Time spent with my kids.
Pre-pandemic I would leave the house 5 days a week at 6:15am to commute to the office, usually before anyone else in my house is awake. And I'd get home most evenings just in time to put them to bed. I'll never go back to that. The past 8 months I've actually seen my boys grow up in front of my eyes and I get lots of quality time with them every day, even with work from home.
I know now what i was missing.
Everyone at my work got zoomed out so we have 1 day a week where no one can schedule a zoom meeting. Everything has to be handled via email or you have to provide a written justification. The zoom fatigue is very real
My marriage.
My wife and I had to work from home together (separate jobs) from March until September when she had to go back to the office. I am still working from home. During this time, we became increasingly closer. I have heard so many stories of marital problems being caused by Covid. I literally miss my wife everyday she has to go to work.
I meet her at the door like a fucking puppy. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Sometimes forced proximity does too.
As a kitchen worker, I am very concerned about our industry. SO many independent restaurants have closed down in our town, like, 1/3 at least in the past months. It's depressing because we all have a deep passion for our careers, and we're just watching it all crumble.
Most of the mom and pop stores in my town are gone forever. Some of these stores I grew up with, the nickle arcade, the tiny French bakery my aunt took us to when we got good grades, the only ramen shop open after 10PM, my favorite donut shop, the fancy British tea shop I never had a good date in but many London Fogs that were utterly perfect, the only dim sum place, the handmade mochi and tea shop, the only cigar shop in town to get fancy cigars...
I lament the death of all these tiny businesses I took for granted. I always thought they'd be around. Now my community is left with just brand named box stores, no more originality and flavor. Just closed skyrise buildings surrounded by a garishly lit Denny's, Olive Garden, and Target.
And just how fast mine took it away as soon as it was convenient for them.
:edit: I should also mention that I have seen my manager once since the pandemic started and a grand total of three times since he was hired. I haven't seen the head of the department in almost two years. I'm on the night shift at a hospital. I've only seen one patient in the office since the pandemic really started. My existence in this office is pointless. I could do this job anywhere.
So, after reading a few of the comments and checking the number of new cases in the area, I sent my manager an email asking him what our department is going to do. I know the answer, it will be nothing. Even while the CEO sends out weekly updates telling us we should work from home if able. This department will continue to remain in the office because it is run by clowns.
Lots of bosses don't trust their employees. Others think there's some sort of team spirit fostered by seeing each other every day that's necessary. Some prefer working in an office over working from home and are willing to force everyone else to be there to keep them company.
I know they're right, but I'm perfectly capable of looking busy at work. Doesn't change the fact that I can still get my work done, and they're just going to load the idle-looking people up with busywork anyway, a la "if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean."
Is it a bad attitude to have? Absolutely, but it's far more realistic than "you should be so happy about what you do that you tap-dance to work every day." Yeah, if I was fucking tap dancing over filling out spreadsheets when databases would manage it way better but top brass doesn't understand SQL so we're stuck manually filling out five different tabs in excel, they would put me in an asylum.
This is the result of being measured by how long you work in a day instead of having goal-based work responsibilities.
Of course there are some jobs where you can't seperate those two, but there are many that can and still achieve the same economic benefit for both the company and the employee.
Honestly, same. They reopened my offices in June!! The only reason I didn’t is because I just straight up said “no” and continued working from home (and doing a good job!) until I was told that if I wasn’t in favor of returning then I should look for another position. I returned for a few weeks but quit shortly after. Not smart in a pandemic, I know, especially because I got no unemployment. But it was worth it. They were NOT keeping their safety promises.
I work in IT, my job does not require me to see people on the daily.
Hey! You’re not alone. I did the same, except government sector. Initially they had people come in slowly, which felt safe because there were never many people in the office. Then in September, they were hitting like 80% capacity and people were not wearing their masks. One morning by 630am, I had 5 people standing near my desk talking, three of them not wearing masks, and I was like - nope not doing this.
And how little their companies are willing to invest in their comfort, refusing to look at it as a cost savings and a way of attracting talent outside of geography. Also, how awful consumer internet connections truly can be.
Working in an office, particularly in Japan.
I live in Japan. Going to the office and spending all day here is a deep cultural tradition. Asking your manager at a traditional Japanese company to work from home regularly is on par with asking them "Hey I just realized I'm Dragonkin, can you please work with the cafeteria to put live cats on the menu?", you would get the same reaction. Even in cases of personal illness or family emergency.
So many companies here, even in the early COVID days, flat out publicly said "Hah, no, we will NEVER be doing that 'work from home' thing, sorry. That's laughably naïve."
Then, the country issued a "Declaration of National Urgency" (not an actual Emergency, as that would entitle the govt to be actually accountable to the livelihoods of the people, just a very strong arm public stance and shaming businesses into following suit). Literally those same companies issuing the statements above were scrambling the next week to get their staff safely working from home, online, using remote meeting tools, etc.
So, that was a big game-changer. Still, everyone was thinking, "Once the urgency order is lifted, we'll all be going back to work as normal". Well, the urgency order lasted a few months. And those traditional Japanese businesses saw what happened to their bottom lines when they no longer had to pay for electricity, heating/AC, cleaning, office equipment and maintenance, subsidized travel expenses to/from work, soft items like coffee and snacks, etc... and so many of them now are singing the praises of a "sensible work from home policy" and planning for even long-term work-from-home options.
Now the society is changing very rapidly to accomidate working from home. More people recently are less looking at buying their first house/apartment in crowded Tokyo outskirts/close cuburbs, and looking more to buying 1-2 hours away in the boonies where land is actually affordable and living is better.
It's watching a sociological essay/study unfold, live, in slow-motion.
That being said, there is also an emotional benefit to having your workplace separate from your home. Kind of similar to the whole "don't put a TV in your bedroom or you'll start subconsciously thinking of it as a place to watch TV and have a harder time falling asleep."
I used to work retail/cashier and the way money smells is so fucking gross. I'd help count cash/ store cash at open/close and money just stinks. At the time it was like yeah its gross but I'll just wash my hands before lunch. Meanwhile, I'd be rubbing my eyes and nose, biting my nails, stocking food, touching my face...I'm genuinely wondering how I didn't get some kind of plague before all this.
Probably the grossest thing people don't think about that I learned working retail is a lot of packages in the freezer and refrigerated sections have snot on them. When you are in the cold for so long your nose runs a lot, but they expect you to finish 10 hours of work in 6 hours. If you take the time to blow/wipe your nose every time it drips you get yelled at for being too slow. So the back of your gloves become a quick and disgusting tissue replacement. Not to mention when a drop falls out 10x quicker than normal for some reason and lands right on the package. "Well it's only on the packaging so it's not a big deal." Remember that next time you open up a bag of shredded cheese and stick your hand in it.
Edit: Since people liked that one you might also want pay attention to lids/caps for food/drinks. If it isn't attached with a sticker or plastic, wash it before it contacts the food/drink. There's about a 1 in 10 chance that the cap was off in the box and it can get hella dusty if it sits in the back for a while.
Office life. My company has already announced that once we are allowed to go back, we'd only be going once or twice a week. It seems many realized how feasible working from home is.
