In a country as heavily rules-based as the one in which we currently reside, there is bound to be a fair amount of box-checking that is only tangentially connected to actual policy objectives. The ongoing pandemic is a prime case in point. Rules abound, and while some of them are quite sensible, plenty of others appear to miss the mark entirely. Restaurants, for example, have adopted strict protocols that typically include forbidding patrons from sitting directly across from each other, even at outdoor tables. Instead, staff will push two tables together and require members of the same party to sit kitty-corner. What this accomplishes is anyone’s guess, but there seems to be no room for any common sense deviation from this established rule — not even, say, for married couples or families and their children.
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