Germs, Pigs, and Shopping

Are you afraid you're going to get the swine flu? In all honesty, I am not. In fact, I am pretty much sick of hearing about it already. I feel terrible about this 'pandemic' and I am very sorry for those that have died because of it. However tons people die from the flu every year. Connecticut started freaking out and sending me news blasts and one day I got six of them saying how this school was closing and this school, and so and so all because they thought they had a case of it. The next day, I got a ton more news blasts as all the cases were confirmed as negative.

What really peeves me is that I have a large event coming up in my favorite city, Las Vegas, (you know I'm being sarcastic, right - if you have any doubt, click here) and with that event entails flying in about 100 people from all over the world - not to mention a zillion other things I have to do - hence the reason I do not have a life outside of work right now because I've lost my entire events team. But is besides the point. Because of this media hype about this 'pandemic' my attendees are nervous about flying to the USA and getting home safely. I don't blame them; even though the CDC and WHO both are not restricting travel at this time. But I feel bad because I'm getting harassed with emails and inquiries and have been forced to come up with a Plan B if things get out of control. Totally sucky. I do have a point to this story...

So yesterday continuing my pro activeness - after getting another nervous attendee email - I figured I would do something to help keep my attendees well once they get to Vegas. So I thought it would be a stellar idea to purchase a small hand sanitizer for each of them to put in their gift bags. I got all excited and thought it would be cool to make a little label with my event logo and say "Stay healthy and Germ Free!" or something corny to that effect. I started perusing websites found them in bulk and this is what I also found:

Due to the Swine Flu Virus, please anticipate a longer delivery time than normal for this item.

or

Due to demand, supplies may be limited, and next-day service may not be available. Please Order Early. In the event the item you are ordering is not available, we will substitute another style.

So apparently it was not such a novel idea...