DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Orbert on April 07, 2020, 09:46:31 PM
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Let's face it, everything's fucked up right now, everybody's going through some shit to one degree or another, but nobody wants to hear your bitching and whining. And most of us have the good grace to not bitch and whine in the Coronavirus thread because we know nobody wants to hear it.
But it still feels good to get some of that off of your chest. This is the thread for that. Let it out. No judgement here.
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Our band finally, FUCKING FINALLY after five years, reached the point where we had certified pros in every position. By February we had half a dozen gigs already scheduled for this year and more to come. This was going to be our year! Opening the county fair, main stage. Gigs in some of the biggest venues in the tri-county area. We'd made the big time at last!
We've already cancelled three gigs, the next two aren't looking great, and basically it looks like the rest of the year is fucked. No one knows how long the quarrantine/lockdown will last. Life is on hold until they find a cure, because what are we gonna do, just wait a while and then go back to life as usual, start spreading it around again and watch more people die? No.
I don't know which is worse, having shit happen when you're already down, or having something really great to look forward to, only to have to all taken away. We finally did it. Then all this shit started. Fuck.
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I had money saved and was home-hunting when the shit hit the fan with this. The timing could not have been worse from a personal standpoint, in the spirit of this thread, as I know millions have it much worse, and that is not even counting the many who have already died from the virus. :(
I guess the only silver lining, assuming I still have the same job when this is all over (or calmed down drastically) and that the virus doesn't get me and kill me, is that I will have even more money saved x-number of months from now when I can re-start the search. I shudder to think of the state the economy will be in then, however.
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My only really big bitch/whine is that I have absolutely no clue what my industry will look like when this is over. I think of all industries, the restaurant/food service one is going to change the most drastically, with I'd gather at least half of it closing for good. As for my side of it, I work in corporate cafeterias, and I have this scary feeling that telecommuting is going to be a bigger thing coming out of all this, which makes my services much less desirable.
I really hope to not have to go back to the hotel side of it, but I'm afraid that's going to be the only one that won't be totally decimated.
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My only really big bitch/whine is that I have absolutely no clue what my industry will look like when this is over. I think of all industries, the restaurant/food service one is going to change the most drastically, with I'd gather at least half of it closing for good. As for my side of it, I work in corporate cafeterias, and I have this scary feeling that telecommuting is going to be a bigger thing coming out of all this, which makes my services much less desirable.
I really hope to not have to go back to the hotel side of it, but I'm afraid that's going to be the only one that won't be totally decimated.
I'm in the market for a personal chef :biggrin:
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My only really big bitch/whine is that I have absolutely no clue what my industry will look like when this is over. I think of all industries, the restaurant/food service one is going to change the most drastically, with I'd gather at least half of it closing for good. As for my side of it, I work in corporate cafeterias, and I have this scary feeling that telecommuting is going to be a bigger thing coming out of all this, which makes my services much less desirable.
I really hope to not have to go back to the hotel side of it, but I'm afraid that's going to be the only one that won't be totally decimated.
I'm in the market for a personal chef :biggrin:
I'm not cheap.
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My only really big bitch/whine is that I have absolutely no clue what my industry will look like when this is over. I think of all industries, the restaurant/food service one is going to change the most drastically, with I'd gather at least half of it closing for good. As for my side of it, I work in corporate cafeterias, and I have this scary feeling that telecommuting is going to be a bigger thing coming out of all this, which makes my services much less desirable.
I really hope to not have to go back to the hotel side of it, but I'm afraid that's going to be the only one that won't be totally decimated.
I'm in the market for a personal chef :biggrin:
I'm not cheap.
I can pay you in Slimjims!
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I had money saved and was home-hunting when the shit hit the fan with this. The timing could not have been worse from a personal standpoint, in the spirit of this thread, as I know millions have it much worse, and that is not even counting the many who have already died from the virus. :(
I guess the only silver lining, assuming I still have the same job when this is all over (or calmed down drastically) and that the virus doesn't get me and kill me, is that I will have even more money saved x-number of months from now when I can re-start the search. I shudder to think of the state the economy will be in then, however.
I'm in a similar situation. Have money stashed and this year was going to be the year I purchase a home. Just have to wait now, but I'm actually optimistic that on the other side buying a house will be better for guys like us with the economy in the shit. Or it could be much worse, what would I know.
I can't complain, I still have my full time job, but all my staff are casual and I had to stand them all down. I've kept like 4 around but because they are not full time and are casual, the company wants them gone. Spent two days doing a business case to allow them to stay in some capacity or else on the other side, we're screwed with no foundation of staff. The thing is, 2 of them are in a full time role but just can't get converted to full time.
What grind my gears, is that assholes that are full time can work from home and do sweet fuck all and have no need to be still getting paid, yet casual hard working people doing productive work, have to be shunned just because they are casual. made a hell of a business case they won't be expecting.
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I can't really complain; my company was one of certainly many that had a work that "couldn't be done remotely", until we found out that d'uh, if you really want, you can actually do it remotely. So I got back home with the PC and monitor from the office and I haven't lost a single day of work and consequently of paycheck.
All I lost was the money of the subway - I pay a monthly fixed fare that allows me unlimited trips for all of the month, so I basically wasted it since we came back home in mid March, and in the last days I was using the car anyway.
And of course I lost social life and concerts, along with the chance of little trips in the weekend. But, concerts aside, I can't really complain, I know that many, many people had it way worse.
