by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:

2020 has been a disturbing year all the way around, what with a pandemic, fear of contagions, mandatory lockdowns, and economic devastation. We’ve had everything from a deadly virus to aliens to murder hornets. And just when you thought this year, couldn’t get any stranger, hang on to your halo.

Wait until you see some of the flabbergasting ways businesses are enforcing social distancing measures.

Mannequins, cardboard people, and sex dolls

Places that used to be bustling with human customers and spectators are now being populated with…mannequins, cardboard cut-outs, and sex dolls. It sounds like I’m making this up. I’m not.

For example, Patrick O’Connell, the chef and proprietor of The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, has teamed up with a local theater to dress mannequins in WW2 area finery to fill booths and make sure customers “maintain social distancing.”

…while adding an element of fun, the mannequins really hope to provide some of what has been lacking as many Americans seek connection in an isolating pandemic.

“We’re all craving to gather and see other people right now,” O’Connell said. “They don’t all necessarily need to be real people.” (source)

I hate to be mean because I know the intentions are good. But sitting amongst a room full of mannequins sounds more like that episode of Bates Motel when Norman had dinner with the taxidermied corpse of his mother than like a comforting return to normalcy to me.

This isn’t a one-off, either.

Next on “Dining with Dummies,” Australian restaurant-goers can sit in a cafe with cardboard people, lulled by the buzz of taped conversations on the speakers.

Photo Credit: Insider

At Five Dock Dining, cardboard cutouts will keep you company while you dine.

In Sydney, Australia, the restaurant is adapting to a post-coronavirus normal by adding cardboard cutouts to dining tables. The restaurant also plans to play guest “chatter” on the speakers…

…The limit on guests presented a challenge to Frank Angeletta, the owner of the restaurant. Five Dock Dining has a large dining space, and he was worried the area would feel empty. (source)

I applaud the effort and the creativity, I really do. But is it just me or are these efforts to put fake humans in restaurants kind of creepy?  I would much rather sit in a nearly empty restaurant than be surrounded by fake humans. If you’ll pardon the pop culture reference, anyone who has ever watched the show Supernatural knows what’s likely to happen next.

Then there are the sporting events.

A professional soccer league in South Korea made the befuddling choice to stud the bleachers with blow-up dolls holding up signs to cheer their teams along.

The club FC Seoul apologized on Monday after what it believed were ordinary mannequins — quickly recognized by many fans as sex dolls — were placed in the stands for a match against Gwangju FC.

Some on social media noted the telltale signs, like the business logos for sex toy marketers on the dolls’ clothing, or their strikingly buxom physiques. Of the roughly two dozen dolls in the stands, nearly all were women.

“We had tried to add some fun in the no-spectator match,” FC Seoul said in a statement. “But we have not checked all the details, and that is clearly our fault.” (source)

In Taiwan, a baseball game was played before a full stadium. The thing is, the stadium was full of cardboard cutouts and plastic mannequins holding signs. Oh, and a band of robot drummers.

On a balmy Saturday evening inside one of Taiwan’s largest baseball stadiums, the floodlights flickered to life and the players took their positions.

Cheerleaders began their rah-rah routines. Organ music blared through the speakers.

But as the first batter stepped up to the plate and the pitcher took a deep breath, the only fans inside the 20,000-seat stadium in the northern city of Taoyuan were cardboard cutouts and plastic mannequins.

Some wore hot-pink wigs and surgical masks. Others held signs with this cheery message: “We will always be with you!” A five-member band of robots played drums from the stands — a substitute for the usual cacophony of live music. (source)

I’m just going to present this without further commentary.

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