Of hero pay, protecting frontline folk and wiping away the myth of flushable wipes

First off, kudos to Rite Aid for initiating "Hero Pay" for associates plus compensation if they come down with the coronavirus.

Rite Aid is doing the right thing here, and we urge all companies and corporations to step up to provide similar compensation for other workers on the frontlines of this pandemic.

That includes not only health care and pharmacy workers, but also supermarket cashiers and stockers, convenience store cashiers and others who are in close contact with sometimes hundreds of people on a daily basis.

We also urge everyone to move to online payments whenever you do shopping. Stop using cash, it's filthy. One medical column I read told cashiers that accepted cash to put it aside for 72 hours, then disinfect it before touching it.

Also kudos to Gov. Sununu, who at the urging of retail advocates, has loosened the restrictions so that "nonessential" businesses can continue with retail curbside pickup or delivery of things like apparel, shoes, books and other products.

The mandate with these loosened restrictions is that they be largely contactless. In other words, I buy the product over the phone, give my credit card, go down to the store, wave to the retailer inside, get back in my vehicle, he comes out and goes back in store, then I get out of the car and get my package. Voila. Well, it's not that convenient, but hopefully no one passes on any coronavirus cooties

Btw, do young folks know what cooties are?

Lastly, I've got a wipes story for ya. (doesn't everyone)

Well, long, long ago, I had a friend who just loved wipes. Wipes for this, wipes for that, you get the drift.

Right on the package it had a smiling toilet bowl that said "flushable, safe for septic systems."

So I thought nothing of it, till an ear-piercing scream of an alarm awoke me from a sound sleep around 4 a.m.

What in the heck is that, I thought as I pattered downstairs.

It was louder, coming from the basement.

When I opened the basement door, I thought I was going to break my eardrums.

Covering my ears the best I could I turned off the alarm. It was a malfunction of the septic pump that pushes solids to the back yard where I had a leach field.

When the septic service folks came out they found the problem right away. A wipe had gotten caught in a flywheel gear that ran the upflow pump.

I got off easy with a $500 bill.

I then got a wipe and put it in a glass of water for more than a week. It never "disintegrated."

Short story: I told the manufacturer about the problem, how they do not break down and threatened them with a lawsuit. I got a check in the mail the next week.

Now I got a thing near the toilet where the wipes get thrown. It's called a waste basket.