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This was supposed to be a year of lots of little weekend getaways, a few of which were supposed to be just my wife and me, which we've been terrible at doing over the years. I fear we won't be able to do any of them, but maybe things will get better later in the summer. My wife is pregnant (oops!) which means that if we miss this summer, she won't be willing to leave the baby for a weekend for at least a couple years. That's just the way she is with our kids. This was supposed to be the year we start focusing on us more instead of the kids. There are still ways to do that given the state of things, but between having to be home and her being tired as hell from being pregnant, it's not really going to happen like I was hoping.
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I feel terrible listing some of these because of the way others have it in comparison, but here goes:
- I have two jobs and my weekend one got cut, costing me $500 a month.
- I started building a gazebo the weekend before shit hit the fan, and now my patio (in view to the whole neighborhood) has been a construction site frozen in time for weeks.
- Filming of Battlebots season 5 has been delayed
- I was going to attend the Monster Jam World Finals in Florida, but that's been canned
- My parents are bored out of their minds and are in constant communication. I loved them to death, but there's only so many times I can tell my mother I don't think I have the plague.
- Costco has been bundling their prime cuts knowing people will buy anything right now. I don't need 4 or 5 ribeyes. Just 3
- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
- I'm paying $180 per month to a parking garage I'm not parking in. If I cancel and want to get back in, I get put on a waiting list.
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- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
The Vape shop right next door to my office is still open. Want me to send you something? I don't know if they have a menu, but here is their website. https://www.ivapeslc.net/
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- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
The Vape shop right next door to my office is still open. Want me to send you something? I don't know if they have a menu, but here is their website. https://www.ivapeslc.net/
Thanks, but I think I'm going to use it as a forced opportunity to quit :lol
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Mrs. P and I had a Viking Mediterranean cruise booked for May 6th. Twenty-six days from Barcelona to Athens with an extra 4 days in Greece touring the coast and historic sites. Luxury suite, gold liquor package, the works. It was planned as a celebration of Mrs. P retirement, my semi-retirement, and our 20th anniversary. This is a huge bucket list item for her and we booked it a year and a half ago. Of course, Viking cancelled the cruise last week. We've rescheduled for the fall of 2021.
Disappointing to have all our excitement squashed, but complaining about it seems pretty low to me. I'm not proud.
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- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
The Vape shop right next door to my office is still open. Want me to send you something? I don't know if they have a menu, but here is their website. https://www.ivapeslc.net/
Thanks, but I think I'm going to use it as a forced opportunity to quit :lol
Probably a wise move.
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I need new shoes but the store is closed.
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So we are lucky, but there's a couple things...
1. As most of you know, I have a special needs son. He is a senior in high school. This was his graduation year. He has worked his ass off (as have we) to get him to this point, and he even passed his MCAS exams last year, meaning he qualifies for a diploma, and not just a certificate. To think that he may not have a graduation "day" is crushing us. We're not sure how many moments like this he'll have in his life and the fact that the whole thing will not likely happen is very sad. We had been planning a big party and we really wanted him to experience the whole...experience.
Our trip to Italy (yeah I know..) this summer was his graduation present, as all he wanted to do was see the Coliseum.
2. My parents live in Florida. They come up (near my brother in NH) every summer. We almost lost my father a couple years ago to pneumonia and he has a heart stent. He just turned 74 on Monday. On one hand, my mother wants them to buckle down and stay in their house down there all summer. But my father, fearing if he gets it, he's dead, wants to come up anyway because as he told my mother, he at least wants to die near family. WTF?
3. 401k. 'Nuff said.
But we are fortunate. My wife and I are both working. Her from home under doctor's orders. She has an autoimmune disease and is 2nd in charge at a Independent/Assisted living facility. But she is home working her ass off. Me, I work in a Grocery store, so we're both getting paid. I'm just praying I don't bring the shit home.
We have had more dinners together as a family in the last 3 weeks than we've had in a long time.
Oh, and I have plenty of toilet paper. :P
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- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
The Vape shop right next door to my office is still open. Want me to send you something? I don't know if they have a menu, but here is their website. https://www.ivapeslc.net/
I'm so happy the dispensaries are still open in my state.
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My only really big bitch/whine is that I have absolutely no clue what my industry will look like when this is over. I think of all industries, the restaurant/food service one is going to change the most drastically, with I'd gather at least half of it closing for good. As for my side of it, I work in corporate cafeterias, and I have this scary feeling that telecommuting is going to be a bigger thing coming out of all this, which makes my services much less desirable.
I really hope to not have to go back to the hotel side of it, but I'm afraid that's going to be the only one that won't be totally decimated.
I'm in the market for a personal chef :biggrin:
I'm not cheap.
I can pay you in Slimjims!
:rollin :rollin :rollin
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I feel terrible listing some of these because of the way others have it in comparison, but here goes:
- I have two jobs and my weekend one got cut, costing me $500 a month.
- I started building a gazebo the weekend before shit hit the fan, and now my patio (in view to the whole neighborhood) has been a construction site frozen in time for weeks.
- Filming of Battlebots season 5 has been delayed
- I was going to attend the Monster Jam World Finals in Florida, but that's been canned
- My parents are bored out of their minds and are in constant communication. I loved them to death, but there's only so many times I can tell my mother I don't think I have the plague.
- Costco has been bundling their prime cuts knowing people will buy anything right now. I don't need 4 or 5 ribeyes. Just 3
- Vape shops are closed and I'm down to my final bottle of juice
- I'm paying $180 per month to a parking garage I'm not parking in. If I cancel and want to get back in, I get put on a waiting list.
LITERALLY every day. And my phone "announces" the caller, but pronounces "Michael" as "Mick-lee", so I get "[Last Name] Mick-lee" and it's like a trigger. But they're 81 and 83 (well, this year they will be) and I feel like a piece of crap for feelings I can't really control. Especially since he's one of the "high risk" group with his various illnesses.