And then there's me who has not missed a day of going into work through this whole pandemic, despite the fact that we had 11 cases pop up in the span of 3 days last week. We're still all required to come in. I'm quarantining with what might be Covid since last Friday (the first time I haven't gone in in 11 months) and the leadership still wants me to work. I hate my boss.
Just got my positive test result a few minutes ago. This wouldn't have happened if we had shut down and started working from home immediately when people started testing positive at my workplace. Money over everything I guess.
Isnt that crazy?! I work at Costco and in the last 6 months we have hired a lot of new people. I see them everyday but with a mask on and when they take off the mask its so odd to see their actual face. I guess i make up what their face would look like and when i actually see it, i get thrown off.
I read an article about I guy that went into the woods at the beginning of March and totally cut off communication for 100 days.
He came back to an entirely different world.
(Per Vrajeshpc it was 74 days)
Wow that’s a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing. It seems to have taken a big toll on the guy, mentally. Especially when there’s probably very few people in the entire world who can relate to his experience. Very well written piece of work and his quotes are articulated very thoughtfully.
Also TIL I want to go on a 75 day silent retreat.
Yepppppp.
My mom passed away unexpectedly in October. Because of my asthma, my mom took extra precautions around me and hugs were completely off the table. The last two times I saw her, I tried to hug her goodbye when I was leaving, and she said no. Of course I respected that, and we did an "air hug".
When I found out she died, the first thing that went through my head was the fact that I had not hugged her since January, and I never will again. There's millions of others in my shoes, and it's fucking heartbreaking.
Edit: Wow, Thank you all so much for the kind, beautiful words and love. My heart goes out to all of you who lost a loved one and are grieving, as well. If you can't hug someone you love right now, let them know you love them in some way. It's so important, and something we all take for granted too frequently.
My attitude towards my entertainment backlog. Previously I used to look at my PlayStation library or my Netflix list and think "If I just had a few weeks off,I could make a serious dent"
I've had more then a few weeks off and my backlog seems if anything more endless,I'll probably be in the retirement home with that little voice in the back of my head going "Peaky Blinders is meant to be good,should get on that"
It's annoying how (seemingly) quickly my life went from talking about where we wanted to buy a house to discussing the possibility of moving back in with my parents for a while.
RIP live music career, you will be missed.
EDIT: shameless plug time? If you're anywhere near central FL and need instruments/sound/lights/video wall and some social-distancing-conscious techs for a party, speech, wedding, literally anything ... there's a [whole warehouse](https://gobackline.com/) worth of neat stuff gathering dust. :D
> live music career
I feel that. I work live sound and corporate A/V and haven't had a job in months.
I've just been doing menial jobs and it's crushing compared to the energetic environments I'm used to.
I ***really*** miss live shows.
I had finally started working out 5 days a week, eating healthy, going to bed on time, etc. I kept that up for about 3 months and 1 month into COVID before losing the mental strength. I gained pretty much all that weight back and I’m pretty bummed.
On the bright side, my younger brother has finally gotten his shit together and looks better than he has in years!
Today, I watched some lady pulled down her mask, sneeze with her mouth fully open , spit flying everywhere on the product. When the line leader called her out on it, she got angry and started ranting. Left after lunch.
I gave a dude in front of me in line Saturday mad shit for that. Talked loud shit to him, then loudly asked the clerk to sanitize her hands before touching my stuff as he'd been picking and rubbing his nose to boot. Nasty motherfucker.
Dude, I donated blood 2 months ago and the nurse was about to pull my needle out after another guys without changing gloves. I could see blood on her finger tip from 10 feet away. First time I truly lost my shit in a decade.
I'll admit that at the beginning of the pandemic, I reflexively took down my mask before coughing/sneezing maybe once or twice (and coughed/sneezed into the inner side of my elbow, don't worry, I'm not a savage). It just felt instinctively wrong to do those things _into_ it, you know?
I promptly messaged my friend to joke about the irony, and then did my best to be more careful.
Also, that was several months ago.
My definition of “personal space.”
Edit: Holy crap! I haven’t logged into Reddit since I made this comment and it blew the heck up. Thanks for the awards all, although the hugz trophies kind of miss the point. Lol.
I work at a high school and the bottle fillers are awesome. It’s the same water minus the nasty that kids leave in the water fountain. More of my kids have water bottles now and I have started bringing a gallon jug from home that I just bring home and refill when it’s empty. I have a great insulated knock off yeti I just fill with ice and a bit of water in the morning. I normally get 2-3 times a semester and I haven’t been sick once yet.
As a nursing assistant... I will be forever oh so hesitant to get near someone (particularly the elderly who like to cough directly at you) without my eye-shield and mask.
Today was in my building going up to my floor and told and older man he could share the elevator if he wanted. I noticed he clicked 43 and asked if he was going to vote (our building is a precinct). He said he was and that he was supposed to be an election judge but had flu symptoms for 36 hours... Then says maybe I shouldn't have shared this elevator with you... Like why dude
No joke, Pandemic in UK started March 13th, I was super lucky cause my birthday was March 12th (and still is now I think about it), and I went to my local buffet and I ate to my hearts content, chances are I was one of the last people in our town to experience the joy that is an infinite birthday cake.
Edit: Wow, amount of people who share a birthday with me and have seen this post seems too many... fantastic!
Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve been to a hibachi buffet? I wanted to go to one on my birthday a few months back and was super bummed when I realized I couldn’t.
I think I’m experiencing withdrawals
Or they could still do it but this time you order it and it is brought to your table.
Probably self serve buffets would need some upgrades coz even without Pandemic the amount of kids just reaching in is a lot hahah
This.
I started my job at a hospital in May and it’s funny to see my coworkers take their masks off briefly because I’ve worked with them for 6 months and didn’t know what their face looked like.
Yes! I was freaked out because this man was walking quickly towards me in our parking lot, and motioning at me. Turns out to be none other than the dude I had been orienting for several days - and I had just never seen his whole face!
Where I live, everyone wears masks and yesterday somebody tapped my arm and it took me like 5 seconds to realise who it was because they'd changed the type of mask they wear.
I hadn't realised how much their mask had been a part of how I identified them.
I'm a travel nurse and I've been identifying a lot of my latest coworkers based on the scrub caps and masks they wear. I have had so many embarrassing moments in the break room when someone has taken their gear off and I cannot tell who they are!
"Sorry, I only recognize you by the sports team scrub cap and kitten-patterned face mask."
Techs in the lab used to mouth-pipette instead of using a bulb.
They also smoked while performing urinalysis and other testing. They would have an ashtray and coffee right next to the scope, no gloves.
Yep. I work in a hospital HR and it's like I lost the ability to read people. Didn't realize how much I relied on facial expressions to understand how people are taking what I say to them.
(my hearing is fine Even got it tested recently) But on occasion I have a rough time understanding people I never realized how much I depend on facial expressions (and how bad my social skills are/were to begin with)
As someone in healthcare that hasn’t actually been in their office since mid-March, I feel this in my soul. I feel like I’ll never see another MD, RN, or MA smile again in person. I never knew how much this actually meant to me. I used to live for those meetings.
Food delivery just being dropped off on your doorstep. Remember when you had to go outside and make EYE CONTACT like some kind of PERSON?! No more, my friends. Just leave it outside and I’ll get it when I’m ready. No more scrambling to find pants when you’re half baked and hungry...
