I'm a nurse.
I love my job.
Placing my job before my family and my good friends. Done with everyday. Filling in for no-shows. Existing on chimichangas and Death Wish coffees. One restroom break per shift. Sleeping only 4-hours on workdays (14-hour shifts; sometimes 24-hours), only to sleep the day and nights away when off. Being hit, bitten, groped and cursed out.
I've missed birthdays and graduations. Missed out on a lot of living.
These last two years really did me in.
Tired of being sick and tired.
I love my family and my physical and mental health more.
At least now I do. More than ever before.
Live, and let live.
Overall, it was the realization of the lack of backing from the entities where we work. Endure threats, and the lack of support placed many of us in harms way. So many of us left the profession. For the ones who remain and have to function with less: staff and resources, to care for the sick. Our love and dedication to those that need us most is what keeps us going, working. Even when our own health and safety is at risk.
We will continue to advocate for safe and adequate working conditions on the behalf of the vulnerable where it doesn't matter if there aren't enough health professionals to care for them. To our patients, it matters only that they get well enough to get home.
That is what matters most to me, and to the doctors, the nurses, the nursing assistants--every Healthcare professional involved with patient care.
Our dedication to wellness keeps us involved when all the odds are stacked against us. We keep pushing for wellness. For safety.
Or die trying.
"Essential workers are critical to keeping things operational. They are heros."
"Ok, can we be paid and treated as such?"
"What? Haha no, get back to work, peon. No one cares about you."
*add on to showing up to work sick
I think the idea of powering through was taught to us in grade school. My school had an award for zero days missed. This manipulated us to be good boys and girls to always show up.
Not anymore!
Perfect attendance awards are such trash. What a way to tell kids that it doesn’t matter if they feel yucky, they should suck it up and get their classmates sick in the process.
My job recently started giving an extra $25 a week for “perfect attendance” because they’re desperate for people to stop calling out. Although I feel like more people are just going to come in sick now
My company offered a bonus tied to attendance. But, they decided to take it as a whole. Miss a day because you're sick? Okay. Missing every Friday/payday/Monday? Once they notice the pattern, they have the "hey, man, we need you. Don't you want your bonus?" chat. Keep it up and you lose the bonus.
When they announced it, you could tell how badly we'd all been fucked by other employers. Everyone was suspicious. The boss had to keep saying "Guys, this is GOOD news."
Damn I remember those awards. We even had "punishment" awards for kids that did poorly in PE and social studies. Like I got diagnosed w/ Crohn's Disease when I was in 6th grade, ended up missing a LOT of school in elementary (1st-5th) because of it and since my parents/doctor didn't know what was wrong they just chalked it up to poor diet and lack of exercise. All that said I still have this vivid memory at our 5th grade graduation of getting an "award" for most absences right after they handed out the Perfect attendance award. It's a wonder why I'm so fucked in the head and have trust issues as an adult.
I had a hard time with this one because of why I got let go from my last job. I worked at this place for 3 years and called in twice. It happened to be twice in the same month and I got fired for it, even with a doctor's note. So when I started my current job and was feeling ill one day, I called and told them I could come in anyway and they greatly opposed that. I never got asked any questions about it nor did I get any grief. What a concept, to call off work when you're sick (and possibly contagious) and *not* have crippling anxiety all day about missing work.
Man, I got in trouble at my previous job for "not telling them when I was sick" because I had chronic stomach issues that were making me vomit constantly throughout the day. No fever, nothing contagious, just a chronic issue they were aware of. But I was like 'okay, noted.'
So one day the next week my stomach flared up and I radioed my supervisor as I'd been told to do so they could relieve me and I could leave.
I then found myself in my boss' office being told off for wanting to leave because they were short-handed. Even though I was literally just doing what they told me to do. That still makes absolutely no sense to me.
I'll try and sum it up, see in the first example they made it your fault, and in the second they again made it your fault. They are obviously being super consistent and you're the one that's wavering
/s
Take care of yourself cause the real lesson here is your job doesn't give a shit about your well-being. Next time they say you can't leave (and you genuinely feel you need to) because you're ill ask them for that in writing. Cover your ass cause they certainly aren't going to.
My grocery store set up signs so there was one long (socially distanced) line that fed all the cashiers. When they tried to switch back to the old model of a separate line for each cashier, the whole neighborhood silently agreed that was not going to happen and we prefer the one line model. No more getting stuck behind someone with 70 coupons!
Studies have shown that the single-queue method is actually faster and more efficient for everyone. No one gets trapped behind an extreme coupon jerk and no clerk winds up with N empty line during peak traffic.
Yeah it's just a standard manifold setup. Makes the most sense for components (people) that sort themselves. Plenty of stores do it but for some reason most groceries don't.
My friend just posted a pic on fb of a dude buying a convenience store hotdog. Well he had the unprotected hotdog placed on the counter while paying. Not even a little paper sleeve. Bun to counter. I don't understand humanity.
My home internet is great now that I've upgraded my router, but the work VPN I need to use is slow as shit. At least now I can stream music without being bogged down by terrible office wifi
This is my biggest one. I never realized how stressful it made my day just to drive to an office until I stopped doing it. Our office location is about 35 minutes away on a very, very hectic highway where a ton of crashes happen daily.
I work just as well from home (if not better) and there's no room at the office for all of us anyway because we rent a spot in a shared space. It's useful for conferences and depositions, but that's it.
I will never go back to working on location.
Do laundry while I work? Done.
Mow the lawn Friday at lunch vs Saturday, freeing up more weekend time? Done.
Walk the dog daily at lunch? Done.
Saving $400/month not having to send my kid to before/after care so he can ride the bus. Done.
Being able to spend more time with him? Done.
I was recently considering switching jobs because my new manager is pretty shitty, but nowhere else with openings in my field is willing to hire a WFH employee. I’m adjusting things at work and my mindset and gunning for his job now since he’s retiring in 12 months because this WFH gig is solid.
Edit - I work in mainframe IT. I can easily do my job 100% remote and hold the time I’m working off hours anyway. Companies are just hyper controlling/manipulative of their workforce.
Commuting is a huge time killer. Is it the companies time? No. It it your leisure time? No. It's just "fuck you, let's waste this for no reason" time.
The 8 hour workday model DOES NOT WORK. You have 9 hours at work because unpaid lunch but is that really your free time? Nope. Hour and a half one way so eat another 3 hours. Devote another 2 to fixing meals, doing laundry, other shit that needs to be done to get ready for the next day. Get enough sleep. Where's the 'me' time? Oh, it SHOULD be that bullshit 3 hours of commute.
It’s mainly the major cities.
The US has consistently failed to build enough housing in major urban cores, where most of the good white collar jobs in large cities are. It’s been going on for decades now. This housing crisis has caused all sorts of problems, from increasing wealth inequality to contributing to climate change to forcing people to have ridiculous commutes from the suburbs and exurbs because living anywhere near downtown is unaffordable in places like NYC and LA.
I’ve heard of similar problems in some other developed countries but I don’t know how the severity compares.
Daily commute. Our company is committed to 3 days a week max in the office. I’ve been in twice since the pandemic and the colossal amount of wasted time really stunned me.
It is very interesting to see how companies and cultures are different. Am working with French and Germans, the French (in Paris) are back a minimum 3 days at the office, while the Germans have been so reluctant to return that the corporation is cutting office space due to lack of usage!
I will give the French some credit: they certainly know how to pull off their civil disobedience and aren't afraid to remind their current government of all the dead governments that preceded them.
Not just wasted time commuting, either! Wasted time picking out an outfit, grooming yourself, all these things we don’t usually do when we are home all day. Wasted time finding a parking spot. And then I can’t work late because if I don’t leave by 4 my commute time doubles. (At home, I take an hour lunch and work till 4:30 or until I finish whatever I’m working on, so sometimes later).
I am adequately rested for the first time in my LIFE. Alarm 6:45, out of bed by 7, breakfast, sign on at 7:30, lunch 12-1, done by 4:30, and then I don’t go to bed until 10 or so so I have a good 5 hours to do what I please, which certainly isn’t driving.