The other thing for me is my youngest; he's on the spectrum, so he's in special classes and the lack of school routine is maddening. Yeah, I know, I could be instituting that, but it's very hard, especially since even though I'm one of those assholes that generally does sweet fuck all (just poking fun, Wolfking!!!) I've actually been very busy through this.
And concerts; I've only had one ticketed show actually cancelled, but I had a decent slate of potential shows this year.
Finally, I got my Jeep running... but not driving, so I was hoping to finish the transmission work and get it driving. I'm still doing that, but I have to order EVERYTHING through the mail - even dumb shit like bolts and stuff - and with shipments haphazard at best, I can't really plan my garage time. It was a PERFECT day yesterday to go out and turn a wrench for a couple of hours after work, but I'm waiting on a bell-housing and a bearing puller (I couldn't even use the bread trick because I have no bread to spare and not the right size bolt).
But... I do have the perspective, and am just taking advantage of the thread itself.
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Our trip to Italy (yeah I know..) this summer was his graduation present, as all he wanted to do was see the Coliseum.
It's been there since almost 2000 years, it's gonna hold out another year or two :tup
But I understand how sucky the situation must be, especially when the trip planned was not exactly in the backyard......
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So we are lucky, but there's a couple things...
1. As most of you know, I have a special needs son. He is a senior in high school. This was his graduation year. He has worked his ass off (as have we) to get him to this point, and he even passed his MCAS exams last year, meaning he qualifies for a diploma, and not just a certificate. To think that he may not have a graduation "day" is crushing us. We're not sure how many moments like this he'll have in his life and the fact that the whole thing will not likely happen is very sad. We had been planning a big party and we really wanted him to experience the whole...experience.
Our trip to Italy (yeah I know..) this summer was his graduation present, as all he wanted to do was see the Coliseum.
2. My parents live in Florida. They come up (near my brother in NH) every summer. We almost lost my father a couple years ago to pneumonia and he has a heart stent. He just turned 74 on Monday. On one hand, my mother wants them to buckle down and stay in their house down there all summer. But my father, fearing if he gets it, he's dead, wants to come up anyway because as he told my mother, he at least wants to die near family. WTF?
3. 401k. 'Nuff said.
But we are fortunate. My wife and I are both working. Her from home under doctor's orders. She has an autoimmune disease and is 2nd in charge at a Independent/Assisted living facility. But she is home working her ass off. Me, I work in a Grocery store, so we're both getting paid. I'm just praying I don't bring the shit home.
We have had more dinners together as a family in the last 3 weeks than we've had in a long time.
Oh, and I have plenty of toilet paper. :P
I feel every word of this post. There's no bro-hug emoji that I can see, so imagine one. :)
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The Family is losing a week long trip to Disney and a Resort the summer, but that will be there later in the year if we decide to go. But the Wife and I are both still working, so we feel grateful.
Spending all the money we save on gas with local restaurants. Doing our best to keep them, and our waistlines, around.
The girls are doing schoolwork online, but they miss their travel softball.
I really feel bad for all the High School or College Seniors. Their graduation Ceremonies can be rescheduled, but their final sports season, or final year with friends can't.
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I had money saved and was home-hunting when the shit hit the fan with this. The timing could not have been worse from a personal standpoint, in the spirit of this thread, as I know millions have it much worse, and that is not even counting the many who have already died from the virus. :(
I guess the only silver lining, assuming I still have the same job when this is all over (or calmed down drastically) and that the virus doesn't get me and kill me, is that I will have even more money saved x-number of months from now when I can re-start the search. I shudder to think of the state the economy will be in then, however.
I'm in a similar situation. Have money stashed and this year was going to be the year I purchase a home. Just have to wait now, but I'm actually optimistic that on the other side buying a house will be better for guys like us with the economy in the shit. Or it could be much worse, what would I know.
From what I have heard, it will likely be a buyer's market once the economy totally hits the shitter, so I guess it will work to our advantage, but there will be so many moving parts that it is hard to say for sure, especially with so much of the immediate future being unknown.
Oh, and I have plenty of toilet paper. :P
I had bought one of those 24-packs like six weeks ago from Sam's (which I only have a membership for because my eye doctor, who is a friend of a friend, is located in Sam's and you need a membership to get in the freaking building), so I am good for a while. :lol
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Oh, and I have plenty of toilet paper. :P
I had bought one of those 24-packs like six weeks ago from Sam's (which I only have a membership for because my eye doctor, who is a friend of a friend, is located in Sam's and you need a membership to get in the freaking building), so I am good for a while. :lol
With all the shit you spew, I figure you'd go through a 24pk in a weekend. :P
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I feel every word of this post. There's no bro-hug emoji that I can see, so imagine one. :)
Back atcha!
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Oh, and I have plenty of toilet paper. :P
I had bought one of those 24-packs like six weeks ago from Sam's (which I only have a membership for because my eye doctor, who is a friend of a friend, is located in Sam's and you need a membership to get in the freaking building), so I am good for a while. :lol
With all the shit you spew, I figure you'd go through a 24pk in a weekend. :P
:lol :lol
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I work from home anyway so nothing much has changed for me.
My big issue has been with my son. He is on the Autism spectrum/Aspergers along with ADHD. He was sick the week before this really hit and missed a whole week of school. Then spring break and the move to e-learning. He needs a regimented schedule to function properly. He needs classroom instruction to actually learn and pay attention. As of now, he is roughly a month behind in work. My wife has been on the phone with his psychiatrist and they are inundated with other parents of similar kids all having the same issue. He's at risk of completely blowing his school year. Meanwhile, the teachers and principal are lighting up my wife's email wanting to know where his work is which is only pissing her off more. Homeschooling/e-learning just does not work for him. It's been a pain.
