A Washington State Ferry ride the other day became an exercise in anxiety.
I was of 2 minds about getting on, but the drive around would have taken an extra 90 minutes and I was tired from painting all day. So, we rolled up to the Kingston Ferry Terminal around 6.20pm and immediately saw that the ticket seller--a WSF employee--was casually not wearing a mask, and chit chatting away.
WTF? I quickly got my ticket and drove into my lane to wait for the ferry. All around, on a hot afternoon, other ferry passengers strolled, puttered in their cars, sat with open windows, hardly anyone masked.
We were eventually waved onto the ferry by yet another unmasked WSF employee.
All the workers onboard were masked but it was a brief respite of presumed sanity. The 30 minute trip across the Sound was another opportunity for plenty of unmasked strolling about the boat. No announcements about covid-19 or mask wearing. Nothing. Not one. We kept our car windows rolled up despite the toasty afternoon, and watched the maskless masses roaming about.
Eventually we docked in Edmonds. A tall, thin, khaki-clad figure strode purposefully aboard, catching a black satchel and wearing a Trump2020 face mask. Another WSF employee? He wore no identifying markers and did not break stride as I yelled through my closed window to go F himself.
It was alarming on so many levels. Alarming and disappointing and disheartening. THIS is our Washington State Ferry system? These are my fellow citizens? Maskless during a pandemic? Openly wearing hate speech on their faces when they do mask up? I wrote to the Department of Transportation and received a reassuring reply that they would look into it.
Sure. Okay. I'm still fuming.
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