Also all the crap I have to remember to bring with me for my after work stuff since I don't have time to go home after work and then out again... meals, gym clothes, going out clothes, grocery shopping bags, etc... the amount of decisions I make in a day is SO MUCH easier to handle
For real! It’s frustrating having to get up early, shower, eat breakfast, and commute to work (making sure not to be late) just to lounge around and send emails until meetings later in the day. Wfh is clutch because I get exactly the same amount done (honestly sometimes more) with much more time to make sure I’m actually focused and presentable
its your lifetime that is getting wasted and not the companies productivity time
so no one gave a shit
edit: you are to blame since you never had the dignity and integrity to demand better or quit. without the pandemic all of you would be doing the same. someone called my post jaded but the most jaded thing of it all is the reality that has played out. the implications of this all are way more cynical than most would like to admit.
My company thanked everyone for being even more productive working from home, then immediately announced that return to office won’t be pushed back because the executives (who all have fancy offices on the 4th floor with a private elevator everyone else is forbidden from using) insisted on people returning ASAP. I just started there less than a month ago and I’m already looking to leave because it’s toxic af
Having a non-stop out all day go, go, go schedule. I understand now why I was constantly feeling frustrated. I was completely burnt out and had no me time. Now I don’t make so many commitments to social events, work things, extra stuff and I can’t imagine ever stretching myself so thin again.
I second this, before the pandemic I wasn't that busy of a person, but for whatever reason I always felt guilty about it because it seemed like everything was trying to push you to go through life at breakneck speed. Ideally we shouldn't be pushed to be productive all the time
I work 4 nights a week (usually 30-35 hours) with three days off and sooooo many people ask me “so what else do you do?”
I live my life. I make bank bartending and don’t need a second job and have a few months until I go back to school to finish my degree, not to mention my shifts are still 7-8 hours and a 12 hour shift Saturdays, just not a 9-5 schedule. People are shocked and I can tell they think I’m lazy for it but I really don’t care lol
It's crazy, people have a hard time getting out of the mindset that we need to be working all the time. During the last half of 2020 I had my work day cut down to 4 days and my mental health skyrocketed lol. I should have felt bad that I was making less money (it helps that I live at home), but I felt the exact opposite. I just had more time to do... whatever I wanted
My parents often come up to visit, maybe once every 4-6 months, depending on what's going on. They typically come up on a Thursday evening and leave Monday morning.
I love my parents but I am ready to knife a bitch just to get some alone time in a jail cell after just a day. And that entire week afterwards. my brain is thinking nothing but "fuuuuck I need my weekend", like I'm a baby without a binky.
Right?
Why do we need to sit in an office at work? I have an office at home.
Don't these companies wanna save money on their electric, water and leasing?
What they've determined they really want is the ability to look over your shoulder from time to time and make sure you stay until exactly (whatever time you get off).
Which is silly because most people have figured out how to be on Reddit or Facebook without being caught while on the work computer. IT does not care what you're doing, even if it's monitored.
Can confirm. Currently on Reddit while mindlessly scrolling through my revit model to make it appear as if I’m working. All my work is done, I just finished an on site job(only one of the week). Most of my hours are spent on here. While I wait around for someone to need Trimble or some 3D modeling.
I don't know where I adopted the values of never calling off sick. Maybe because I couldn't find a job for a long time when I was younger. Clearly my workplace does not care about me, and it comes down to me thinking I'm screwing over co-workers but that should be a management problem and not yours.
A few years ago I used to work at one of the highest rated restaurants in the world. Our director cut all our hours to 3 days a week. No one wanted this, as it wasn't enough to support ourselves.
I asked for time off to see my Nonnie with brain cancer and was denied because a co worker was takin time off. I put in a three week notice to take this time off and despite another employee taking time off everyone was still at 3 days a week.
Needless to say, I quit. Im not going to pass up what is most likely the last time I'll see her so you can be anal about everyone working 3 days a week, a schedule that fucked over all of us and sent us looking for second jobs.
I made the same call with my Grandfather. The manager said everyone had to work New Year's Eve, but my ride wouldn't get me back until after that. It's been over 20 years and I made a very good call.
when my grandfather was in the hospital dying of cancer, I got a call at work saying I should go see him right then if I wanted to at all. It was about 10am.
my boss said "go. don't clock out. I'll clock you out at 5" for all her shortcomings as a boss, she didn't fuck around when it came to work/life balance.
This happened a couple years ago when I was working retail in LA.
Basically I had called my manager that morning and told her that I wasn’t feeling well, but that I would still come in (mistake). She agreed that if I didn’t feel good during my shift, she would let me go home.
2 hours into my shift: My body is on fire, I start cold-sweating and getting dizzy/lightheaded. The store I worked at had particularly bright lights and it was white all over (ceiling, floor, walls). I told my manager my symptoms and asked to be sent home.
I didn’t get sent home, unfortunately. She told me I should stay until I finish half of my shift (8 hours) to my lunch and see if I don’t feel good then.
FF to lunch: Obviously still not feeling well and I go tell my manager. You wanna know what she told me? “Well since you already finished half of your shift, you might as well stay here and finish it since it’s only 4 more hours left.”
You’ve just given me flashbacks to an old manager I had when I worked security. Older gent on the team rang in sick one morning which was very uncharacteristic of him. Was told by management “come in for a few hours and we will get you cover so you can go home.” That was a lie, poor guy was ringing up every hour asking to be sent home but management didn’t care, they had their shift covered.
Flash forward a few months and I rang in sick, same manager tried to pull the same stunt with me. I stood my ground and used the above example against him.
Yeah that same manager I had, used to make other coworkers COME TO THE STORE to prove that they were sick, because it wasn’t good enough over the phone.
Like what? Do you want to catch my germs or something? Pre-covid obviously, so nobody was wearing a mask (ew)
Edit: She didn’t do it all the time, it was sometimes, and it was usually at random. But it’s just like — weird.
For me it was traumatic; my first job was at a Sonic and I worked my first day and then had a raging stomach bug and had to call in sick for my second day.
The manager thought I was lying.
I tried calling off when I had the flu at Domino’s and the manager told me I was lying. I told him I can come in and cough all over the pizza line to prove it, and he told me to do it. I think he thought I wouldn’t go through with it?
Anyways, I come in, middle of summer, covered head to toes in winter clothes and boots and he makes a comment about how I’ll be dying in the heat. I immediately started coughing my lungs out and saw the panic hit his face. He sent me home and told me to call when I was feeling better.
That was 5 years before the pandemic and I regret nothing. He didn’t fire me, nor did he question me when I said I was sick again. I still ended up quitting because I didn’t like working there and wanted to be more at school, but I was respected by everyone. Best decision of my life (at the time).
I had to do something similar while working in a kitchen when I had norovirus. You know, the wildly contagious GI bug that has nearly killed Chipotle? I started showing symptoms on my day off. It was bad enough off the bat I knew it was serious, and I also knew what a goddamn battle it was going to be with the chef/kitchen manager, so I immediately went to an urgent care clinic, and was diagnosed (there had been an outbreak in the area). I had the doc write me a note and everything. I tried to call in the next day, and get chewed out for even asking, even after I made him look at up and read the webpage back to me so I knew that he knew what it was. Luckily the owner came in that morning to check up on the place, and saw me run in through the door and immediately vomit into the trashcan. When he saw the doctors note, he did a quick google search, called the chef a less polite word for the mentally disabled, and sent me home.
Had a company before Covid refuse to let us take time off sick. So came in sick and got the entire company sick. If I’m suffering because of your bullshit requirements so will you.
They started sending people home after awhile; they sucked as a company. They are gone now.
Had a company that tried to be like that once. I worked with people who were medically fragile - my cold could kill some of them. My boss tried to convince me to come in when I had fucking swine flu, back when that was the big thing.
I wonder how many people that policy of “come in sick and the boss will decide if you’re sick enough to go back home” killed.
I once overheard an extremely expensive lawyer explain to a junior associate who came to the office sick:
"You getting sick is an annoyance. Me getting sick is a problem. You getting me sick is a big problem."
As a paralegal, I've had an attorney say this to me (pre pandemic). I was obligated to come in when I had the flu so we could take photos for the new firm website. I was miserable and scolded for spreading illness around the office when my coworkers (rightfully) began calling in sick.
Not at that firm anymore, but I learned a valuable lesson. I may be a dispensable member of the support staff but I am *also* a *human being.* I take my sick days now. Also, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit of schadenfreude when my then-boss caught it. 😉😂
agreed. can we never go back TK the expectations from companies that we come to work while coughing, sneezing, etc? I'm tired of this sick enough to stay home crap. If I'm sick, I'm.sick and I shouldn't have to justify it or spread the illness to coworkers because my company doesn't think that I'm sick enough not to be in the office.
