Surely this will create a bunch of passive refusal, like the company’s lawyers will say to tell people not to come in if they have symptoms so everyone will start self reporting fantasy symptoms.
While it’s been annoying doing some of the random support for clueless people working from home (“I’ve been getting dropped all day and my internet is fine, you need to fix this!” Remotes in and sees user’s internet is totally not fine, argues with him for 10 minutes), it’s been glorious working in a near-empty office with just my boss a few rooms over and 3-4 other random people that I occasionally talk do from 10-12 feet away. There are no immediate plans for people to come back but I’m gonna be a little sad for this aspect of the pandemic to end.
Might not even be fantasy symptoms. I’ve had a ton of mornings with congestion and a slightly sore throat that I guess has been mostly allergies. And then the occasional headache. I’m always about 98% sure the symptoms are not the onset of CV-19, but I would still feel very uncomfortable heading to work just in case I’m wrong.
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Turns out masks are not required just recommended. I’m sure 90% won’t be wearing a mask, so fuck it right?
Any thoughts they will extend remote work beyond the pandemic? My work is so happy with how productive we’ve remained that they have started talking about letting people live wherever they want within the US, on a permanent basis. This is a huge change from a few years ago when I was one of the only employees allowed to work remote on a regular basis, and that was for only 1-2 days per week which I started pushing to 3 days early this year.
I’m sorry to hear that, cuse. Fuck (too soon or not soon enough?).
Are you in any online circles where you might make friends and meet potential partners? Screening process might be a little weird in current circumstances, but it’s okay to take a whole bunch of time screening whether to meet in person the same way a person might take a while to decide whether to kiss someone or more. That’s not a new obstacle. Just a new place to encounter it.
For dating, my concern would be whether the attraction would transfer once we are IRL, but again that’s not a new obstacle. Just a new place to encounter it. And you can have an outrageous amount of fun online only. Most won’t lead to anything long term, but neither would dating primarily in person (unless you’re co dependent and rush into enmeshment lol).
Not the same for me as I have an SO and am not interested in an open relationship or poly, but as far as friends go, I have been very fulfilled strengthening the connections with my current friends via phone/internet, as well as finding two or three new good friends from Unstuck I probably would not have gotten close to if COVID hadn’t made them into as big of a hermit as me 
You might also enjoy recent episodes of the Savage Love podcast, a long-running relationship column/podcast where in recent episodes everyone is talking about the challenges of dating and sex in the COVID era.
Perhaps time to revive the dating thread???
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I think this must be based on Joe mangling the accurate observation that rubber bullets are supposed to be shot at the ground to scatter crowds, you’re not actually supposed to shoot people in the face with them.
This is horrible and hubristic to say but the Covid pandemic so far is one of the best things to happen to me personally. No one I know has gotten sick yet (hubris) I got a 3 month paid staycation (my favourite type of holiday) and now I’m WFH full time which is what I’ve always dreamed of. Plus I didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything which is perfect for my weirdo ultra introvert mind and I was/am being “a hero” for it. Total middle class white privilege in action. It’s a really conflicting feeling.
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Let’s ask Joe next town hall. I’m sure he will clear this up.
Well, you experience what you experience. I think all that can be asked of you is to be thoughtful about it, which you are.
One fallout of all this is that a lot people will want to keep working from home but I don’t think that’s exclusively driven by worker personalities. A lot of it is that commuting options and workplaces have both been toxic for a long time.
This has truly been the worst year for allergies. I barely even realized I had them, but now… pure torture.
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I am confident you are right, I’m just not sure that his statement was not based on a total misunderstanding of the rubber bullet thing. I’m imagining (with no basis, lol) that some staff explained the rubber bullet issue to him and he didn’t really get it.
We want to get rid of white privilege by making everyone else as privileged as us vs cops/bosses/landlords/other-evil-folk… not by reducing our privileges vs evil to the levels of those not white. An injury to one is an injury to all doesn’t mean the those not yet actually injured need to start doing self-harm.
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Santa Clara county has definitely seen an uptick in new cases since about Memorial Day, presumably from Mother’s Day visits. It’s not clear yet if it’s a spike or if ~35 new cases a day is the new normal, up from ~20 cases/day, or if it might go back down.
Yeah the allergies have been the worst I’ve ever had. First time I’ve gotten hives, even went to an allergist a week ago to get a test and consultation done which was a great experience during all this. I switched over from Allegra (first time I’ve ever taken it) to Zyrtec and take it twice a day and it’s helped so much
I’ve already seen anecdotal evidence of the derposphere taking the WHO announcement to mean that people without symptoms cannot transmit the virus. WAAF. CNBC is also hot garbage and should be nuked from goddamn orbit, what an utter piece of shit idea that was.
Welcome to my world. Same CPA FIRM. We have 14 employees. Most with own offices.
-0- people wearing masks in their own office with doors open. Multiple people walking around sans mask.
I just try not to touch anything and lock myself in my office.
My job hasn’t even started talking about going back into the office and its a hard no from me until new cases come down to like 20 a day so yeah. We’re at ~500.
I definitely think they’re more open to it. Over the last few years they’ve let a few valued employees move away and keep their positions, there’s just a bit of that casual small-company attitude towards sharing info and fixing problems where it often involves pulling people aside and everybody gathering around a desk to look at it. Not that that can’t be done by other means but old habits die hard.
I mean this is NJ so the restrictions are only being eased very gradually, and I while there hasn’t been any official word, I think the policy is going to be “come back when you’re comfortable”.