4.28.20: Can't Start a Fire Without a Spark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark.
April 28, 2020.
Good Tuesday Morning. Yesterday’s questions set off a bit of a firestorm in the comments and feedback.
While some of you specifically said the questions were “relatively clear, very simple” and you “needed no additional time”, others thought they were “ambiguous”, not “cut and dry” or required too much elaboration. Obviously that will happen from time to time, and I appreciate your patience and continued participation.
Many of you also asked for a reprieve from the coronavirus and political questions. Ask and ye shall receive. Click on the Let’s Talk to get started.
Results from April 27, 2020
Question 1: Do you sanitize your groceries when you bring them home?
No consensus here. The CDC’s guidance hasn’t been definitive, and it seems only around 36% of us are really paranoid. (For what it’s worth, we always sanitize our groceries, but the whole thing feels a little performative to me.)
Question 2: If you saw a group of individuals not practicing good social distancing, would you consider reporting them to a tip line?
Reporting other people is a bridge too far for many, even for those who believe social distancing is important. There was some fear and anxiety over the concept in the comments.
A few of you also pointed out that:
Question 3: Should local officials begin to open public spaces like parks, playgrounds, hiking trails and beaches? And do you trust people to continue to adhere to proper social distancing if these spaces open?
You all have so little faith in other people!
Although I absolutely love (and am genuinely curious) about the few people who trust others — but still want to keep the parks closed.
Question 4: Do you believe restaurant chains like Shake Shack, Ruth's Chris and Potbelly should receive government loans to help pay their workers?
Here was where the questions started to go off the rails. This is a difficult question, the wording maybe wasn’t entirely clear and you wanted to elaborate beyond the options given.
Still, many of you shared personal stories. Your jobs at large chains like these that have been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak; your family businesses that applied for loans but didn’t get them; your genuine feelings of conflict of wanting to help everyday people but not thinking the government should be responsible for paying the wages of workers at large businesses like these.
These are tough issues, and I appreciate that “Yes”, “No” and “I’m not sure” may not always capture the nuances we all feel, but as I heard in so many personal stories, they’re critically important to the lives of so many of us.
Question 5: Have you purchased new subscriptions to any of these streaming services *in the last two months*?
This question caused a fair bit of confusion. What I was trying to get at was not how many streaming services you have (though that’s interesting), but how many you’ve purchased since the coronavirus outbreak and the quarantine.
44% of you said you’ve purchased no new subscriptions, but based on the comments, that number may actually be higher.
Perhaps most interesting was that nobody - not a single person - answered Quibi. The company reportedly raised $1.5 billion to build this new mobile-first streaming service, and not one person here has it. Yikes.
It means not a single person here is watching self proclaimed “de-motivational speaker” Chrissy Teigen’s new Quibi show: Chrissy’s Court.
Make it all the way through but forget to answer today’s questions?
Click on the Let’s Talk button below to get started.
Today’s title reference: "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen (& a cameo by Courtney Cox)