My only other real complaint is I went from running the dishwasher maybe once a week to every other day now.
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There's people dealing with death and bankruptcy all around me while I'm not, so I must count myself lucky. Nonetheless:
Both the wife and me work in the musical theatre industry; we've been the very first to stop and we'll be the very last to resume activities with God knows what new set of rules and parameters. Unless the house cats know something we don't, no one is bringing money home until - hopefully - November.
My step-daughter just graduated uni, my favourite niece gets married: no ceremony for the former, no ... marriage for the latter.
My mother is old, alone (she's a focking prideful stubborn widow, she'll never give up her indipendence and the thought of living with any of her children makes her sick. I love her to death.) and 300 kms away from me. I'm a bit worried, especially because there's a 60% chance she could kill the first "No big deal, only old people die" schmuck she encounters, with her bare hands.
My sister is a doctor in Madrid, Spain. Every evening she texts she's negative, then I call and she tells horror stories.
I feel vaguely useless and my sense of time is screwed.
No NBA
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Want to hear a petty whinge? I'd spent the winter months rebuilding my golf swing to compensate for a significant weight loss, strength and flexibility training I'd been doing. My timing was all off and my old swing wasn't maximizing my new strength. It was all coming together right when the hammer dropped and all the courses and driving ranges closed.
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This was the best PSU basketball team ever maybe. They were definitely a lock to make the NCAA tournament and even had the potential to make a run. Our best player was ~20 points away from setting the all time scoring record at the school. And then everything got shut down so we will never get to see how the NCAA bball season will end, a real march madness I guess.
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Well, a few things for me.
- I had a trip plan in June. One of the reasons for the trip was to go to a ring making workshop. Me and my partner were gonna make our own wedding bands. The trip is now cancelled and getting married might need to be postponed. All the dates we had set aside worked perfectly and were meaningful to us, but none of that might happen anymore (not this year at least).
-Just recently I bought some new equipment to play around with Astrophotography. All the equipment is just sitting in my house right now because I can't do anything with it (plus it's been pretty cloudy anyways).
-I was also planning a move to the west coast by the end of the year, beginning of the next one. Since everything is delayed, that will certainly not happen. Since the timing has been thrown off for everything else, I'm afraid moving might need to way a few more years. But we will see how things play out.
Beyond that, I still have my job (through I wish I could work from home a few days a week), and no one in my family has gotten the virus, so everything else is great.
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So I've mentioned before that I was studying to take a huge 225 question exam to get my psychology license. I was supposed to take it two days ago actually, but COVID shut everything down. Now it's not for almost 3 months, and I gotta tell you.....my enthusiasm to study has been completely killed. I know it's coming up eventually, but I just have 0 motivation to study for it anymore. I feel like I've already forgotten at least 75% of everything I was ready with.
I know a lot of people are shaming others who aren't SUPER motivated during this time, but I am definitely not motivated to do much of anything. It really sucks.
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I know a lot of people are shaming others who aren't SUPER motivated during this time, but I am definitely not motivated to do much of anything. It really sucks.
I'm not too motivated either, I find it very hard to be when you can't even do your job fully (in my case, my work is now coming to complete halt and I should be studying and training myself in the down time, but I'm just so unmotivated)
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My life fortunately has not changed at all other than I just want to go back to the gym
EDIT: I broke my phone today. Fuck you, COVID
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Main impacts have been:
- Lots of beam times that have been postponed or cancelled.
- Gym membership is becoming much less cost effective.
- Worried much more about my Grandparents, given they are in their 80s and 90s. Even my parents are in an at-risk group.
- I drink alone much more.
In some ways though, as peverse as it is, its had the benefit of me connecting more with old friends back in the UK since we talk much more often and game online a fair bit more. So my personal experience has been not all bad.
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- My daughter's preschool closed along with the local school districts. Her weekly routine has been up-ended, she misses her teachers and friends, and is being stubborn and won't do simple learning projects at home. I'm not concerned, but my wife loves to look at her friends on Facebook, whose kids are still cooperating and doing projects. I tell her not to stress out and compare us to them, and she knows that, but still does it anyways, making herself feel bad.
- We cancelled our trip to Florida in May. It sucks, but we'll try to go next year. We were going to go with my in-laws, since my mother in law hates vacationing anywhere other than the beach, and she HAS to witness my kid's first time at the beach. The downside is that my wife's stepdad is stubborn and a total penny-pincher, yet loves to spend money on himself and stay in expensive beach-front condos. He loves knowing that he got himself a deal on something expensive.
He won't stay in a regular hotel, so of course it's more expensive at a condo. I hate that he tries to dictate when we have to go based on the rates of when the condos are cheaper. I told my wife we are not pulling my daughter out of kindergarten for a week just because he can get the condo cheaper during the school year. I absolutely disagree with taking a vacation and making my kids miss school. We'll take a trip in the summer of 2021 and not earlier. If they don't want to come with at that time, because it's too expensive and he won't compromise, well too bad.
- I'm on week 4 of working from home. It's going fairly well, but my kids are vying for my attention and I can't always give it to them at that time. It's just been a juggling act, and thankfully my work has been getting slower the longer that people are at home. My nearly 5-year old daughter just wants this to be over so things go back to normal and she can go to the park to play and not be stuck playing in our yard.
