Rules and guidelines on masking in the US

The hotel in which I stayed in the United States is a part of a large chain. The official wording on its clean policy is that for guests staying at its US hotels, you do not need to wear a mask at the hotel if you are fully vaccinated. Staff are required to wear face masks.

As a cautious Canadian, I threw that guest policy out the window. I am fully vaccinated. I got my booster shot on Thursday. All is well. I have a sore arm. That's it. I'm boring that way. I'll take boring any day!

Whether I was heading downstairs to the kitchen area to fetch breakfast to take up to my room or doing laundry, I wore a mask. Heading to and from my room? I had a mask on.

As for staff, housekeeping never had masks on. When I headed to my room to check in back in late November of last year, I had to walk by two housekeeping staff without their masks. Luckily, I had mine on.

I'd say that 50% of the time, staff at this hotel had face masks on. The front desk was much better at it.

What I am trying to get at is that there are rules and guidelines on wearing masks, but they aren't enforced. We are still in a pandemic. Not wearing a mask in a public area is ridiculous these days, vaccinated or not.

The moral of this story is to mask up, to protect yourself and others from the various COVID-19 variants that are out there.

Mrs Prindable's apples

For years, I have heard great things about Mrs Prindable's apples. They are special caramel apples with extra toppings that adhere to the caramel.

I decided to buy a box of ten apples. Five were s'mores and the other were triple chocolate. I had them shipped to my hotel because you can't ship produce over the border.

When I checked in to the hotel last Monday, I had a nice man at the front desk get me set up. We both recognized each other from my previous stay. He knew that there was a package for me and would look for it.

The next day, I asked the morning front desk folks about my package. I got it. I was so happy that I ripped open the box when I got back to my room and had an apple. The s'mores was so good. You need a knife to cut through it.

That evening, after returning from being out and about, the man at the front desk and I said hi. He asked about the package and I said that I got it.

A day later, I came back from being out. I had a caramel apple with me and wanted to give it to this man. I found him in the kitchen area, preparing paper bags for guests like me who fetch breakfast and use them.

I thanked him for being him. I remembered returning from a hockey game the last time I was in town. It was snowing. I got to the hotel and he was shovelling snow. I said that most would take that action for granted, but I appreciated it.

He was moved. He said to me that he often can tell whether guests at the hotel are "fake." He said that with me, it was nonexistent and that I have a good heart. It was so kind of him.

On a great note, he loved the caramel apple. It is large and he's still working on it. I'm glad that I brought some joy to someone who deserves it.