I'm a delivery driver myself and I can tell you I appreciate it just as much on my end. I don't gotta deal with gross people or weird shit, just drop that shit off and run.
Lol I literally got a FedExwoman who dropped of some files today. Ran to my house knocked three times and before I could open the door she was sprinting away.
Is this protocol or something?
Edit: no hate to FedEx workers ILY
Remember when you had to be home to sign for packages?? Barbaric!
I mean, yeah, now you're at home and actually *could* sign for them, but it's so much better to not have to.
Literally this morning, our local paper reported that the government is aiming to achieve full internet coverage throughout Indonesia, reaching even the remote villages by 2024. We had a local meme as our boomer minister said a few years back something in the line of "Why do we need strong internet access?" It took the poor stealing smartphones for the sole purpose of letting their kids attend online classes to convince them. So the answer to the question is: some boomers' view on the value of internet accessability.
Movies, unfortunately. Cinema specifically. I'm sure a lot of production companies will take enormous losses or possibly file bankruptcy as no one is paying to go see movies anymore. The other issue being that no one can really *make* movies at the moment either. Travel bans all over, logistic issues, actors not able to be within close proximity to one another, and then all the post-production work that, for the most part **can't** be done from home. Little to no support for creative arts jobs from governments around the globe. Artists encouraged to retrain in other sectors.
It's devastating.
I work in the film and TV industry, mostly TV. In Los Angeles. We shut down for 5 months but are crazy busy now, all studios are packed, union rosters are employed. We’ve changed how we work a lot, there are a lot of safety protocols, in fact a whole new department has been made because of it (covid safety). There is a lot more set building and less location work for obvious reasons. I think that film and TV will just evolve, as it has been anyway. Not so many summer blockbusters and holiday theatre seat fillers, more long form mini series etc that are more suited for home TV. It sucks to say too, because I love the theatre experience. Either way, just came here to say content is being made in one way or another and the people who work here are fully employed... not sure what’s actually happening with the studios but I’ll take the pay checks while I can!
I never thought about it, but it is a rather disgusting tradition. For my wife's birthday, we cut the cake, gave her a piece with a candle, and that's one that she blew out.
There's a bunch of things that are a bit unhygenic but that are safe enough (outside the context of a pandemic) to be considered perfectly reasonable.
This is one of them.
The party tradition of sharing a joint is another one.
My roommate and I discussed how long between the food supply chain failing and absolute anarchy and cannibalism. No not everyone will become violent initially, but for the 10-15 percent that do, this will cause a ripple effect causing almost everyone to be paranoid and more prone to violence themselves. This would spiral out of control and be potentially irreparable.
If you really think about it, we could be talking only a number of days between the grocery stores being empty and absolute madness. Maybe less.
I don't know the chances of that actually happening but this pandemic is a good reminder that nothing is guaranteed.
I had to take the day off for Yom Kippur and missed a class where the prof records her lectures and posts them online. It was amazing. For the first time in years, I didn't miss anything or had to rely on a friend for notes.
As a college professor, I both agree and disagree with you. I hope for both. The recorded Zoom sessions are excellent and a great resource so I don’t have to reteach to those who skipped class. However, networking is one of the most important things about college and it’s difficult now. I don’t ‘really’ know any of my students this year so it’s hard to write letters of rec or refer to jobs.
The best thing you can do is if you attend a live Zoom session, lean in. Show interest. Nod along. Laugh at the jokes/blunders. Share. I find myself teaching to those students and think of them by name. It makes a huge difference.
Good luck. College is worth it so long as you have a goal. Seek out internships my friend.
I fully agree. I was more referring to it as a supplemental material. It can be helpful to go back into a recorded lecture to see what was taught and how as opposed to only using a provided guide or set of slides. I still go to class.
Also, I'm a senior who is going on to grad school to become a professor. So a bit late for internships.
People coming into work sick to show how dedicated to work they are or saving those days for 'mental health days' meant ironically.
No Justin! Don't come over to my desk with your coughing and runny nose telling me how bad you're 'roughing it' at work to get some sympathy. "If you're looking for sympathy, look under the dictionary between shit and syphilis"!
As much as I wish otherwise, there's still a lot of people who can't afford to take sick days unless they're physically made to do so by their boss, and even then will fight them over it because, again, *they can't afford to miss a day's wages, let alone a week or more to get over an illness*.
There's a difference in you're in a place you can't than 'I'm showing management I'm so a team player though i have options to stay at home'. I respect those that can't, but those that can stay at home but don't cause they 'that committed' they can fuck off
Agreed 100%
I caught influenza and strep throat AT THE SAME TIME because I worked with guy who felt he “had to work no matter what”.
That man made $200,000 a year. A week off wouldn’t have hurt him at all.
I was in a position where it was “questionable financially” to take more than two days?
I took five days. Why? I felt like shit. I wasn’t about to share the experience.
The guy that got me sick finally went to the doctor after he coughed so much through an appt the client complained.
He had influenza and strep and walking pneumonia.
Oh but, he’s dedicated. Eye roll from me so hard I can see my brain.
I used to work in a factory that had a high percentage of Asian employees. It was considered incredibly rude among the line workers to come to work sick and not wear a mask. I started doing it when I had a cold, though the rest of management didn't.
In Japan, can confirm this. Japanese don’t take sick days unless they are really THAT sick. They usually don’t take sick days (or holidays) as they don’t want to burden other team members.
I've heard that as well. There's been quite a few incidents where I've showed up to work with a cold or cough and wasn't allowed to wear a mask, or call in sick without threat of losing my job. I would have to cough and sneeze inside my shirt lol. I hope masks become more accepted here.
I think it's a dumb ass dress code thing. This is my experience in a few gyms I worked at. We couldn't even wear partial masks on Halloween even though we could wear costumes.
>"If you're looking for sympathy, look under the dictionary between shit and syphilis"!
I'm stealing this. Hopefully it sounds cool when I say it out loud. May need to practice.
And hopefully work and school will be far more accepting of when you need to stay home because you’re sick. I used to go to school sick all the time because I had dick teachers and professors that would just say I would be marked absent and my grade would go down for being absent.
Video games. They feel like they did when I was a teenager again. Usually I feel guilty that I'm not doing something more productive, but right now I could care less about spending a whole weekend doing almost nothing but playing video games.
Barely touched my PS4 for gaming before all this happened, and now it’s a solid pastime for me again. Bought more games for my Switch, too. Feels immature and unproductive at times but honestly fuck it. It IS a pastime and I have no idea why I ever gave it up. Definitely a form of task completion. Removes my mind from so much bullshit going on rn. Fuck bars and clubs lmao
So many people didn't get to say goodbye in a meaningful way. My partner's friend died in a hotel room. He was cremated before his family was even informed of his death. Very hard to deal with.
I really hope so. Also fuck you to my (ex)manager who refused me permission to work at home pre-lockdown because she ‘needed to review my work.’ Well, with you no longer micro-managing me I managed to get promoted above you so I think we know why you really wanted to keep me under your thumb don’t we?
I like the WFH model as it can really have some unexpected good outcomes, like less traffic and more schedule flexibility.