- I'm absolutely sick of social media and the pettiness and nastiness that people exhibit over this situation. Everyone is sitting in their home, posting and commenting away, judging others, being mean, and spreading all sorts of fear and misinformation. I'm to the point where I try not to read it at times because it drives me crazy.
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I don't have much to bitch and moan about. I would say visits to the grocery store just suck, but that's about it. I'm working from home (which I love). I'm helping my parents to stay home by getting them groceries (whatever is available). The family is still healthy and alive. I consider myself fortunate and can't really complain about anything right now. Lots of other people are out there suffering. Lost lives, lost jobs, lost livelihoods. All I can do as a single guy is stay home and follow the guidelines as best I can.
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Career (and in some ways broader life) is in serious limbo from all this. The acquisition/assimilation of my company keeps getting nudged out by this, as it has slowed the US and Irish regulatory reviews. I've asked to be laid off, but the longer this stretches, the longer I have to wait to know if I got my ask, and how long I'll need to stick around after Day 1. All of this makes the kinetics of finding my next job quite unclear. And given that I'm looking for Exec Dir or VP-level positions, they have a long runway. So I'm just treading water, don't know enough about what/when to take any definitive action. I'm of course extremely fortunate to be receiving a paycheck for a job where I can WFH, but it's still messy. And this whole perpetual WFH is making my "senioritis" at my current job all the more severe...
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Want to hear a petty whinge? I'd spent the winter months rebuilding my golf swing to compensate for a significant weight loss, strength and flexibility training I'd been doing. My timing was all off and my old swing wasn't maximizing my new strength. It was all coming together right when the hammer dropped and all the courses and driving ranges closed.
Huh. It's amazing how much we share here. Kids with individual needs; parents who still think they're 27 and made of steel; college teams with optimism (for me, Uconn and SMU); and I spent my winter months rebuilding my golf swing to compensate for a significant weight gain, loss of strength and zero flexibility. ;) :)
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A couple people here have talked about having kids with special needs. My wife is a special needs teacher, has been for 20 years, and has no idea how to teach her kids remotely for the next 2 months.
My big issue has been with my son. He is on the Autism spectrum/Aspergers along with ADHD.... He needs a regimented schedule to function properly. He needs classroom instruction to actually learn and pay attention...Homeschooling/e-learning just does not work for him.
Yes they need a regular, predictable schedule and connection you just can't replicate via Zoom or any other medium.
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A couple people here have talked about having kids with special needs. My wife is a special needs teacher, has been for 20 years, and has no idea how to teach her kids remotely for the next 2 months.
My big issue has been with my son. He is on the Autism spectrum/Aspergers along with ADHD.... He needs a regimented schedule to function properly. He needs classroom instruction to actually learn and pay attention...Homeschooling/e-learning just does not work for him.
Yes they need a regular, predictable schedule and connection you just can't replicate via Zoom or any other medium.
Without beating a dead horse, I'd actually consider that - the lack of the normal, day-to-day routine for my stepson - to probably be the biggest hardship we've faced through all of this.
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To Podaar: did you get your airline fees refunded or credited? (sorry if I don't know how you were getting to Barcelona)
We just got a full refund from Delta two days ago for our planned flight in three weeks. I know that United was offering credits for a year......from when the flight reservations were MADE, not from the date of the cancelled flights.
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To Podaar: did you get your airline fees refunded or credited? (sorry if I don't know how you were getting to Barcelona)
Our airfare was booked through Viking Cruises. They credited the entire cost of the trip plus 25%. So, yes and then some.
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To Podaar: did you get your airline fees refunded or credited? (sorry if I don't know how you were getting to Barcelona)
We just got a full refund from Delta two days ago for our planned flight in three weeks. I know that United was offering credits for a year......from when the flight reservations were MADE, not from the date of the cancelled flights.
You didn't ask me, but I'll chime in. I was supposed to fly to Jacksonville tomorrow night, United cancelled my flight last weekend. I had obviously planned on not going but was waiting until they officially cancelled it so I could get a refund. But nope, they are only giving travel credits not cash back. However, the credits are good for one year from when you process the cancellation. So the flight got cancelled on Friday, but I didn't go into my account to process it until Sunday and therefor my travel credit is good until April 5th of next year. Well really, you have to book it by that time, the flight can be one year out from that. I really wish I just got my money back, I hate how they hold onto it especially in these times when money is much more useful than a future travel credit. But then again, I don't think United has any money right now. So I guess this is another way covid is effing up my life. It's holding onto my $411!
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I thought if the flight was cancelled they had to refund.
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I thought if the flight was cancelled they had to refund.
That's what I thought, there is no cash back option sadly with united.
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I didn't see an option for a full refund with our Aer Lingus tix. It was either change date with no fees, or a voucher +20%. We took that option because the voucher was good for 5 years, and my wife was convinced we will use it.
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NO SPORTS!!! >:( I had some new teams to start watching this Spring and they're all shut down.
Working from home is not great, but at least I'm working. Less stress than being in the office at least.
Having to eat microwaved meals and sandwiches is getting boring. At least that's saving money.
Shopping sucks because I don't want to catch it and food and supplies are hit and miss.
I guess I can't complain too much.
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Having to eat microwaved meals and sandwiches is getting boring. At least that's saving money.
Not a bad time to start learning to cook, I say this as someone who has been actively cooking meals every night and it's becoming the highlight of my day of cooking a nice meal for myself. I was already doing this before this all as part of my "get in shape" plan but with all this happening, I've lightened up on the diet so I can have something fun and enjoyable to end my days with. And up my work outs since I have more free time at home to offset that added calories.