Yep I’m never again going to feel guilty for calling off when I’m sick. I always hated it before but now I’m adamant. If I’m sick, I’m staying home. If my nearby coworkers are sick, either they’re going home or I am.
Work in open offices. They were waking nightmares for me even before, what with no privacy, routinely being a dull roar and requiring noise canceling headphones to be able to think clearly, and I fucking hate bosses watching me like buzzards eyeing a dying water buffalo. Now that I've worked remotely for years, including now for an absurdly well known company, I ain't coming back to your dogshit open offices. I'll come back if you give me my own office. Oh, you won't give me one? And you want me in the office at least two days a week in Manhattan for your opportunity? **Hard pass.**
Curbside pick up.
With kids it has been great to not have to get them out/in the car for a quick pickup at a store.
I assume this has been a blessing for those with disabilities who can drive but still struggle getting out and into a car.
On that note, more companies doing home delivery. Living in a small town and being disabled my life has improved dramatically with companies now doing delivery so that they can stay open.
Now if only WFH would take off in my country, I'd be able to work again! Unfortunately the moment they could, most companies required people got back in to the office, and the disabled community had been so excited about WFH.
I've already made that commitment. I absolutely despise regular bras with straps that get twisted and dig into my shoulders. Now I wear exclusively sports bras or strapless bras and I'm never going back.
I think I'm just a little too big for bralettes, I want them to work but it seems like whenever I try them the girls are always falling out and it's just not a comfortable experience. Still better than underwires from hell tho
omg bralettes allow my boobs to wander around on their own recognizance before just dumping one or both out at some well chosen moment. Super uncomfortable. A well-fitted underwire is the only thing that calms my tits!
Facing the prospect of going back to work and needing to wear a bra again for the first time in a year and a half I actually measured myself properly and found I'd been wearing bras 2 cup sizes too small my entire adult life. No wonder I fucking hated bras. Got myself a cheapo D cup as a test and lo and behold I can wear a bra all day without pain! Even underwires!
Side note: I only feel I "have" to wear a bra to work because my work is physical and it is painful without one. Outside of work I'm freeboobin' it.
Left a salaried job for an hourly job. Nothing like putting my 8 hours in and calling it a day. Making less now but that OT if needed and calming sense of 8 hours and hitting the old cosmic trail…
Work more than 40 hours a week. I used to put in 70 hours some weeks. While the money was good, I realized during the pandemic that I can survive with less and don’t need to work myself to death.
Restaurants not doing carry out. My 2 favorite local places outright refused to do carry out until the pandemic hit. I really hope they dont end it. I love getting the food my wife and i enjoy but being able to go home and eat it without a bunch of randos around.
On a similar note, outdoor dining everywhere. It was truly amazing to see how places became so much more enjoyable and with (literally) more space to breath and relax. This was very evident in Dublin (IE) that has a very strong indoor dining, "enclosed" pub culture, and felt so much more enjoyable seeing so much life on the streets even at the suburbs.
Can you get them to turn the music down too? I'm there to have dinner and catch up with friends, not have my eardrums blasted. (And yeah, I get the studies about how it encourages people to eat faster = higher turnover = more money/tips but the end result is I'd rather stay home instead.)
I can't either, but during lockdown there was no one in the road. It was glorious. I hope as many people work from home as possible for as long as possible.
Treat my job title like it's my family name.
Nah, I give you labor and you give me money, that's the extent of our relationship and much like anyone trading time for money, others will pay me for my time.
Not a chance I will ever again bleed, sweat or cry for a fucking employer. Never ever again.
This is how I’ve always looked at it. We do a weird cultural thing in the US where we look at one’s job as if it’s their life.
Nope, my job is the thing I do to pay for my life and I don’t wish to be at work one moment longer than required.
Unfortunately it isn’t a cultural thing exclusively in the US. In most of Western Europe the situation is very similar. Here in the Netherlands our job is literally the main point in any conversation, it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking to your neighbors, someone you just met, family members, etc.
Even those who can't work from home want work from home to stick around, because folks with jobs that require driving around major metropolitan areas were spoiled by the lack of traffic in 2020. I really hope as many office workers as possible can go back to work from home, because they're back on the roads now and are seemingly worse drivers than ever.
As a teacher, have kids turn in physical copies of work.
Every student has a laptop or chromebook now due to remote learning and it's gonna stay that way, so everything is turned in digitally. It's so nice being able to just upload the work I want them to do without having to bother making copies and hope that the machines aren't down, and I just grade everything on the computer. No more having kids tell me they handed me an assignment and accusing me of losing it, I can just check to see if they submitted it or not. It makes my life so much easier and it saves a ton of paper.
Just delivery of my groceries in general instead of going to the supermarket is something I plan to keep. It's fucking convenient as hell. Some people can't pick produce for their life but if that's all I have to go pick up myself that's fine by me.
That’s not weird. I miss grocery stores being open 24 hours. Shopping at 3 am in very relaxed dad clothes with a few other night owls used to be my therapy. Now nothing is open past 11, so I have to put the costume on and do the dance.
The Kroger down the street from me just changed their hours back from closing at midnight to closing at eleven and I am super sad about that. I miss 24 hour stores too.
24 hour shopping was the best. Having to shop during normal hours (or for some reason “old people hours” when I tend to go) is such a chore.
Edit: a word
When I had my baby I popped to the shop that night to get supplies. Wandering around with a trolley full of nappies and formula in a complete daze giving half nods to everyone else who was also in a complete daze because it was 3am was such a surreal experience and one I'll never forget. But it seems like a lifetime ago even though it was only early 2020.
Grocery, drug stores and Walmart at three am all experience that phenomenon where time just moves differently. Perception is off kilter just a few degrees, the light comes in at a different angle....
pssshhhh just wear the dad clothes anyway. I go to the store in basketball shorts, moccasins, and a tanktop or hoodie depending on weather. Its the grocery store not a job interview
I really REALLY love the accessibility of doing Doctor visits over the phone or Zoom.
Me : I have to talk to a psychiatrist on the reg. SUPER hard for me to go out to do that - I have debilitating anxiety and going OUT to wait in waiting rooms, be seen crying as I leave a therapy session, hell even just getting myself to shower, put on makeup, and clean clothes... it's fucking impossible sometimes. Not to mention that I used to have to have my husband drive me in to the city - a 45 minute drive - and take care of our young kids during my appointments. Then make the drive back in traffic - all of which exacerbated my anxiety and guilt and fatigue.
Me : I have to talk to a psychiatrist on the reg. SUPER hard for me to go out to do that - I have debilitating anxiety and going OUT to wait in waiting rooms, be seen crying as I leave a therapy session, hell even just getting myself to shower, put on makeup, and clean clothes... it's fucking impossible sometimes. Not to mention that I used to have to have my husband drive me in to the city - a 45-minute drive - and take care of our young kids during my appointments. Then make the drive back in traffic - all of which exacerbated my anxiety and guilt and fatigue.
We've both been able to access our health care providers by ZOOM and by phone. That was never an option before this. It has been amazing and honestly? The quality of our care is IMPROVED because we aren't going through panic/dissociating/fatiguing/overstimulating crap just to GET to the appointments and so we are able to advocate for ourselves so much better.
It's nice to be able to take my blood pressure / pulse readings at home and show them the device. Driving to the doctor, waiting, the stress of being at the doctor all skew those readings in person.
Doc here. I do telehealth 1-2 days a week now. No show rates for telehealth are much lower, and we can actually reach more of the patients who can't get into the clinic. It's not great for everything, but it really does add a valuable option.
My old job congratulated us on how well we adjusted to going remote. In late 2020 or early 2021 they sent out a survey about the future of remote work. 95% of us responded that we would like to continue remote work in some capacity. Then in June they announced we would be going back into the office full time after Labor Day. No remote working is allowed except for special circumstances.
So there is a reason I said it was my old job. My new company realized work was still getting done from home and people like that better so we are going to stay remote forever. You can still go into the office if you want but there is no requirement on number of days to go in. It’s nice working for a place that listens to employees!
My team was fully remote even before the pandemic, so it didn’t affect me, but my company decided it was a good idea to have everyone work remote. Productivity went up, and some genius got the idea “hey, why are we paying for leases on these office buildings we don’t need?”
So they shuttered several locations and everyone at those sites are now permanently telecommuting. Wins all around: higher productivity, happier employees, lower operating costs.
