Social distancing made impossible by social distancing

As long as I can remember, I've enjoyed shopping at stores late-at-night. First, I love the nighttime! Second, there is less traffic and fewer crowds. One can find a parking spot easier, breeze in, grab what is needed, and breeze out again with relatively little trouble. Besides a few other like-minded customers, the only people one sees are the clerks stocking the shelves — which must be much easier for them without the usual crowds.

So, a while ago I dressed, grabbed my purse, and headed out for a late-night shopping trip to pick up a few essentials. With the whole world on-guard because of COVID-19, I thought it would be the best way to practice the advised "social distancing" by not mingling with a crowd.

I was shocked when I arrived at the store and found it closed and the parking lot bare. The best time-of-day for "social distancing" with only a handful of people in a quite large store, and it was completely wasted! I'm sure the business owner must have limited the store's hours because of COVID-19, but by doing so has forced more shoppers and employees into the store during their limited open-hours. Isn't that defeating the whole purpose and creating the opposite of the desired effect...?

It did not occur to me to take a snapshot of the deserted parking lot for this post. So, I dug into my photo archives and found a never-used photo of a bare downtown street, late one night a couple of months ago. Bare street, bare sidewalk, bare trees. Kinda like tonight was.