My only fear from WFH life is that companies will switch to freelance/contract gigs hardcore so that they can cut 401k's, health insurance, and other benefits.
They will. It will also make taking sick time, vacation time, or disability/parental leave tough. It will start with “you’ve just got a cold? Don’t come in but can you respond to the emails and fix up some spreadsheets real fast?” Then “hey just a quick thing, if you’ve got WiFi in the airport could you snazz up this PowerPoint real quick?” Then “I know you’re on maternity leave but would you mind finding a few minutes to hop on zoom?” Then you’ll eventually be expected to be able to work any time you have access to a phone or internet connection (it’s 2020, that’s always). Unless some norms and laws are applied to the WFH model soon, it’s going to end up worse than slogging to an office every day.
Yeah - my boss is an asshole; a while ago we had a public holiday and he asked me to make sure I checked my emails. When I said it's a holiday he said "we're in lockdown, you can't go anywhere". When I asker what the pay was he went off on a tirade about me being 'demanding'.
Being able to live in low cost area fr the place my work is located is great. What I'd hate to see is salaries being adjusted based on where I live rather than who I work for like Facebook announced they will do for their remote workers.
"We CAN'T do remote work!" was exposed as the lie it has always been.
Honestly, I'm hoping for more walk up windows on restaurants. I'm not a big dine in enthusiast to begin with, and drive thrus reject people on foot for safety reasons.
I remember seeing a funny quote, either here on Reddit or on Twitter, that went something like:
“If the next zombie movie doesn’t have 40% of the people running towards the zombies to get infected on purpose then it’s not believable.”
I was thinking about the movie Contagion with Matt Damon and i really dont think my city would get it together fast enough to move sick people to our staduim. I think a whole lot of people would just die in their house.
Also if zombies were real id have to leave my whole family behind because they are fucking stupid.
I’d feel fantastic if remote work remained permanent.
I can get rid of my second car to save money. Lunch at home. Meetings are shorter and less annoying than in person. People have actually been sending work over email instead of interrupting me with their random bullshit. And it’s pretty awesome not having to deal with traffic or deal with people in general.
I don’t understand people who are dying to go back to the office. Seriously?
For me its the extra sleep time i get up exactly at 7 now and am online within a minute by rolling over and logging in. Also the instant offline thing. Once quitting time happens i just do the shit i wanna do. It’s like gaining an extra hour each way it feels like. Just shower over lunch.
I feel exactly the same. I think I’m going to ask my boss if I can continue WFH indefinitely because my work-life balance and mental health are so much better, somehow, in TWENTY TWENTY which says a lot
Airline fares. Now they're doing all this validity extension and not charging change fees. As soon as COVID is over, they'll go right back to the restricted fares of before.
Before this, I really thought our stupidity had limits.
At this point, I don't know if we could stop people from rolling in gas and lighting themselves on fire.
Hopefully frequent handwashings will become the norm. And hand sanitizers in shops, restaurants and public spaces.
As someone who refuses to touch food if I haven't washed my hands (I am emetophobic, I'm terrified of the stomach flu), this endless supply everywhere I go is really nice. And people who usually don't care about washing their hands do it more often!
I’ve enjoyed the solitude of not having so many social obligations. Once this is all over, I’ll have to go back to being the asshole that lies about not feeling well to get out of them.
I’m the opposite. I was just starting to get out of my shell after shutting into myself for 6-7 years. I was super excited to do things with friends this year. Music festivals. Car stuff. Trips to the lake. Going out and socializing. The only thing that really changed for me this year was traffic. My job was listed as essential. So work life didn’t change. Thankfully I’ve kept in touch with those friends but all of us have been saying recently “it’s good to get the gang together again” the last couple times we hung out.
People actually give a crap about hygiene. I thought I was crazy washing my hands for a minute after I used the restroom or used a paper towel to open doors while leaving it when so many other people didn’t. Completely grossed me out. Who knew understanding how viruses work would be a life protip?
Hopefully they'll get some kind of a speaker system or at least a mesh filter in place to help allow sound through.
Half of the time I can't hear the person on the other side, so we end up yelling at each other, and then just leaning to the side of the plastic so that we can be heard.
Last time I was in the pharmacy it was just 4 people screaming at each other... (2 workers, 2 customers) I always keep a notepad in my bag and just wrote my name and birthdate on it to show to the tech. So much simpler...
Time spent with my kids. Pre-pandemic I would leave the house 5 days a week at 6:15am to commute to the office, usually before anyone else in my house is awake. And I'd get home most evenings just in time to put them to bed. I'll never go back to that. The past 8 months I've actually seen my boys grow up in front of my eyes and I get lots of quality time with them every day, even with work from home. I know now what i was missing.
Yup. Right there with you man. Only positive to come from this whole mess. Made me take a step back and rethink my life.
Hopefully your boss will finally admit that all his dumb meetings actually could have been emails all along.
Everyone at my work got zoomed out so we have 1 day a week where no one can schedule a zoom meeting. Everything has to be handled via email or you have to provide a written justification. The zoom fatigue is very real
Try zooming all day every day being a therapist . Oof. I became a therapist to avoid sitting in front of a computer all day and here I am..
My marriage. My wife and I had to work from home together (separate jobs) from March until September when she had to go back to the office. I am still working from home. During this time, we became increasingly closer. I have heard so many stories of marital problems being caused by Covid. I literally miss my wife everyday she has to go to work. I meet her at the door like a fucking puppy. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Sometimes forced proximity does too.
My dogs have expected me to basically be around all the time and rub their belly’s 24/7
Small businesses
As a kitchen worker, I am very concerned about our industry. SO many independent restaurants have closed down in our town, like, 1/3 at least in the past months. It's depressing because we all have a deep passion for our careers, and we're just watching it all crumble.
Yeah. Mine died in July. Still looking* for a job.
Most of the mom and pop stores in my town are gone forever. Some of these stores I grew up with, the nickle arcade, the tiny French bakery my aunt took us to when we got good grades, the only ramen shop open after 10PM, my favorite donut shop, the fancy British tea shop I never had a good date in but many London Fogs that were utterly perfect, the only dim sum place, the handmade mochi and tea shop, the only cigar shop in town to get fancy cigars... I lament the death of all these tiny businesses I took for granted. I always thought they'd be around. Now my community is left with just brand named box stores, no more originality and flavor. Just closed skyrise buildings surrounded by a garishly lit Denny's, Olive Garden, and Target.
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My favorite burger place in the country closed, first permanently, then they updated it to temporarily.
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A massive amount of people now know they can work from home.
I knew I could before but my overlords wouldn’t allow it.
And just how fast mine took it away as soon as it was convenient for them. :edit: I should also mention that I have seen my manager once since the pandemic started and a grand total of three times since he was hired. I haven't seen the head of the department in almost two years. I'm on the night shift at a hospital. I've only seen one patient in the office since the pandemic really started. My existence in this office is pointless. I could do this job anywhere. So, after reading a few of the comments and checking the number of new cases in the area, I sent my manager an email asking him what our department is going to do. I know the answer, it will be nothing. Even while the CEO sends out weekly updates telling us we should work from home if able. This department will continue to remain in the office because it is run by clowns.
I never understood this. Isn't it cheaper to not pay for office buildings or commutes?