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I work from home anyway so nothing much has changed for me.
My big issue has been with my son. He is on the Autism spectrum/Aspergers along with ADHD. He was sick the week before this really hit and missed a whole week of school. Then spring break and the move to e-learning. He needs a regimented schedule to function properly. He needs classroom instruction to actually learn and pay attention. As of now, he is roughly a month behind in work. My wife has been on the phone with his psychiatrist and they are inundated with other parents of similar kids all having the same issue. He's at risk of completely blowing his school year. Meanwhile, the teachers and principal are lighting up my wife's email wanting to know where his work is which is only pissing her off more. Homeschooling/e-learning just does not work for him. It's been a pain.
My only other real complaint is I went from running the dishwasher maybe once a week to every other day now.
Well, this took a turn. I guess the principal told my wife that if our son 'doesn't get his act together' they are going to flunk him for the entire school year. My wife has now mobilized his psychiatrist to help fight the school district. Unfortunately, this is deja vu. We had to fight with them when he was younger as well for special help. Same psychiatrist so she knows the drill. She is not fond of the people running our district because they are so not into bowing to special needs.
Thanks coronavirus.
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Maybe tmi is your son on an IEP? My wife's students are and I don't think they can "flunk" in the traditional sense.
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Right. The school is still required to administer the IEP. Once your wife hangs up with the psychiatrist, I'd call your lawyer.
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His psychiatrist asked to be put in direct contact with the principal. She doesn't mess around. It's ironic, just before this whole thing broke she had several questionnaires distributed to several of his teachers to better help with his care and develop/update his current plan. We never got them back.
She's great and already said she will continue to be his doctor all the way until he is 21. She's a pediatric psychiatrist but sometimes extends care for certain patients. I'm worried, but not that worried. Fairly sure she will whip them.
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The biggest change is in my family financials on paper. So far my 401k lost 15%, but is now gaining a bit. My wife is retired and has 2 annuities. We should be getting the bad news on her accounts any day. I hope the downturn is not as severe and long lasting as the last recession.
I am a state employee that is working from home until at least April 27th. We have borrowed lap tops and supposed to get permanent ones soon. I am hoping we go AWS at least 3 days a week permanently. I am so much happier at home away from all the BS in the office.
Question for this forum. Do you see governments and businesses, especially in larger cities take a look at reducing office space by allowing employees to work from home. We have the technology, just let us use it.
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Question for this forum. Do you see governments and businesses, especially in larger cities take a look at reducing office space by allowing employees to work from home. We have the technology, just let us use it.
Yes. Especially since many companies invested in putting in that tech so people can work for home, does it make sense to lease office space when you invested in everyone working from home? Now I don't think everyone will be, there's lots of benefits from face to face, but many day to day jobs that can be done from home, might end up staying there in the long run.
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I think only if it will reduce costs, or it's a company that has trouble retaining specialized talent using it as a benefit.
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I think many companies that didn't think working from home would work well for their business are.going to learn that it works just fine. The trade-off of needing less space will outweigh the cons for many companies.
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Having to eat microwaved meals and sandwiches is getting boring. At least that's saving money.
Not a bad time to start learning to cook, I say this as someone who has been actively cooking meals every night and it's becoming the highlight of my day of cooking a nice meal for myself. I was already doing this before this all as part of my "get in shape" plan but with all this happening, I've lightened up on the diet so I can have something fun and enjoyable to end my days with. And up my work outs since I have more free time at home to offset that added calories.
I'm loving the extra time to cook, and do everything nice and slow and proper. Today I got a nice whole roaster chicken, trussed it up and stuffed with with citrus and herbs. Cook that sucker nice and slow, and serve with an asparagus and mushroom hash. Fuck yes.
Tomorrow I'm going to bust out a good, proper gumbo. So fucking excited.
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I haven’t seen my girlfriend in a month. I couldn’t be with her on her birthday and we probably won’t be able to see each other on our first anniversary.
I’ve also lost five students in two weeks to this virus. I work with disabled adults who are at a higher risk with their conditions, and my agency has taken quite a hit.
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I work from home anyway so nothing much has changed for me.
My big issue has been with my son. He is on the Autism spectrum/Aspergers along with ADHD. He was sick the week before this really hit and missed a whole week of school. Then spring break and the move to e-learning. He needs a regimented schedule to function properly. He needs classroom instruction to actually learn and pay attention. As of now, he is roughly a month behind in work. My wife has been on the phone with his psychiatrist and they are inundated with other parents of similar kids all having the same issue. He's at risk of completely blowing his school year. Meanwhile, the teachers and principal are lighting up my wife's email wanting to know where his work is which is only pissing her off more. Homeschooling/e-learning just does not work for him. It's been a pain.
My only other real complaint is I went from running the dishwasher maybe once a week to every other day now.
It's not confirmed but my wife suspects I have Aspergers. I have similar traits. I hated school with a passion and barely got by, it's hard for me to focus on anything now. Even an article about a topic I love, like sports, I just skim to get the basic idea of it. My wife has helped me with social skills, but it's still not easy, and she gets frustrated with me a lot. So I feel ya man.
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Having to eat microwaved meals and sandwiches is getting boring. At least that's saving money.
Not a bad time to start learning to cook, I say this as someone who has been actively cooking meals every night and it's becoming the highlight of my day of cooking a nice meal for myself. I was already doing this before this all as part of my "get in shape" plan but with all this happening, I've lightened up on the diet so I can have something fun and enjoyable to end my days with. And up my work outs since I have more free time at home to offset that added calories.
