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'It's really hard!': Restaurants poke fun at 1.5 metre distancing rule

As businesses open their doors to customers for the first time in weeks, some have taken the opportunity to poke fun at the logistical challenges of upholding social distancing rules.

Serving customers with drinks and meals, particularly to those dining in, means staff unavoidably will come closer than the 1.5 metre requirement when placing items on the table.

Staff at As Nature Intended, an organic cafe in Canberra, have come up with a hilarious way of getting around this hurdle - but their tactic involves a bit of a messy clean-up.

Staff at these businesses poked pun at social distancing rules by throwing items to tables from 1.5 metres away. Source: Facebook
Staff at these businesses poked pun at social distancing rules by throwing items to tables from 1.5 metres away. Source: Facebook

In a video uploaded to Facebook on Friday, staff members approached an empty table from the required distance, then proceeded to toss each item the 1.5 metre distance.

Liquid was shown splashing across the table and up the glass window behind the setting, prompting laugher from the woman filming the comedic display.

“We were thinking it’s quite hilarious how we’re going to serve the customers because of the 1.5 metre distancing, and (technically) we’re not allowed to go any closer,” owner Beata Wilder said.

“This is fun, we have to start laughing about it. We’re trying to (social) distance, but it’s really hard,” she told Yahoo News Australia.

The 10 customers allowed inside the cafe at a time, under the new easing of restrictions, need to adhere to floor markings and maintain social distancing between themselves.

Loyal patrons appreciated the business’s jab at the restrictions, some jokingly suggesting they might need to postpone their visit to the cafe for a few weeks due to their outlandish approach.

Ms Wilder said it had been difficult staying afloat throughout the coronavirus crisis, with tough restrictions making it tricky to keep the business’s doors open.

“It’s not easy, but we think it’s necessary (to abide by restrictions). We’re following the orders and we are very happy that there is no coronavirus in Canberra,” she said.

“Hopefully within a month or a month-and-a-half, we’ll be allowed to have more customers.”

Another video similar to the one filmed at the Canberra cafe went viral earlier this month, showing a waitress also ditching glassware towards a table, causing it to smash and create a mess.

It was jokingly tagged with the words “training for reopening” and attracted thousands of comments and shares.

Businesses across Australia have this week begun reopening to customers, but still are required to adhere to customer capacity and time limits.

From midnight Thursday, bars, restaurants and cafes were allowed to open doors to 10 people at a time, while those in the Northern Territory were permitted to open from noon on Friday.

Queenslanders were given the same luxury on Saturday, while other states and territories opted to keep their hospitality venues closed to dine-in customers for the time being.

While the gradual easing of restrictions was a promising sign the country was on its way to recovery, health ministers have warned Australians that the virus was very much still lingering.

The highest number of cases in nearly a month was recorded on Friday, with more than 7000 people nationwide infected with the virus.

NSW’s Health Minister Brad Hazzard reminded people on Saturday the “virus is still amongst us”, urging people to continue to take social distancing seriously when outside their homes.

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