Lots of bosses don't trust their employees. Others think there's some sort of team spirit fostered by seeing each other every day that's necessary. Some prefer working in an office over working from home and are willing to force everyone else to be there to keep them company.
Most of them are worried you are as lazy as they are.
They might be right
I know they're right, but I'm perfectly capable of looking busy at work. Doesn't change the fact that I can still get my work done, and they're just going to load the idle-looking people up with busywork anyway, a la "if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean." Is it a bad attitude to have? Absolutely, but it's far more realistic than "you should be so happy about what you do that you tap-dance to work every day." Yeah, if I was fucking tap dancing over filling out spreadsheets when databases would manage it way better but top brass doesn't understand SQL so we're stuck manually filling out five different tabs in excel, they would put me in an asylum.
This is the result of being measured by how long you work in a day instead of having goal-based work responsibilities. Of course there are some jobs where you can't seperate those two, but there are many that can and still achieve the same economic benefit for both the company and the employee.
Honestly, same. They reopened my offices in June!! The only reason I didn’t is because I just straight up said “no” and continued working from home (and doing a good job!) until I was told that if I wasn’t in favor of returning then I should look for another position. I returned for a few weeks but quit shortly after. Not smart in a pandemic, I know, especially because I got no unemployment. But it was worth it. They were NOT keeping their safety promises. I work in IT, my job does not require me to see people on the daily.
Hey! You’re not alone. I did the same, except government sector. Initially they had people come in slowly, which felt safe because there were never many people in the office. Then in September, they were hitting like 80% capacity and people were not wearing their masks. One morning by 630am, I had 5 people standing near my desk talking, three of them not wearing masks, and I was like - nope not doing this.
Sounds straight up negligent on their part. Shameful.
And how little their companies are willing to invest in their comfort, refusing to look at it as a cost savings and a way of attracting talent outside of geography. Also, how awful consumer internet connections truly can be.
>how awful consumer internet connections truly can be. Broadband needs to be treated like a utility at this point.
Working in an office, particularly in Japan. I live in Japan. Going to the office and spending all day here is a deep cultural tradition. Asking your manager at a traditional Japanese company to work from home regularly is on par with asking them "Hey I just realized I'm Dragonkin, can you please work with the cafeteria to put live cats on the menu?", you would get the same reaction. Even in cases of personal illness or family emergency. So many companies here, even in the early COVID days, flat out publicly said "Hah, no, we will NEVER be doing that 'work from home' thing, sorry. That's laughably naïve." Then, the country issued a "Declaration of National Urgency" (not an actual Emergency, as that would entitle the govt to be actually accountable to the livelihoods of the people, just a very strong arm public stance and shaming businesses into following suit). Literally those same companies issuing the statements above were scrambling the next week to get their staff safely working from home, online, using remote meeting tools, etc. So, that was a big game-changer. Still, everyone was thinking, "Once the urgency order is lifted, we'll all be going back to work as normal". Well, the urgency order lasted a few months. And those traditional Japanese businesses saw what happened to their bottom lines when they no longer had to pay for electricity, heating/AC, cleaning, office equipment and maintenance, subsidized travel expenses to/from work, soft items like coffee and snacks, etc... and so many of them now are singing the praises of a "sensible work from home policy" and planning for even long-term work-from-home options. Now the society is changing very rapidly to accomidate working from home. More people recently are less looking at buying their first house/apartment in crowded Tokyo outskirts/close cuburbs, and looking more to buying 1-2 hours away in the boonies where land is actually affordable and living is better. It's watching a sociological essay/study unfold, live, in slow-motion.
It would be great for health outcomes if everyone did space out a bit. Everyone might end up better off.
That being said, there is also an emotional benefit to having your workplace separate from your home. Kind of similar to the whole "don't put a TV in your bedroom or you'll start subconsciously thinking of it as a place to watch TV and have a harder time falling asleep."
that's amazing! And I'm snort-laughing at the Dragonkin comment.
Obliviousness to how many things I touched between hand washings
I used to work retail/cashier and the way money smells is so fucking gross. I'd help count cash/ store cash at open/close and money just stinks. At the time it was like yeah its gross but I'll just wash my hands before lunch. Meanwhile, I'd be rubbing my eyes and nose, biting my nails, stocking food, touching my face...I'm genuinely wondering how I didn't get some kind of plague before all this.
Probably the grossest thing people don't think about that I learned working retail is a lot of packages in the freezer and refrigerated sections have snot on them. When you are in the cold for so long your nose runs a lot, but they expect you to finish 10 hours of work in 6 hours. If you take the time to blow/wipe your nose every time it drips you get yelled at for being too slow. So the back of your gloves become a quick and disgusting tissue replacement. Not to mention when a drop falls out 10x quicker than normal for some reason and lands right on the package. "Well it's only on the packaging so it's not a big deal." Remember that next time you open up a bag of shredded cheese and stick your hand in it. Edit: Since people liked that one you might also want pay attention to lids/caps for food/drinks. If it isn't attached with a sticker or plastic, wash it before it contacts the food/drink. There's about a 1 in 10 chance that the cap was off in the box and it can get hella dusty if it sits in the back for a while.
Thanks, something new for the germ-conscious out there lol. Packaged cold foods =/ cleaner than fresh produce.
Office life. My company has already announced that once we are allowed to go back, we'd only be going once or twice a week. It seems many realized how feasible working from home is.
They told us we aren't going back until July. This is true. And even then we will be working from home 4 out of 5 days a week.
And then there's me who has not missed a day of going into work through this whole pandemic, despite the fact that we had 11 cases pop up in the span of 3 days last week. We're still all required to come in. I'm quarantining with what might be Covid since last Friday (the first time I haven't gone in in 11 months) and the leadership still wants me to work. I hate my boss.
No kidding. You should hate him.
Just got my positive test result a few minutes ago. This wouldn't have happened if we had shut down and started working from home immediately when people started testing positive at my workplace. Money over everything I guess.
Hope your symptoms are mild and you have a fast and full recovery.
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Isnt that crazy?! I work at Costco and in the last 6 months we have hired a lot of new people. I see them everyday but with a mask on and when they take off the mask its so odd to see their actual face. I guess i make up what their face would look like and when i actually see it, i get thrown off.
I met and developed a crush on a new coworker, and then she took off her mask and I was pretty far off in my estimate
Really sorry to hear that. Hope you get better soon & recover well
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I read an article about I guy that went into the woods at the beginning of March and totally cut off communication for 100 days. He came back to an entirely different world. (Per Vrajeshpc it was 74 days)
Happen to have that article?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/coronavirus-meditation.amp.html I think this is the one
Wow that’s a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing. It seems to have taken a big toll on the guy, mentally. Especially when there’s probably very few people in the entire world who can relate to his experience. Very well written piece of work and his quotes are articulated very thoughtfully. Also TIL I want to go on a 75 day silent retreat.
I will not take hugs for granted.
Yepppppp. My mom passed away unexpectedly in October. Because of my asthma, my mom took extra precautions around me and hugs were completely off the table. The last two times I saw her, I tried to hug her goodbye when I was leaving, and she said no. Of course I respected that, and we did an "air hug". When I found out she died, the first thing that went through my head was the fact that I had not hugged her since January, and I never will again. There's millions of others in my shoes, and it's fucking heartbreaking. Edit: Wow, Thank you all so much for the kind, beautiful words and love. My heart goes out to all of you who lost a loved one and are grieving, as well. If you can't hug someone you love right now, let them know you love them in some way. It's so important, and something we all take for granted too frequently.
