at this point? No. At least he now has their attention.

I was not trying to praise Cruise just this action. I think him and that Scientology crap is nuts.

Agreed 100%

Really it is not much more than the guy/girl at Walmart has to do everyday. Sadly, they are required to do so in a calmer, more respectful, less effective manner. Even more sadly, it is a repeat performance, to a less intelligent, less receptive and often antagonizing audience.

Cruise is a douche. Plus he ruined Jack Reacher.....one of my favorite series of brain candy books.

However... The greeter at Walmart is paid minimum wage and is ultimately not responsible for the business. A manager at Walmart might earn slightly higher than minimum wage, but not necessarily fair compensation. Someone in management is responsible for the business and what goes on there.

This hostess from Denny's gets all of my sympathy. ***NSFW LANGUAGE WARNING***




Not going to debate the douche or Jack Reacher comments. ;)

People who do this 'muh rights' stuff and/or yell about HIPPA like in that video are doing nothing but showing how ignorant they are. For one, courts have ruled mask mandates and enforcement of mask mandates are 100% constitutional. Second, HIPPA has nothing to do with the situation at all. It's so infuriating. Obviously they know what they are doing, it's just to 'trigger the libs' or whatever but that doesn't change how stupid it is...if anything it makes it worse. I work in food service as well and I just walk away when people come in without masks on, I won't deal with them. It's, thankfully, gotten better but it's still maybe 80% of customers at most. Additionally, where I work has dine in service, so we've had almost 40 people mask less while eating when it got really busy right after Minnesota re-locked down a couple weeks ago and everyone and their mother decided to flood over the WI border to eat out.

After 6 months of complaining to my boss, a worker who never wore a mask contracting covid (not wearing a mask while clearly sick prior to getting tested, coughing all over food, not wearing a mask after coming back to work only a week and a half after testing positive while still showing symptoms), calling him out directly to his face, and writing a complaint to corporate they didn't do ANYTHING other put up a sign on the front door that just says 'out tyrannical governor says you need to wear a mask, but if you don't we wont ask you to wear one so please come kill us and our customers,' paraphrased obviously. I ended up filing an OSHA complaint and they finally started making employees wear masks in the building. It's always nice to see how little your bosses really care about you, your coworkers, and the customers. It's all money, nothing else, and enforcing masks alienates customers/limits potential profits.

/rant

Screw these people who can handle wearing masks in establishments.

Do you eat with your mask on?

This is why McConnell cannot be allowed his liability shield.

I have not eaten inside a restaurant of any sort since early March, and only twice on a patio.

In addition to seeing bands in bars, it's going to be a long time before I feel comfortable eating in restaurants again.

Do you have a point?

Yea. If that's how you want to protect yourself, awesome. If an establishment is going to allow indoor dining, I just don't know what the advantage is of requiring masks, if people are going to eat without their masks anyway. (It seemed like the Denny's in that video had indoor dining.) Staggered seating, limited capacity, and adequate ventilation would probably do more to slow transmission than the masks themselves. (If anyone has stats on this, they would be interesting to see.)

I too have a handful of things that are currently off my list, indefinitely. These are things that Mrs. ru4por and I have always done, enjoyed and were frequently on our entertainment agenda. I will reconsider at a later date, but for now.....they are no go.

Concerts
Festivals
Indoor dining
Flying
Train travel
Sporting events
Bars
Indoor parties
Entertaining in my own home
Movies, plays, speaking engagements

Sadly, travel is impacted, so there is a trickle down effect. Given that neither of us are really free to take more than a couple weeks vacation, at a time, it limits how far we want to drive to vacation (disc golf).

Yeah, man.





-pours one out for my former life-

As I suspected, you have no point.

How about you take you trolling back to the water cooler. Your childish, dishonest petitions for attention are weak.

Go away.