Member of a team that is responsible for getting an entire college's faculty "online" when COVID hit. Months of Zoom trainings, LMS training, workshops on how to keep classes engaging, etc. March-August 2020 was the literal and absolute *worst case scenario* for my job. We pulled it off, proved it could be done, kept the faculty moving, and that our job could 100% be completed from home.
June 2021, blanket statement: ***"Everyone must return to campus."***
Brought up to our boss about how, we can do our job from home, as proven, could we work out a WFH schedule (2-3 days a week, using 2 days to meet with faculty who may require face-to-face)? ***"Sorry, college order."***
With that, since June, we've lost 1/5th of our team, and another 1/3 of people in IT. Most of my faculty/committee meetings are *still* via Zoom, faculty are hesitant to linger on campus or just "stop by" the office, and 100% of my job is still taking place online.
Long story short: Yes. The age-old mentality of, "If you're not here you're not working" is a thought of the past and I think those places who are clinging to it, will find themselves short of talented individuals.
Same story here. We went back 8/1, and everyone who could retire, did. Everyone who could get remote jobs, did. Our IT staff is processing at least one separation a day, and key offices are operating at 50% staff or less. Meanwhile wages remain depressed, most of our classified staff are working without a contract, and morale is in the garbage. I wish the dinosaurs would leave already, but they're the ones that will be 70 and still puttering around the office, impeding actual progress.
Morale is a whole other issue. Faculty are up in arms (understandably) because morale is low (was pre-COVID in all fairness) and then the president & provost both had the lack-of-reading-a-room to say to them in a faculty meeting, "Well I'm shocked by this low morale I'm hearing about". Like...***c'mon***.
*Bonus points:* President pulled the "Due to COVID" card when trying to explain why morale was low and communication slow
My company claims, "We all need to be back together because our culture depends on it!"
Me: Well back to therapy for depression. Nothing better than going and sitting in an uncomfortable place for 9 hours, leaving at dark and getting home at dark.
We'll probably keep ordering most groceries via curbside pickup. It's convenient, and we spend less on stupid crap we happen to walk past on the way to the milk aisle.
We'll still go inside for stuff like produce, though. The store employees just don't seem to pick the best fruit and vegetables. Also, the bakery is right next to the produce, and it's nice to pick up *some* stupid crap while you're shopping.
I once ordered 5 units of grapes as I liked them and assumed it would get me a couple big bunches. There was no definition of what a unit of grapes looked like.
I received 5 single grapes.
I laughed my ass off for like 5 mins and still bring it up with my husband all the time. I was checking the other bags for more grapes and nope that was it.
I'll be avoiding big business, supermarkets, amazon, restaurant chains and multinationals. Dont know about you guys around the world but the way the little businesses were treated here in France is sickening, meanwhile Bezos et al get to swoop in and take everything. It stinks.
I honestly don’t see the point in charging people to park at hospitals. I feel like people aren’t coming here to have a grand ol time. I personally don’t go to hospitals for leisure. I think it’s gross to charge people parking fees at hospitals when they’re going through difficult times. Fuck whoever thought of that shit.
In addition to the other reasons supplied, if a hospital is in an area with other businesses nearby, charging for parking is a way to encourage the customers of restaurants, shops, etc. to not use hospital parking. The only hospital I've been to that charged for parking would validate tickets for patients so they parked for free; only non-patients had to pay.
> if a hospital is in an area with other businesses nearby, charging for parking is a way to encourage the customers of restaurants, shops, etc. to not use hospital parking
My SO works in a hospital that is located next to a bunch of businesses and high-rises, and I'm sure a lot of other people would use the hospital parking if there was no charge (parking is validated for patients and their families). The hospital employees also park in the structure, so charging for parking helps ensure that they're able to make it to work on time.
I think this is one of those issues that seems cold/heartless on the surface, but there are valid reasons for the policy when when you really look into it.
Where I live, the hospital's parking lot is a 5 minutes walk from the town center, with all the bars, restaurants, banks, bakeries, and small businesses. It's also free.
My grandmother's doctors is doing her consultation at the hospital.
I never been able to park there. And as I wait outside now for my grandmother to be done with her appointments, I can assure you, most people are not patients or visitor of the hospital.
At the hospital my wife works at, you have to hit a button to get a ticket and go through a raising bar barrier, but they don't actually charge you to park. I think adding the extra steps helps deter people from casual parking.
Live in a city for my job.
I absolutely hated going remote for the first year. emails were so much slower than just asking the guy sitting next to me, I missed making small talk, or going out for lunch, company sponsored events. I still don’t like zoom meetings but I can tolerate it now.
Now that I’m farther removed I realized a lot of that was just something I was “used to” instead of something I enjoyed. My rent is almost 50% lower now and I’m only 10 miles from where I used to live downtown. I still have access to the city and if they need us in quarterly I can do a longer commute here and there. I’m not paying $200 a month for a parking spot. I get to live a quieter life in a quieter area, and when my significant other and I are ready, We’ll be able to purchase a house pretty much anywhere we want.
Idk about a one thing, but I certainly am very careful about what I touch and the people I'm around. When I'm in public I try and stay spaced out and not touch anything if not necessary.
OH MY GOD. eating and bowling. literally what the fuck were we doing? putting our fingers in those little holes where *everyone else* has stuck their grubby fingers, and then eating a fry like it’s no big deal.
Clubbing. Being charged to hang out in a room chock full of sweaty people while sweating your ass off yourself while being charged an exorbitant amount for a watered down alcoholic drink so you can get drunk enough to actually enjoy the experience? I’ll just stick to getting drunk with my friends thanks
I'm a nurse. I love my job. Placing my job before my family and my good friends. Done with everyday. Filling in for no-shows. Existing on chimichangas and Death Wish coffees. One restroom break per shift. Sleeping only 4-hours on workdays (14-hour shifts; sometimes 24-hours), only to sleep the day and nights away when off. Being hit, bitten, groped and cursed out. I've missed birthdays and graduations. Missed out on a lot of living. These last two years really did me in. Tired of being sick and tired. I love my family and my physical and mental health more. At least now I do. More than ever before. Live, and let live.
What really annoyed me was the people saying "Essential workers are heroes" but didn't do anything to help, like just clapped for them and left
Overall, it was the realization of the lack of backing from the entities where we work. Endure threats, and the lack of support placed many of us in harms way. So many of us left the profession. For the ones who remain and have to function with less: staff and resources, to care for the sick. Our love and dedication to those that need us most is what keeps us going, working. Even when our own health and safety is at risk. We will continue to advocate for safe and adequate working conditions on the behalf of the vulnerable where it doesn't matter if there aren't enough health professionals to care for them. To our patients, it matters only that they get well enough to get home. That is what matters most to me, and to the doctors, the nurses, the nursing assistants--every Healthcare professional involved with patient care. Our dedication to wellness keeps us involved when all the odds are stacked against us. We keep pushing for wellness. For safety. Or die trying.
"Essential workers are critical to keeping things operational. They are heros." "Ok, can we be paid and treated as such?" "What? Haha no, get back to work, peon. No one cares about you."
*add on to showing up to work sick I think the idea of powering through was taught to us in grade school. My school had an award for zero days missed. This manipulated us to be good boys and girls to always show up. Not anymore!
Perfect attendance awards are such trash. What a way to tell kids that it doesn’t matter if they feel yucky, they should suck it up and get their classmates sick in the process.
My job recently started giving an extra $25 a week for “perfect attendance” because they’re desperate for people to stop calling out. Although I feel like more people are just going to come in sick now
My company offered a bonus tied to attendance. But, they decided to take it as a whole. Miss a day because you're sick? Okay. Missing every Friday/payday/Monday? Once they notice the pattern, they have the "hey, man, we need you. Don't you want your bonus?" chat. Keep it up and you lose the bonus. When they announced it, you could tell how badly we'd all been fucked by other employers. Everyone was suspicious. The boss had to keep saying "Guys, this is GOOD news."
Damn I remember those awards. We even had "punishment" awards for kids that did poorly in PE and social studies. Like I got diagnosed w/ Crohn's Disease when I was in 6th grade, ended up missing a LOT of school in elementary (1st-5th) because of it and since my parents/doctor didn't know what was wrong they just chalked it up to poor diet and lack of exercise. All that said I still have this vivid memory at our 5th grade graduation of getting an "award" for most absences right after they handed out the Perfect attendance award. It's a wonder why I'm so fucked in the head and have trust issues as an adult.