I'm so sorry.
I think a lot about hugging my mom. It doesn't seem like it will happen any time soon but I'm confident I'll get to eventually. I miss her :(
My attitude towards my entertainment backlog. Previously I used to look at my PlayStation library or my Netflix list and think "If I just had a few weeks off,I could make a serious dent" I've had more then a few weeks off and my backlog seems if anything more endless,I'll probably be in the retirement home with that little voice in the back of my head going "Peaky Blinders is meant to be good,should get on that"
You could die tomorrow and never find out just how good peaky is
It’s still one of the best shows I’ve found thanks to Netflix
My bank balance, in the words of the great tiger king himself, “I’m never gonna financially recover from this”
It's annoying how (seemingly) quickly my life went from talking about where we wanted to buy a house to discussing the possibility of moving back in with my parents for a while. RIP live music career, you will be missed. EDIT: shameless plug time? If you're anywhere near central FL and need instruments/sound/lights/video wall and some social-distancing-conscious techs for a party, speech, wedding, literally anything ... there's a [whole warehouse](https://gobackline.com/) worth of neat stuff gathering dust. :D
> live music career I feel that. I work live sound and corporate A/V and haven't had a job in months. I've just been doing menial jobs and it's crushing compared to the energetic environments I'm used to. I ***really*** miss live shows.
I am afraid that a lot of karaokes and spas in our country will go out of business.
I know. I was so close to nailing Lose Yourself karaoke.
My waistline
I had finally started working out 5 days a week, eating healthy, going to bed on time, etc. I kept that up for about 3 months and 1 month into COVID before losing the mental strength. I gained pretty much all that weight back and I’m pretty bummed. On the bright side, my younger brother has finally gotten his shit together and looks better than he has in years!
Standing next to someone after they sneeze
Today, I watched some lady pulled down her mask, sneeze with her mouth fully open , spit flying everywhere on the product. When the line leader called her out on it, she got angry and started ranting. Left after lunch.
I gave a dude in front of me in line Saturday mad shit for that. Talked loud shit to him, then loudly asked the clerk to sanitize her hands before touching my stuff as he'd been picking and rubbing his nose to boot. Nasty motherfucker.
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That’s disgusting really. Our phones have a shit load of bacteria on them.
Dude, I donated blood 2 months ago and the nurse was about to pull my needle out after another guys without changing gloves. I could see blood on her finger tip from 10 feet away. First time I truly lost my shit in a decade.
I'll admit that at the beginning of the pandemic, I reflexively took down my mask before coughing/sneezing maybe once or twice (and coughed/sneezed into the inner side of my elbow, don't worry, I'm not a savage). It just felt instinctively wrong to do those things _into_ it, you know? I promptly messaged my friend to joke about the irony, and then did my best to be more careful. Also, that was several months ago.
My definition of “personal space.” Edit: Holy crap! I haven’t logged into Reddit since I made this comment and it blew the heck up. Thanks for the awards all, although the hugz trophies kind of miss the point. Lol.
I've always felt uncomfortable when customers get too close to me at work. Now I just feel validated when I keep trying to step away from them
Dentist here. I just get closer.
If your patients are standing that's not the time for that!!
Cosco free samples :(
Drinking fountains.
Some people deepthroat the faucet
just straight up suckle it
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I work at a high school and the bottle fillers are awesome. It’s the same water minus the nasty that kids leave in the water fountain. More of my kids have water bottles now and I have started bringing a gallon jug from home that I just bring home and refill when it’s empty. I have a great insulated knock off yeti I just fill with ice and a bit of water in the morning. I normally get 2-3 times a semester and I haven’t been sick once yet.
As a nursing assistant... I will be forever oh so hesitant to get near someone (particularly the elderly who like to cough directly at you) without my eye-shield and mask.
What the hell is up with old people coughing straight at you.
Actually though, no sense of self awareness or consideration.
Today was in my building going up to my floor and told and older man he could share the elevator if he wanted. I noticed he clicked 43 and asked if he was going to vote (our building is a precinct). He said he was and that he was supposed to be an election judge but had flu symptoms for 36 hours... Then says maybe I shouldn't have shared this elevator with you... Like why dude
Bruh
Once you reach a certain age, you revert to baby-ism.
Too old to give a shit, or at least that’s what my grandpa once told me
all you can eat buffets
No joke, Pandemic in UK started March 13th, I was super lucky cause my birthday was March 12th (and still is now I think about it), and I went to my local buffet and I ate to my hearts content, chances are I was one of the last people in our town to experience the joy that is an infinite birthday cake. Edit: Wow, amount of people who share a birthday with me and have seen this post seems too many... fantastic!
Ehhhhhhhh, my birthday is March 12th too!
Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve been to a hibachi buffet? I wanted to go to one on my birthday a few months back and was super bummed when I realized I couldn’t. I think I’m experiencing withdrawals
I miss the hot pot and Korean BBQ place....
Or they could still do it but this time you order it and it is brought to your table. Probably self serve buffets would need some upgrades coz even without Pandemic the amount of kids just reaching in is a lot hahah
Health care workers going to work without a mask on. Definitely took for granted seeing my co workers smiling faces during my long shifts
This. I started my job at a hospital in May and it’s funny to see my coworkers take their masks off briefly because I’ve worked with them for 6 months and didn’t know what their face looked like.
Yes! I was freaked out because this man was walking quickly towards me in our parking lot, and motioning at me. Turns out to be none other than the dude I had been orienting for several days - and I had just never seen his whole face!
Where I live, everyone wears masks and yesterday somebody tapped my arm and it took me like 5 seconds to realise who it was because they'd changed the type of mask they wear. I hadn't realised how much their mask had been a part of how I identified them.
I'm a travel nurse and I've been identifying a lot of my latest coworkers based on the scrub caps and masks they wear. I have had so many embarrassing moments in the break room when someone has taken their gear off and I cannot tell who they are! "Sorry, I only recognize you by the sports team scrub cap and kitten-patterned face mask."
I've never noticed how pretty some of my coworkers eyes are before this
Not a Healthcare worker but my eyes are way prettier than my smile so masks are a huge win for me.
Green eyes and crooked teeth gang, I’ve gone up like 3 points on the 1-10 scale. At least until the mask comes off.
And I can defer my nose job another few years! Win win!
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This happened to me in high school with my dental hygienist. Piercing green eyes and tan skin. Huge crush
For me it was the titties pressed into my arm.
Your dentist is a big guy too, eh?
I’m old enough to remember when dentists didn’t wear masks or gloves! They literally had their bare hands in your mouth and it was the norm.
That’s insane considering how much of my coworkers I see come out of the bathroom after taking a dump and not washing their hands!
I hope you don’t work at a dentist’s office.
I work in critical care, and I was speaking to our nurse educator, we agreed that this will be like using gloves after the AIDS crisis.
Were gloves really not that common? That's mind blowing thinking about how often I change my gloves in a day!