Today I got a nice whole roaster chicken, trussed it up and stuffed with with citrus and herbs. Cook that sucker nice and slow, and serve with an asparagus and mushroom hash. Fuck yes.
Damn, that sounds tasty!
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I think the "work at home" thing is going to follow the "dot.com" track; it'll be a thing for a while, everyone will hop on it to suck out the (financial) benefits, then the cracks will start to show. Once the novelty of the COVID-19 thing wears off, and the threat is minimized, having that dog barking in the background, or making a call and hearing birds chirping is going to wear thin. As someone who DOES work from home regularly, it's not for everyone, and not everyone can do it successfully for a sustained period of time. It suits my personality but that's just dumb luck and the good fortune of having (mostly) bosses who didn't give a rat's ass.
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I think the "work at home" thing is going to follow the "dot.com" track; it'll be a thing for a while, everyone will hop on it to suck out the (financial) benefits, then the cracks will start to show. Once the novelty of the COVID-19 thing wears off, and the threat is minimized, having that dog barking in the background, or making a call and hearing birds chirping is going to wear thin. As someone who DOES work from home regularly, it's not for everyone, and not everyone can do it successfully for a sustained period of time. It suits my personality but that's just dumb luck and the good fortune of having (mostly) bosses who didn't give a rat's ass.
I suspect it might mirror the dreaded open-office plan...companies see it as a way to cut overhead, and then keep doubling own even after its shown to hurt productivity and outcomes, because near-term overhead cuts look good for shareholders over the very near term. Super fucking short-sighted.
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making a call and hearing birds chirping is going to wear thin.
:lol this is an issue in my house, the birds outside at this time are so loud. Now no one's heard them in my video conferencing that I am aware of but its on my mind cause I can hear them. Also gaming last night with some friends and one of them also had the birds chriping :lol had me cracking up good in the middle of a cal of duty match, it gets quiet... and then the birds go off from somewhere in PA
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I'm tired of my hands constantly smelling like bleach and rubbing alcohol!
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People need to learn during video or audio conference calls to mute themselves whenever they're not talking. That makes everything a lot better. I literally just unmute for a second or two before or after I talk and am muted the rest of the time.
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Indeed. Now that everyone's working from home, the number of background dogs barking, kids whining, and other noise has multiplied on pretty much every call. I know some of it can't be helped, but it seems like most of this would be common sense.
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People need to learn during video or audio conference calls to mute themselves whenever they're not talking. That makes everything a lot better. I literally just unmute for a second or two before or after I talk and am muted the rest of the time.
oh definitely on any call more than a couple people
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I've posted it in other threads but...
Was laid off as soon as CA implemented the Stay At Home order. I had only been there a month (33 days), and was not trained enough to work solo from home (also... Live in a tiny cramped studio apartment with my GF, 2 dogs, and a cat... No room to set up a desk, computer, dual monitors).
They hired me back at 20 hours a week, due to the fact they can't get the forgivable federal loan if they lay people off. Okay. So now I'm folding pamphlets at home. Expected to do 1.5. Hours worth of work stretched to 4 hours. Not hard. Just repetitive. After a week and a half, they offer me "full time" again, doing what I've been doing. This confuses me. As my manager was just telling me they are running low on that type of work, and the work coming in is slowing way down (insurance quotes), they may have to start paying people to do nothing. So this tells me that they brought me back full time due to the loan thing.. They jumped the gun initially. I'm thankful to have work, but it's already causing strain at home.
My GF has high anxiety, and is very.... I don't want to say paranoid, but very germiphobic. Whenever one of us leaves the house, she wants us to fully decontaminate before entering. Stripping, spraying shoes with lysol, clothes go straight into the wash, and a shower. I can't watch the news, because the talk of the virus freaks her out. I'm the opposite.. I'm the opposite. I'm a sponge. Want to know everything. All the stats. Watch all the press conferences (county, California, National, and NY because why not?). I'm reading everything I can on it on Reddit. Hell, I've been inspired to read Richard Preston's newest book on Ebola, "Crisis In The Red Zone" (sequel to my favorite book, "The Hot Zone" (I highly recommend!). Anyways... Me bringing boxes and boxes of crap into the studio freaks her out. I've kinda pushed to work in the office (there's only 4 or 5 people in there at a time now. One from each dept and then one or two people doing work I'm doing. Plenty of rooms and space for everyone to distance themselves), but doesn't look like that'll happen.
My GF's income has been drastically cut due to all this, and she doesn't qualify for Unemployment, so theres that. If I hadn't of been "rehired", the amount I'd be getting on unemployment, plus the federal 600/ wk that was supposed to be coming at some point would help make up for it. Oh well.
Tiny apartment means no time to ourselves. We are always within 10 ft of each other :lol
The other people living in out complex (my best friend's mom's property... A main house, and 3 other units on the property. My best friend is in one, his sister in law in one, us in one, and his mom in the main house) don't seem to be doing anything to "social distance". They are going out, going to people's homes, etc. And then don't understand why we are keeping to ourselves. Really doesn't help my GF's anxiety.
Oh, and it's been fucking raining for like the entire week. So I can't even go out for a walk to listen to my podcasts (which have been piling up...)
Oh and my Best Friend's wife and I are supposed to be seeing Green Day / Weezer / Fall Out Boy in July. The show hasn't been canceled yet but I'd be surprised if doesn't.
I'm lucky to have my health and my job, but still... Ugh.
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Wrong thread...
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I'm pretty OK with everything (ask me in 3 weeks from now) except
for that damned Covid icon. That effing circle with the trumpets jutting
outward. Every segment on every story on every network starts with
a flash of that thing. Enough!!