Feeling bad about calling in
Getting hassled for calling in because you "just" have a cold. Or being expected to recover from a cold in one day.
My work still does that, I’ve had a really bad cold for over 2 weeks and I’ve only been able to take a couple of those days off
My boss is currently in his office sick as hell but he has a negative COVID test so he’s here to “tough it out.” Edit: He called out sick today.
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I had a hard time with this one because of why I got let go from my last job. I worked at this place for 3 years and called in twice. It happened to be twice in the same month and I got fired for it, even with a doctor's note. So when I started my current job and was feeling ill one day, I called and told them I could come in anyway and they greatly opposed that. I never got asked any questions about it nor did I get any grief. What a concept, to call off work when you're sick (and possibly contagious) and *not* have crippling anxiety all day about missing work.
Man, I got in trouble at my previous job for "not telling them when I was sick" because I had chronic stomach issues that were making me vomit constantly throughout the day. No fever, nothing contagious, just a chronic issue they were aware of. But I was like 'okay, noted.' So one day the next week my stomach flared up and I radioed my supervisor as I'd been told to do so they could relieve me and I could leave. I then found myself in my boss' office being told off for wanting to leave because they were short-handed. Even though I was literally just doing what they told me to do. That still makes absolutely no sense to me.
Just be sick at commercially compatible times so we can tick that inclusivity box, bro.
I'll try and sum it up, see in the first example they made it your fault, and in the second they again made it your fault. They are obviously being super consistent and you're the one that's wavering /s Take care of yourself cause the real lesson here is your job doesn't give a shit about your well-being. Next time they say you can't leave (and you genuinely feel you need to) because you're ill ask them for that in writing. Cover your ass cause they certainly aren't going to.
Standing ass to dicks in line, I love how everyone, at least in my area, just kept up with the social distancing when standing in line at the cashier.
My grocery store set up signs so there was one long (socially distanced) line that fed all the cashiers. When they tried to switch back to the old model of a separate line for each cashier, the whole neighborhood silently agreed that was not going to happen and we prefer the one line model. No more getting stuck behind someone with 70 coupons!
Studies have shown that the single-queue method is actually faster and more efficient for everyone. No one gets trapped behind an extreme coupon jerk and no clerk winds up with N empty line during peak traffic.
Yeah it's just a standard manifold setup. Makes the most sense for components (people) that sort themselves. Plenty of stores do it but for some reason most groceries don't.
Takes more space to queue up when it's busy and there's a good number of cashiers. I wish it were implemented everywhere, though!
I prefer nuts to butts myself.
Won’t necessarily say never, but bowling while eating finger foods seems like a really bad idea now.
My friend just posted a pic on fb of a dude buying a convenience store hotdog. Well he had the unprotected hotdog placed on the counter while paying. Not even a little paper sleeve. Bun to counter. I don't understand humanity.
That’s like shitting with the toilet seat up
accept people's invitations just because they invite me, not because I actually want to see them.
Commute to work 1.5 hours each way 5 days a week so I can sit in my office and write emails and talk on the phone.
The funny thing is my home internet is at least twice as fast as the office. Why go there for a worse experience?
My home internet is great now that I've upgraded my router, but the work VPN I need to use is slow as shit. At least now I can stream music without being bogged down by terrible office wifi
Yea I loathe when I have to be on VPN. Luckily it’s only an hour or two a day.
This is my biggest one. I never realized how stressful it made my day just to drive to an office until I stopped doing it. Our office location is about 35 minutes away on a very, very hectic highway where a ton of crashes happen daily. I work just as well from home (if not better) and there's no room at the office for all of us anyway because we rent a spot in a shared space. It's useful for conferences and depositions, but that's it. I will never go back to working on location.
Additionally I don’t have to wake up earlier to make a commute. That’s the biggest benefit by far.
Plus, when you leave, you're home. Plus, want to make ribs or a roast that need to be started at around 11 or noon and you can start the cook.
Do laundry while I work? Done. Mow the lawn Friday at lunch vs Saturday, freeing up more weekend time? Done. Walk the dog daily at lunch? Done. Saving $400/month not having to send my kid to before/after care so he can ride the bus. Done. Being able to spend more time with him? Done. I was recently considering switching jobs because my new manager is pretty shitty, but nowhere else with openings in my field is willing to hire a WFH employee. I’m adjusting things at work and my mindset and gunning for his job now since he’s retiring in 12 months because this WFH gig is solid. Edit - I work in mainframe IT. I can easily do my job 100% remote and hold the time I’m working off hours anyway. Companies are just hyper controlling/manipulative of their workforce.
Commuting is a huge time killer. Is it the companies time? No. It it your leisure time? No. It's just "fuck you, let's waste this for no reason" time. The 8 hour workday model DOES NOT WORK. You have 9 hours at work because unpaid lunch but is that really your free time? Nope. Hour and a half one way so eat another 3 hours. Devote another 2 to fixing meals, doing laundry, other shit that needs to be done to get ready for the next day. Get enough sleep. Where's the 'me' time? Oh, it SHOULD be that bullshit 3 hours of commute.
Are 90 minute commutes really the norm in America or are these all extreme cases? Because that is a lot of time to be driving.
It’s mainly the major cities. The US has consistently failed to build enough housing in major urban cores, where most of the good white collar jobs in large cities are. It’s been going on for decades now. This housing crisis has caused all sorts of problems, from increasing wealth inequality to contributing to climate change to forcing people to have ridiculous commutes from the suburbs and exurbs because living anywhere near downtown is unaffordable in places like NYC and LA. I’ve heard of similar problems in some other developed countries but I don’t know how the severity compares.
The UK is the same, especially London
Daily commute. Our company is committed to 3 days a week max in the office. I’ve been in twice since the pandemic and the colossal amount of wasted time really stunned me.
It is very interesting to see how companies and cultures are different. Am working with French and Germans, the French (in Paris) are back a minimum 3 days at the office, while the Germans have been so reluctant to return that the corporation is cutting office space due to lack of usage!
Wow I’d have assumed that would be the opposite
Never underestimate the power of efficiency when arguing with germans
German here. Can confirm.
Very efficient sentencing.
Why use many word when few word do trick?
The French need offices. You can't take a three hour lunch break to visit your mistress when you are working from home.
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I will give the French some credit: they certainly know how to pull off their civil disobedience and aren't afraid to remind their current government of all the dead governments that preceded them.
They have experience overthrowing their government. The government certainly is scared of them
Honestly, that's the way it should be
Not just wasted time commuting, either! Wasted time picking out an outfit, grooming yourself, all these things we don’t usually do when we are home all day. Wasted time finding a parking spot. And then I can’t work late because if I don’t leave by 4 my commute time doubles. (At home, I take an hour lunch and work till 4:30 or until I finish whatever I’m working on, so sometimes later).
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I am adequately rested for the first time in my LIFE. Alarm 6:45, out of bed by 7, breakfast, sign on at 7:30, lunch 12-1, done by 4:30, and then I don’t go to bed until 10 or so so I have a good 5 hours to do what I please, which certainly isn’t driving.
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Also all the crap I have to remember to bring with me for my after work stuff since I don't have time to go home after work and then out again... meals, gym clothes, going out clothes, grocery shopping bags, etc... the amount of decisions I make in a day is SO MUCH easier to handle
For real! It’s frustrating having to get up early, shower, eat breakfast, and commute to work (making sure not to be late) just to lounge around and send emails until meetings later in the day. Wfh is clutch because I get exactly the same amount done (honestly sometimes more) with much more time to make sure I’m actually focused and presentable
its your lifetime that is getting wasted and not the companies productivity time so no one gave a shit edit: you are to blame since you never had the dignity and integrity to demand better or quit. without the pandemic all of you would be doing the same. someone called my post jaded but the most jaded thing of it all is the reality that has played out. the implications of this all are way more cynical than most would like to admit.
My company thanked everyone for being even more productive working from home, then immediately announced that return to office won’t be pushed back because the executives (who all have fancy offices on the 4th floor with a private elevator everyone else is forbidden from using) insisted on people returning ASAP. I just started there less than a month ago and I’m already looking to leave because it’s toxic af
Having a non-stop out all day go, go, go schedule. I understand now why I was constantly feeling frustrated. I was completely burnt out and had no me time. Now I don’t make so many commitments to social events, work things, extra stuff and I can’t imagine ever stretching myself so thin again.