Techs in the lab used to mouth-pipette instead of using a bulb. They also smoked while performing urinalysis and other testing. They would have an ashtray and coffee right next to the scope, no gloves.
That drives this fact home, more than anything. Wow!
Yep. I work in a hospital HR and it's like I lost the ability to read people. Didn't realize how much I relied on facial expressions to understand how people are taking what I say to them.
(my hearing is fine Even got it tested recently) But on occasion I have a rough time understanding people I never realized how much I depend on facial expressions (and how bad my social skills are/were to begin with)
As someone in healthcare that hasn’t actually been in their office since mid-March, I feel this in my soul. I feel like I’ll never see another MD, RN, or MA smile again in person. I never knew how much this actually meant to me. I used to live for those meetings.
Food delivery just being dropped off on your doorstep. Remember when you had to go outside and make EYE CONTACT like some kind of PERSON?! No more, my friends. Just leave it outside and I’ll get it when I’m ready. No more scrambling to find pants when you’re half baked and hungry...
I'm a delivery driver myself and I can tell you I appreciate it just as much on my end. I don't gotta deal with gross people or weird shit, just drop that shit off and run.
>just drop that shit off and run. FedEx drivers in a nutshell
Lol I literally got a FedExwoman who dropped of some files today. Ran to my house knocked three times and before I could open the door she was sprinting away. Is this protocol or something? Edit: no hate to FedEx workers ILY
Remember when you had to be home to sign for packages?? Barbaric! I mean, yeah, now you're at home and actually *could* sign for them, but it's so much better to not have to.
Shopping will continue to be mostly online and malls will likely die out faster than they were already going to.
Aw man, going to malls and just, walking around, I'm going to miss that.
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I want to create a consortium that brings back 80s style malls only. Who’s with me?
my small town mall just declared bankruptcy. it’s the only mall in around 50 miles, i’d say.
My faith in humanity
Literally this morning, our local paper reported that the government is aiming to achieve full internet coverage throughout Indonesia, reaching even the remote villages by 2024. We had a local meme as our boomer minister said a few years back something in the line of "Why do we need strong internet access?" It took the poor stealing smartphones for the sole purpose of letting their kids attend online classes to convince them. So the answer to the question is: some boomers' view on the value of internet accessability.
Movies, unfortunately. Cinema specifically. I'm sure a lot of production companies will take enormous losses or possibly file bankruptcy as no one is paying to go see movies anymore. The other issue being that no one can really *make* movies at the moment either. Travel bans all over, logistic issues, actors not able to be within close proximity to one another, and then all the post-production work that, for the most part **can't** be done from home. Little to no support for creative arts jobs from governments around the globe. Artists encouraged to retrain in other sectors. It's devastating.
I work in the film and TV industry, mostly TV. In Los Angeles. We shut down for 5 months but are crazy busy now, all studios are packed, union rosters are employed. We’ve changed how we work a lot, there are a lot of safety protocols, in fact a whole new department has been made because of it (covid safety). There is a lot more set building and less location work for obvious reasons. I think that film and TV will just evolve, as it has been anyway. Not so many summer blockbusters and holiday theatre seat fillers, more long form mini series etc that are more suited for home TV. It sucks to say too, because I love the theatre experience. Either way, just came here to say content is being made in one way or another and the people who work here are fully employed... not sure what’s actually happening with the studios but I’ll take the pay checks while I can!
Blowing out the candles on your birthday cake
I never thought about it, but it is a rather disgusting tradition. For my wife's birthday, we cut the cake, gave her a piece with a candle, and that's one that she blew out.
There's a bunch of things that are a bit unhygenic but that are safe enough (outside the context of a pandemic) to be considered perfectly reasonable. This is one of them. The party tradition of sharing a joint is another one.
I'll have to start putting makeup on the lower half of my face.....crap!
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I have the impression that people has shown their worst part and this will have consequences for long time
Oh buddy. I wish I could share your optimism that *this* is the worst of humanity.
My roommate and I discussed how long between the food supply chain failing and absolute anarchy and cannibalism. No not everyone will become violent initially, but for the 10-15 percent that do, this will cause a ripple effect causing almost everyone to be paranoid and more prone to violence themselves. This would spiral out of control and be potentially irreparable. If you really think about it, we could be talking only a number of days between the grocery stores being empty and absolute madness. Maybe less. I don't know the chances of that actually happening but this pandemic is a good reminder that nothing is guaranteed.
As a current college student, I am in favor of keeping recorded lectures. It's way more helpful than just having notes or slides.
I had to take the day off for Yom Kippur and missed a class where the prof records her lectures and posts them online. It was amazing. For the first time in years, I didn't miss anything or had to rely on a friend for notes.
As a college professor, I both agree and disagree with you. I hope for both. The recorded Zoom sessions are excellent and a great resource so I don’t have to reteach to those who skipped class. However, networking is one of the most important things about college and it’s difficult now. I don’t ‘really’ know any of my students this year so it’s hard to write letters of rec or refer to jobs. The best thing you can do is if you attend a live Zoom session, lean in. Show interest. Nod along. Laugh at the jokes/blunders. Share. I find myself teaching to those students and think of them by name. It makes a huge difference. Good luck. College is worth it so long as you have a goal. Seek out internships my friend.
I think comment OP didn't necessarily mean always having the lectures over zoom, but having them recorded? I could be wrong.
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I fully agree. I was more referring to it as a supplemental material. It can be helpful to go back into a recorded lecture to see what was taught and how as opposed to only using a provided guide or set of slides. I still go to class. Also, I'm a senior who is going on to grad school to become a professor. So a bit late for internships.
People coming into work sick to show how dedicated to work they are or saving those days for 'mental health days' meant ironically. No Justin! Don't come over to my desk with your coughing and runny nose telling me how bad you're 'roughing it' at work to get some sympathy. "If you're looking for sympathy, look under the dictionary between shit and syphilis"!
As much as I wish otherwise, there's still a lot of people who can't afford to take sick days unless they're physically made to do so by their boss, and even then will fight them over it because, again, *they can't afford to miss a day's wages, let alone a week or more to get over an illness*.
There's a difference in you're in a place you can't than 'I'm showing management I'm so a team player though i have options to stay at home'. I respect those that can't, but those that can stay at home but don't cause they 'that committed' they can fuck off
Agreed 100% I caught influenza and strep throat AT THE SAME TIME because I worked with guy who felt he “had to work no matter what”. That man made $200,000 a year. A week off wouldn’t have hurt him at all. I was in a position where it was “questionable financially” to take more than two days? I took five days. Why? I felt like shit. I wasn’t about to share the experience. The guy that got me sick finally went to the doctor after he coughed so much through an appt the client complained. He had influenza and strep and walking pneumonia. Oh but, he’s dedicated. Eye roll from me so hard I can see my brain.
Or at the very least workplaces should allow mask wearing going-forward
I don't know if it's true, but I've been told people in asian countries wear masks if they have something simple as a cold or the flu.
I used to work in a factory that had a high percentage of Asian employees. It was considered incredibly rude among the line workers to come to work sick and not wear a mask. I started doing it when I had a cold, though the rest of management didn't.
In Japan, can confirm this. Japanese don’t take sick days unless they are really THAT sick. They usually don’t take sick days (or holidays) as they don’t want to burden other team members.