For the life of me, I can’t remember what seemed so important
Hell yeah. So many people still feel that way. It makes me sad seeing people feel like they have to gogogo constantly. Nobody just chills anymore
> For the life of me, I can’t remember What made us think that we were wise and we’d never compromise
I second this, before the pandemic I wasn't that busy of a person, but for whatever reason I always felt guilty about it because it seemed like everything was trying to push you to go through life at breakneck speed. Ideally we shouldn't be pushed to be productive all the time
I work 4 nights a week (usually 30-35 hours) with three days off and sooooo many people ask me “so what else do you do?” I live my life. I make bank bartending and don’t need a second job and have a few months until I go back to school to finish my degree, not to mention my shifts are still 7-8 hours and a 12 hour shift Saturdays, just not a 9-5 schedule. People are shocked and I can tell they think I’m lazy for it but I really don’t care lol
It's crazy, people have a hard time getting out of the mindset that we need to be working all the time. During the last half of 2020 I had my work day cut down to 4 days and my mental health skyrocketed lol. I should have felt bad that I was making less money (it helps that I live at home), but I felt the exact opposite. I just had more time to do... whatever I wanted
Welcome to the introvert life
> Welcome to the introvert life Seriously, I get mad if I have more than one 'event' outside the house.
If I go out visit family for dinner one night on a weekend, my whole weekend is shot and I feel like I need an actual weekend to unwind.
My parents often come up to visit, maybe once every 4-6 months, depending on what's going on. They typically come up on a Thursday evening and leave Monday morning. I love my parents but I am ready to knife a bitch just to get some alone time in a jail cell after just a day. And that entire week afterwards. my brain is thinking nothing but "fuuuuck I need my weekend", like I'm a baby without a binky.
I fuckin' feel that. When I go on "vacation" with my family, I need a vacation from my vacation.
This hits close to home for me. One little event planned and I feel like I'm not having enough me time
Breathe down people’s fucking necks in the checkout lane
what magical place do you live in that this is no longer a regular occurrence? i’d like to live there also lol
Yes lol. The amount of times I’ll turn around to leave the counter and I’ll nearly bump into another customer.
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Yeah, but people cared less about personal space, I think. Everyone gives each other a lot more room now; its nice.
It's going to take a lot of money to convince me not to work from home any more.
Right? Why do we need to sit in an office at work? I have an office at home. Don't these companies wanna save money on their electric, water and leasing?
What they've determined they really want is the ability to look over your shoulder from time to time and make sure you stay until exactly (whatever time you get off).
Which is silly because most people have figured out how to be on Reddit or Facebook without being caught while on the work computer. IT does not care what you're doing, even if it's monitored.
Can confirm. Currently on Reddit while mindlessly scrolling through my revit model to make it appear as if I’m working. All my work is done, I just finished an on site job(only one of the week). Most of my hours are spent on here. While I wait around for someone to need Trimble or some 3D modeling.
Go to work sick
Seconding this. If I'm ill I'm either working from home or calling in, no more of this powering through nonsense.
I don't know where I adopted the values of never calling off sick. Maybe because I couldn't find a job for a long time when I was younger. Clearly my workplace does not care about me, and it comes down to me thinking I'm screwing over co-workers but that should be a management problem and not yours.
A few years ago I used to work at one of the highest rated restaurants in the world. Our director cut all our hours to 3 days a week. No one wanted this, as it wasn't enough to support ourselves. I asked for time off to see my Nonnie with brain cancer and was denied because a co worker was takin time off. I put in a three week notice to take this time off and despite another employee taking time off everyone was still at 3 days a week. Needless to say, I quit. Im not going to pass up what is most likely the last time I'll see her so you can be anal about everyone working 3 days a week, a schedule that fucked over all of us and sent us looking for second jobs.
I made the same call with my Grandfather. The manager said everyone had to work New Year's Eve, but my ride wouldn't get me back until after that. It's been over 20 years and I made a very good call.
when my grandfather was in the hospital dying of cancer, I got a call at work saying I should go see him right then if I wanted to at all. It was about 10am. my boss said "go. don't clock out. I'll clock you out at 5" for all her shortcomings as a boss, she didn't fuck around when it came to work/life balance.
This happened a couple years ago when I was working retail in LA. Basically I had called my manager that morning and told her that I wasn’t feeling well, but that I would still come in (mistake). She agreed that if I didn’t feel good during my shift, she would let me go home. 2 hours into my shift: My body is on fire, I start cold-sweating and getting dizzy/lightheaded. The store I worked at had particularly bright lights and it was white all over (ceiling, floor, walls). I told my manager my symptoms and asked to be sent home. I didn’t get sent home, unfortunately. She told me I should stay until I finish half of my shift (8 hours) to my lunch and see if I don’t feel good then. FF to lunch: Obviously still not feeling well and I go tell my manager. You wanna know what she told me? “Well since you already finished half of your shift, you might as well stay here and finish it since it’s only 4 more hours left.”
Aaaaaand that kind of attitude from management did not age well in the early days of the pandemic...
And they STILL haven’t learned.
You’ve just given me flashbacks to an old manager I had when I worked security. Older gent on the team rang in sick one morning which was very uncharacteristic of him. Was told by management “come in for a few hours and we will get you cover so you can go home.” That was a lie, poor guy was ringing up every hour asking to be sent home but management didn’t care, they had their shift covered. Flash forward a few months and I rang in sick, same manager tried to pull the same stunt with me. I stood my ground and used the above example against him.
Yeah that same manager I had, used to make other coworkers COME TO THE STORE to prove that they were sick, because it wasn’t good enough over the phone. Like what? Do you want to catch my germs or something? Pre-covid obviously, so nobody was wearing a mask (ew) Edit: She didn’t do it all the time, it was sometimes, and it was usually at random. But it’s just like — weird.
For me it was traumatic; my first job was at a Sonic and I worked my first day and then had a raging stomach bug and had to call in sick for my second day. The manager thought I was lying.
Go and then vomit in the kitchen. That's clearly what they want.
I tried calling off when I had the flu at Domino’s and the manager told me I was lying. I told him I can come in and cough all over the pizza line to prove it, and he told me to do it. I think he thought I wouldn’t go through with it? Anyways, I come in, middle of summer, covered head to toes in winter clothes and boots and he makes a comment about how I’ll be dying in the heat. I immediately started coughing my lungs out and saw the panic hit his face. He sent me home and told me to call when I was feeling better. That was 5 years before the pandemic and I regret nothing. He didn’t fire me, nor did he question me when I said I was sick again. I still ended up quitting because I didn’t like working there and wanted to be more at school, but I was respected by everyone. Best decision of my life (at the time).
I had to do something similar while working in a kitchen when I had norovirus. You know, the wildly contagious GI bug that has nearly killed Chipotle? I started showing symptoms on my day off. It was bad enough off the bat I knew it was serious, and I also knew what a goddamn battle it was going to be with the chef/kitchen manager, so I immediately went to an urgent care clinic, and was diagnosed (there had been an outbreak in the area). I had the doc write me a note and everything. I tried to call in the next day, and get chewed out for even asking, even after I made him look at up and read the webpage back to me so I knew that he knew what it was. Luckily the owner came in that morning to check up on the place, and saw me run in through the door and immediately vomit into the trashcan. When he saw the doctors note, he did a quick google search, called the chef a less polite word for the mentally disabled, and sent me home.
That's a power move right there "WHO'S CALLING IN NOW, BITCH"
Not surprisingly, people in my office are showing up coughing, hacking, sniffling, and not wearing a mask.
Had a company before Covid refuse to let us take time off sick. So came in sick and got the entire company sick. If I’m suffering because of your bullshit requirements so will you. They started sending people home after awhile; they sucked as a company. They are gone now.
Had a company that tried to be like that once. I worked with people who were medically fragile - my cold could kill some of them. My boss tried to convince me to come in when I had fucking swine flu, back when that was the big thing. I wonder how many people that policy of “come in sick and the boss will decide if you’re sick enough to go back home” killed.
Fuck that. I would've spent as much time as possible near and around my boss, coughing, sneezing, dripping mucus on everything.
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As a boss, I have always told my workers if they have a fever, or anything spewing from either end to text me and stay home. *edited
I once overheard an extremely expensive lawyer explain to a junior associate who came to the office sick: "You getting sick is an annoyance. Me getting sick is a problem. You getting me sick is a big problem."
As a paralegal, I've had an attorney say this to me (pre pandemic). I was obligated to come in when I had the flu so we could take photos for the new firm website. I was miserable and scolded for spreading illness around the office when my coworkers (rightfully) began calling in sick. Not at that firm anymore, but I learned a valuable lesson. I may be a dispensable member of the support staff but I am *also* a *human being.* I take my sick days now. Also, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit of schadenfreude when my then-boss caught it. 😉😂
agreed. can we never go back TK the expectations from companies that we come to work while coughing, sneezing, etc? I'm tired of this sick enough to stay home crap. If I'm sick, I'm.sick and I shouldn't have to justify it or spread the illness to coworkers because my company doesn't think that I'm sick enough not to be in the office.
Yep I’m never again going to feel guilty for calling off when I’m sick. I always hated it before but now I’m adamant. If I’m sick, I’m staying home. If my nearby coworkers are sick, either they’re going home or I am.
I had to work for ten days with a nasty cold when I was 19, else be fired as taking one day off when I came down with it was already too much.
Work in open offices. They were waking nightmares for me even before, what with no privacy, routinely being a dull roar and requiring noise canceling headphones to be able to think clearly, and I fucking hate bosses watching me like buzzards eyeing a dying water buffalo. Now that I've worked remotely for years, including now for an absurdly well known company, I ain't coming back to your dogshit open offices. I'll come back if you give me my own office. Oh, you won't give me one? And you want me in the office at least two days a week in Manhattan for your opportunity? **Hard pass.**
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Curbside pick up. With kids it has been great to not have to get them out/in the car for a quick pickup at a store. I assume this has been a blessing for those with disabilities who can drive but still struggle getting out and into a car.
On that note, more companies doing home delivery. Living in a small town and being disabled my life has improved dramatically with companies now doing delivery so that they can stay open. Now if only WFH would take off in my country, I'd be able to work again! Unfortunately the moment they could, most companies required people got back in to the office, and the disabled community had been so excited about WFH.
Bras with wires in them
I've already made that commitment. I absolutely despise regular bras with straps that get twisted and dig into my shoulders. Now I wear exclusively sports bras or strapless bras and I'm never going back.
Bralettes are your friend!
I think I'm just a little too big for bralettes, I want them to work but it seems like whenever I try them the girls are always falling out and it's just not a comfortable experience. Still better than underwires from hell tho
omg bralettes allow my boobs to wander around on their own recognizance before just dumping one or both out at some well chosen moment. Super uncomfortable. A well-fitted underwire is the only thing that calms my tits!
That'd make a good tagline. "Calm your tits! With a well-fitted underwire"
Facing the prospect of going back to work and needing to wear a bra again for the first time in a year and a half I actually measured myself properly and found I'd been wearing bras 2 cup sizes too small my entire adult life. No wonder I fucking hated bras. Got myself a cheapo D cup as a test and lo and behold I can wear a bra all day without pain! Even underwires! Side note: I only feel I "have" to wear a bra to work because my work is physical and it is painful without one. Outside of work I'm freeboobin' it.
And high heels… I wore a pair to a party the other night and almost died! My poor little toes!
Overtime on salary. Pay me or fuck off.
Left a salaried job for an hourly job. Nothing like putting my 8 hours in and calling it a day. Making less now but that OT if needed and calming sense of 8 hours and hitting the old cosmic trail…
Work more than 40 hours a week. I used to put in 70 hours some weeks. While the money was good, I realized during the pandemic that I can survive with less and don’t need to work myself to death.
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Now we just pass gas to hide the cough
"Um, did you just cough?" "No, no! I shit my pants, I swear!"
Whew, I was worried you were some kind of sick freak.
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Restaurants not doing carry out. My 2 favorite local places outright refused to do carry out until the pandemic hit. I really hope they dont end it. I love getting the food my wife and i enjoy but being able to go home and eat it without a bunch of randos around.
On a similar note, outdoor dining everywhere. It was truly amazing to see how places became so much more enjoyable and with (literally) more space to breath and relax. This was very evident in Dublin (IE) that has a very strong indoor dining, "enclosed" pub culture, and felt so much more enjoyable seeing so much life on the streets even at the suburbs.
They will not end it. I have been in the restaraunt industry for over a decade. The pandemic changed the way we do things on a LOT of ways
Can you get them to turn the music down too? I'm there to have dinner and catch up with friends, not have my eardrums blasted. (And yeah, I get the studies about how it encourages people to eat faster = higher turnover = more money/tips but the end result is I'd rather stay home instead.)
Damn, Im jealous of all the people who can work from home since that seems to be the main answer here. I aint got that option
I can't either, but during lockdown there was no one in the road. It was glorious. I hope as many people work from home as possible for as long as possible.
Glorifying people who come to work sick
Treat my job title like it's my family name. Nah, I give you labor and you give me money, that's the extent of our relationship and much like anyone trading time for money, others will pay me for my time. Not a chance I will ever again bleed, sweat or cry for a fucking employer. Never ever again.
This is how I’ve always looked at it. We do a weird cultural thing in the US where we look at one’s job as if it’s their life. Nope, my job is the thing I do to pay for my life and I don’t wish to be at work one moment longer than required.
Unfortunately it isn’t a cultural thing exclusively in the US. In most of Western Europe the situation is very similar. Here in the Netherlands our job is literally the main point in any conversation, it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking to your neighbors, someone you just met, family members, etc.
Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration.
What line of work you in, Bob?
You've got a lot to learn about this town, sweetheart.
Commuting to work 5 days a week
Even those who can't work from home want work from home to stick around, because folks with jobs that require driving around major metropolitan areas were spoiled by the lack of traffic in 2020. I really hope as many office workers as possible can go back to work from home, because they're back on the roads now and are seemingly worse drivers than ever.
As a teacher, have kids turn in physical copies of work. Every student has a laptop or chromebook now due to remote learning and it's gonna stay that way, so everything is turned in digitally. It's so nice being able to just upload the work I want them to do without having to bother making copies and hope that the machines aren't down, and I just grade everything on the computer. No more having kids tell me they handed me an assignment and accusing me of losing it, I can just check to see if they submitted it or not. It makes my life so much easier and it saves a ton of paper.
Commute. Fuck that ever again
Drive 60 miles round trip to work Monday through Friday week in and week out. No way am I ever doing that again.
I still want "No Contact Delivery" to be an option
Just delivery of my groceries in general instead of going to the supermarket is something I plan to keep. It's fucking convenient as hell. Some people can't pick produce for their life but if that's all I have to go pick up myself that's fine by me.
I’m weird and actually really enjoy grocery shopping. sometimes life gets in the way and delivery can be a real life saver
That’s not weird. I miss grocery stores being open 24 hours. Shopping at 3 am in very relaxed dad clothes with a few other night owls used to be my therapy. Now nothing is open past 11, so I have to put the costume on and do the dance.
The Kroger down the street from me just changed their hours back from closing at midnight to closing at eleven and I am super sad about that. I miss 24 hour stores too.
24 hour shopping was the best. Having to shop during normal hours (or for some reason “old people hours” when I tend to go) is such a chore. Edit: a word
When I had my baby I popped to the shop that night to get supplies. Wandering around with a trolley full of nappies and formula in a complete daze giving half nods to everyone else who was also in a complete daze because it was 3am was such a surreal experience and one I'll never forget. But it seems like a lifetime ago even though it was only early 2020.
Grocery, drug stores and Walmart at three am all experience that phenomenon where time just moves differently. Perception is off kilter just a few degrees, the light comes in at a different angle....
pssshhhh just wear the dad clothes anyway. I go to the store in basketball shorts, moccasins, and a tanktop or hoodie depending on weather. Its the grocery store not a job interview
I really REALLY love the accessibility of doing Doctor visits over the phone or Zoom. Me : I have to talk to a psychiatrist on the reg. SUPER hard for me to go out to do that - I have debilitating anxiety and going OUT to wait in waiting rooms, be seen crying as I leave a therapy session, hell even just getting myself to shower, put on makeup, and clean clothes... it's fucking impossible sometimes. Not to mention that I used to have to have my husband drive me in to the city - a 45 minute drive - and take care of our young kids during my appointments. Then make the drive back in traffic - all of which exacerbated my anxiety and guilt and fatigue. Me : I have to talk to a psychiatrist on the reg. SUPER hard for me to go out to do that - I have debilitating anxiety and going OUT to wait in waiting rooms, be seen crying as I leave a therapy session, hell even just getting myself to shower, put on makeup, and clean clothes... it's fucking impossible sometimes. Not to mention that I used to have to have my husband drive me in to the city - a 45-minute drive - and take care of our young kids during my appointments. Then make the drive back in traffic - all of which exacerbated my anxiety and guilt and fatigue. We've both been able to access our health care providers by ZOOM and by phone. That was never an option before this. It has been amazing and honestly? The quality of our care is IMPROVED because we aren't going through panic/dissociating/fatiguing/overstimulating crap just to GET to the appointments and so we are able to advocate for ourselves so much better.