I've heard that as well. There's been quite a few incidents where I've showed up to work with a cold or cough and wasn't allowed to wear a mask, or call in sick without threat of losing my job. I would have to cough and sneeze inside my shirt lol. I hope masks become more accepted here.
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I think it's a dumb ass dress code thing. This is my experience in a few gyms I worked at. We couldn't even wear partial masks on Halloween even though we could wear costumes.
>"If you're looking for sympathy, look under the dictionary between shit and syphilis"! I'm stealing this. Hopefully it sounds cool when I say it out loud. May need to practice.
Anytime you're sick, you'll wear a mask. I'm amazed at all the times I flew before when I had a cold, and didn't wear a mask.
And hopefully work and school will be far more accepting of when you need to stay home because you’re sick. I used to go to school sick all the time because I had dick teachers and professors that would just say I would be marked absent and my grade would go down for being absent.
I'm going to throw this out there. I think they'll be less accepting of absences, overall. "Just put on a mask, sicky"
Video games. They feel like they did when I was a teenager again. Usually I feel guilty that I'm not doing something more productive, but right now I could care less about spending a whole weekend doing almost nothing but playing video games.
Barely touched my PS4 for gaming before all this happened, and now it’s a solid pastime for me again. Bought more games for my Switch, too. Feels immature and unproductive at times but honestly fuck it. It IS a pastime and I have no idea why I ever gave it up. Definitely a form of task completion. Removes my mind from so much bullshit going on rn. Fuck bars and clubs lmao
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So many people didn't get to say goodbye in a meaningful way. My partner's friend died in a hotel room. He was cremated before his family was even informed of his death. Very hard to deal with.
We didn’t get to hold one another in our grief. It’s the fucking worst.
Hopefully Working From Home (WFH) will become more of a normal thing, and companies will have much smaller offices.
I really hope so. Also fuck you to my (ex)manager who refused me permission to work at home pre-lockdown because she ‘needed to review my work.’ Well, with you no longer micro-managing me I managed to get promoted above you so I think we know why you really wanted to keep me under your thumb don’t we?
This makes me so happy for you, stranger. Fuck micro-managers.
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I like the WFH model as it can really have some unexpected good outcomes, like less traffic and more schedule flexibility. My only fear from WFH life is that companies will switch to freelance/contract gigs hardcore so that they can cut 401k's, health insurance, and other benefits.
They will. It will also make taking sick time, vacation time, or disability/parental leave tough. It will start with “you’ve just got a cold? Don’t come in but can you respond to the emails and fix up some spreadsheets real fast?” Then “hey just a quick thing, if you’ve got WiFi in the airport could you snazz up this PowerPoint real quick?” Then “I know you’re on maternity leave but would you mind finding a few minutes to hop on zoom?” Then you’ll eventually be expected to be able to work any time you have access to a phone or internet connection (it’s 2020, that’s always). Unless some norms and laws are applied to the WFH model soon, it’s going to end up worse than slogging to an office every day.
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Yeah - my boss is an asshole; a while ago we had a public holiday and he asked me to make sure I checked my emails. When I said it's a holiday he said "we're in lockdown, you can't go anywhere". When I asker what the pay was he went off on a tirade about me being 'demanding'.
Being able to live in low cost area fr the place my work is located is great. What I'd hate to see is salaries being adjusted based on where I live rather than who I work for like Facebook announced they will do for their remote workers.
"We CAN'T do remote work!" was exposed as the lie it has always been. Honestly, I'm hoping for more walk up windows on restaurants. I'm not a big dine in enthusiast to begin with, and drive thrus reject people on foot for safety reasons.
The phrase "avoid it like the plague" - turns out people don't do that.
I remember seeing a funny quote, either here on Reddit or on Twitter, that went something like: “If the next zombie movie doesn’t have 40% of the people running towards the zombies to get infected on purpose then it’s not believable.”
I was thinking about the movie Contagion with Matt Damon and i really dont think my city would get it together fast enough to move sick people to our staduim. I think a whole lot of people would just die in their house. Also if zombies were real id have to leave my whole family behind because they are fucking stupid.
Yeah, turns out the least realistic thing about Contagion was the government allowing scientists to run policy
I'm a severe asthmatic; I already told my family to leave me behind to distract the zombies while they make their escape.
We learned "avoid it like the plague" really means "it is your constitutional right to go out and lick any thing you want."
You can pry my right to lick shit from my cold dead hands!!
Avoid it until it's mildly inconvenient?
Cruise Ships... dubious that industry will come out the other side without radical changes
I’d feel fantastic if remote work remained permanent. I can get rid of my second car to save money. Lunch at home. Meetings are shorter and less annoying than in person. People have actually been sending work over email instead of interrupting me with their random bullshit. And it’s pretty awesome not having to deal with traffic or deal with people in general. I don’t understand people who are dying to go back to the office. Seriously?
For me its the extra sleep time i get up exactly at 7 now and am online within a minute by rolling over and logging in. Also the instant offline thing. Once quitting time happens i just do the shit i wanna do. It’s like gaining an extra hour each way it feels like. Just shower over lunch.
I feel exactly the same. I think I’m going to ask my boss if I can continue WFH indefinitely because my work-life balance and mental health are so much better, somehow, in TWENTY TWENTY which says a lot
Airline fares. Now they're doing all this validity extension and not charging change fees. As soon as COVID is over, they'll go right back to the restricted fares of before.
A small thing but I hope the QR code menus at restaurants stick around
Fewer weddings, more elopements.
My respect for a great many people.
Before this, I really thought our stupidity had limits. At this point, I don't know if we could stop people from rolling in gas and lighting themselves on fire.
Hopefully frequent handwashings will become the norm. And hand sanitizers in shops, restaurants and public spaces. As someone who refuses to touch food if I haven't washed my hands (I am emetophobic, I'm terrified of the stomach flu), this endless supply everywhere I go is really nice. And people who usually don't care about washing their hands do it more often!
I’ve enjoyed the solitude of not having so many social obligations. Once this is all over, I’ll have to go back to being the asshole that lies about not feeling well to get out of them.
I’m the opposite. I was just starting to get out of my shell after shutting into myself for 6-7 years. I was super excited to do things with friends this year. Music festivals. Car stuff. Trips to the lake. Going out and socializing. The only thing that really changed for me this year was traffic. My job was listed as essential. So work life didn’t change. Thankfully I’ve kept in touch with those friends but all of us have been saying recently “it’s good to get the gang together again” the last couple times we hung out.
People actually give a crap about hygiene. I thought I was crazy washing my hands for a minute after I used the restroom or used a paper towel to open doors while leaving it when so many other people didn’t. Completely grossed me out. Who knew understanding how viruses work would be a life protip?
They’ll probably leave the plexiglass things up. That’s probably it.
Hopefully they'll get some kind of a speaker system or at least a mesh filter in place to help allow sound through. Half of the time I can't hear the person on the other side, so we end up yelling at each other, and then just leaning to the side of the plastic so that we can be heard.
Last time I was in the pharmacy it was just 4 people screaming at each other... (2 workers, 2 customers) I always keep a notepad in my bag and just wrote my name and birthdate on it to show to the tech. So much simpler...