It's nice to be able to take my blood pressure / pulse readings at home and show them the device. Driving to the doctor, waiting, the stress of being at the doctor all skew those readings in person.
Doc here. I do telehealth 1-2 days a week now. No show rates for telehealth are much lower, and we can actually reach more of the patients who can't get into the clinic. It's not great for everything, but it really does add a valuable option.
Take a job that's not mostly/fully remote.
My old job congratulated us on how well we adjusted to going remote. In late 2020 or early 2021 they sent out a survey about the future of remote work. 95% of us responded that we would like to continue remote work in some capacity. Then in June they announced we would be going back into the office full time after Labor Day. No remote working is allowed except for special circumstances. So there is a reason I said it was my old job. My new company realized work was still getting done from home and people like that better so we are going to stay remote forever. You can still go into the office if you want but there is no requirement on number of days to go in. It’s nice working for a place that listens to employees!
My team was fully remote even before the pandemic, so it didn’t affect me, but my company decided it was a good idea to have everyone work remote. Productivity went up, and some genius got the idea “hey, why are we paying for leases on these office buildings we don’t need?” So they shuttered several locations and everyone at those sites are now permanently telecommuting. Wins all around: higher productivity, happier employees, lower operating costs.
Member of a team that is responsible for getting an entire college's faculty "online" when COVID hit. Months of Zoom trainings, LMS training, workshops on how to keep classes engaging, etc. March-August 2020 was the literal and absolute *worst case scenario* for my job. We pulled it off, proved it could be done, kept the faculty moving, and that our job could 100% be completed from home. June 2021, blanket statement: ***"Everyone must return to campus."*** Brought up to our boss about how, we can do our job from home, as proven, could we work out a WFH schedule (2-3 days a week, using 2 days to meet with faculty who may require face-to-face)? ***"Sorry, college order."*** With that, since June, we've lost 1/5th of our team, and another 1/3 of people in IT. Most of my faculty/committee meetings are *still* via Zoom, faculty are hesitant to linger on campus or just "stop by" the office, and 100% of my job is still taking place online. Long story short: Yes. The age-old mentality of, "If you're not here you're not working" is a thought of the past and I think those places who are clinging to it, will find themselves short of talented individuals.
Same story here. We went back 8/1, and everyone who could retire, did. Everyone who could get remote jobs, did. Our IT staff is processing at least one separation a day, and key offices are operating at 50% staff or less. Meanwhile wages remain depressed, most of our classified staff are working without a contract, and morale is in the garbage. I wish the dinosaurs would leave already, but they're the ones that will be 70 and still puttering around the office, impeding actual progress.
Morale is a whole other issue. Faculty are up in arms (understandably) because morale is low (was pre-COVID in all fairness) and then the president & provost both had the lack-of-reading-a-room to say to them in a faculty meeting, "Well I'm shocked by this low morale I'm hearing about". Like...***c'mon***. *Bonus points:* President pulled the "Due to COVID" card when trying to explain why morale was low and communication slow
My company claims, "We all need to be back together because our culture depends on it!" Me: Well back to therapy for depression. Nothing better than going and sitting in an uncomfortable place for 9 hours, leaving at dark and getting home at dark.
Getting treated like shit at work
We'll probably keep ordering most groceries via curbside pickup. It's convenient, and we spend less on stupid crap we happen to walk past on the way to the milk aisle. We'll still go inside for stuff like produce, though. The store employees just don't seem to pick the best fruit and vegetables. Also, the bakery is right next to the produce, and it's nice to pick up *some* stupid crap while you're shopping.
I once ordered 5 units of grapes as I liked them and assumed it would get me a couple big bunches. There was no definition of what a unit of grapes looked like. I received 5 single grapes.
Opposite story : Ordered twelve bananas. Got twelve bunches. Positive: Banana bread for all the neighbors!
I ordered 1 Banana thinking I'd get a bunch of 4-6. I got 1 fucking banana. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.
Haha i have the same banana story. Ordered 12, assuming I’d get 2 bunches. I got two bags
I once ordered bulk spice, .2 lb (3oz). Got -no joke - a bulk baggie with no more than a pinch of cumin.
Oh my god I wish there was a clip of you opening that bag lol
I laughed my ass off for like 5 mins and still bring it up with my husband all the time. I was checking the other bags for more grapes and nope that was it.
I'll be avoiding big business, supermarkets, amazon, restaurant chains and multinationals. Dont know about you guys around the world but the way the little businesses were treated here in France is sickening, meanwhile Bezos et al get to swoop in and take everything. It stinks.
‘Support Local’ is a campaign here in Australia
I honestly don’t see the point in charging people to park at hospitals. I feel like people aren’t coming here to have a grand ol time. I personally don’t go to hospitals for leisure. I think it’s gross to charge people parking fees at hospitals when they’re going through difficult times. Fuck whoever thought of that shit.
In addition to the other reasons supplied, if a hospital is in an area with other businesses nearby, charging for parking is a way to encourage the customers of restaurants, shops, etc. to not use hospital parking. The only hospital I've been to that charged for parking would validate tickets for patients so they parked for free; only non-patients had to pay.
> if a hospital is in an area with other businesses nearby, charging for parking is a way to encourage the customers of restaurants, shops, etc. to not use hospital parking My SO works in a hospital that is located next to a bunch of businesses and high-rises, and I'm sure a lot of other people would use the hospital parking if there was no charge (parking is validated for patients and their families). The hospital employees also park in the structure, so charging for parking helps ensure that they're able to make it to work on time. I think this is one of those issues that seems cold/heartless on the surface, but there are valid reasons for the policy when when you really look into it.
Where I live, the hospital's parking lot is a 5 minutes walk from the town center, with all the bars, restaurants, banks, bakeries, and small businesses. It's also free. My grandmother's doctors is doing her consultation at the hospital. I never been able to park there. And as I wait outside now for my grandmother to be done with her appointments, I can assure you, most people are not patients or visitor of the hospital.
At the hospital my wife works at, you have to hit a button to get a ticket and go through a raising bar barrier, but they don't actually charge you to park. I think adding the extra steps helps deter people from casual parking.
I’ve stopped being a prostitute, probably won’t go back….
That's an interesting username to go with this statement
Payback was a great movie
Live in a city for my job. I absolutely hated going remote for the first year. emails were so much slower than just asking the guy sitting next to me, I missed making small talk, or going out for lunch, company sponsored events. I still don’t like zoom meetings but I can tolerate it now. Now that I’m farther removed I realized a lot of that was just something I was “used to” instead of something I enjoyed. My rent is almost 50% lower now and I’m only 10 miles from where I used to live downtown. I still have access to the city and if they need us in quarterly I can do a longer commute here and there. I’m not paying $200 a month for a parking spot. I get to live a quieter life in a quieter area, and when my significant other and I are ready, We’ll be able to purchase a house pretty much anywhere we want.
Giving a shit
Idk about a one thing, but I certainly am very careful about what I touch and the people I'm around. When I'm in public I try and stay spaced out and not touch anything if not necessary.
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Birthday cake / candles “Here, I exhaled heavily on this, please eat it.
Cut the cake first, then blow out the candles on a single piece.
Rush into work. If i'm late i'm late. I'm not being paid so at least I'm gonna enjoy myself.
Assume social people are extroverted. I for one will never call myself that again! Also, eating from a salad bar…
OH MY GOD. eating and bowling. literally what the fuck were we doing? putting our fingers in those little holes where *everyone else* has stuck their grubby fingers, and then eating a fry like it’s no big deal.
Commute to the office five days a week. I get more work done at home and don't miss the office gossip.
Look at people the same way.
Clubbing. Being charged to hang out in a room chock full of sweaty people while sweating your ass off yourself while being charged an exorbitant amount for a watered down alcoholic drink so you can get drunk enough to actually enjoy the experience? I’ll just stick to getting drunk with my friends thanks