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People need to learn during video or audio conference calls to mute themselves whenever they're not talking. That makes everything a lot better. I literally just unmute for a second or two before or after I talk and am muted the rest of the time.
This. Working from home is amazing. Snowstorm? Your employees can still work instead of taking the day off or being late because they don't want to drive in it or schools are closed. Employee is sick but doesn't want to take the day off? They can work from home and not infect everyone else. Or they can work part of the day if they feel up to it. Employees don't have to commute, which means if they're coming up on a deadline and are so inclined, they have extra time to work. Or they have extra time to themselves, making them a little happier and less stressed. They have more money too since they're using less gas. Oh and traffic is just that much better - good for everyone and the environment too. Sick kid? They don't have to take the day off. Etc etc etc.
Plus, you don't lose employees to go work for other companies that allow them to work from home when you don't. This was happening to my company until they finally started a work from home pilot and then made it happen on a bigger scale. They have a software that leaders can use to track idle time to ensure people are actually working.
You (general naysayers) want to lose all of that just because you're annoyed by dogs barking and babies crying? And birds chirping? Like lordxizor says, teach people how to mute. And deal with those who don't have the discipline to work from home on a case by case basis.
Ok rant over. I feel better now. :)
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Well, since my segment of the industry relies on all you guys working together in an office, I'd appreciate it if you kept on doing so after this blows over. Thanks in advance.
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Employee is sick but doesn't want to take the day off? They can work from home and not infect everyone else. Or they can work part of the day if they feel up to it.
I never thought of this. Actually this is a very nice idea, for those kinds of jobs that could implement this of course. There are many situations when you're unwell enough to travel and stay in an office, but lucid enough to do some work in the more relaxed comfort of your house.
The concept itself of me being sick but having to leave the house to go to the doctor to certify it is silly (at least here it works this way), of course there has to be a kind of check about one's health, otherwise anybody could just call in sick and binge a Netflix show instead, but "Listen, I have a small fever, I'll stay home and work as long as I don't get a terrible headache, if I do, just take 3 hours off my holidays count" could and should be an alternative when possible.
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People need to learn during video or audio conference calls to mute themselves whenever they're not talking. That makes everything a lot better. I literally just unmute for a second or two before or after I talk and am muted the rest of the time.
This. Working from home is amazing. Snowstorm? Your employees can still work instead of taking the day off or being late because they don't want to drive in it or schools are closed. Employee is sick but doesn't want to take the day off? They can work from home and not infect everyone else. Or they can work part of the day if they feel up to it. Employees don't have to commute, which means if they're coming up on a deadline and are so inclined, they have extra time to work. Or they have extra time to themselves, making them a little happier and less stressed. They have more money too since they're using less gas. Oh and traffic is just that much better - good for everyone and the environment too. Sick kid? They don't have to take the day off. Etc etc etc.
Plus, you don't lose employees to go work for other companies that allow them to work from home when you don't. This was happening to my company until they finally started a work from home pilot and then made it happen on a bigger scale. They have a software that leaders can use to track idle time to ensure people are actually working.
You (general naysayers) want to lose all of that just because you're annoyed by dogs barking and babies crying? And birds chirping? Like lordxizor says, teach people how to mute. And deal with those who don't have the discipline to work from home on a case by case basis.
Ok rant over. I feel better now. :)
Well, other than an oblique reference to "extra time to work" there's not much there from the productivity side or from the employer side. I know for me, the challenge over the past decade or so has been to make sure that I'm not a voice over the wire and that people know who I am. It makes a difference. There are some things - reviews, negotiations, personal comfort - that emails/texts/phone are just not as effective as face-to-face. Technology won't - in my opinion - ever totally supplant human nature. It also depends on the manager; I've noticed a big difference with my boss since he started working from home himself.
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Relevant: Our company has been sending regular emails with tips for working from home, encouraging words, etc. Today's included some tips about teleconferencing, including being aware of the Mute button, when it's on, and when it's off. It didn't suggest keeping yourself on Mute unless you're actually talking, but it did say that you should be aware of your surroundings, and how much background noise microphones can pick up. They should have just said to keep yourself on Mute unless you're talking, but stopped just short of that for some reason.
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I love working from home. And it's pretty common where I work even before the pandemic.
We always have everyone mute themselves if they aren't talking. You'd be surprised how much noise breathing can make through a microphone :). Or keyboard typing for that matter. And if we have extra large meetings, everyone is automatically muted and you have to dial a code to unmute yourself, and then when you're done speaking you are immediately muted again.
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I love working from home. And it's pretty common where I work even before the pandemic.
We always have everyone mute themselves if they aren't talking. You'd be surprised how much noise breathing can make through a microphone :). Or keyboard typing for that matter. And if we have extra large meetings, everyone is automatically muted and you have to dial a code to unmute yourself, and then when you're done speaking you are immediately muted again.
You forgot to mention snoring :lol (yes, I've heard it)
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One of my favorites was a co-worker who took the call in their car, and for some reason had the tunes in their car cranked as well. I can't even imagine how they could hear the conversation, but the worst part is that they didn't mute themselves, and their tunes were so loud that we couldn't even have the conversation. It was just a conference call, no video, so we didn't know who it was for sure. After a few minutes of people yelling "Hey, mute yourself!" and "Hello? Turn your music down!" I just hung up. Frustrating at the time, but I get invited to calls that I don't need to be on all the time, so it's mostly amusing now.
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I love working from home. And it's pretty common where I work even before the pandemic.
We always have everyone mute themselves if they aren't talking. You'd be surprised how much noise breathing can make through a microphone :). Or keyboard typing for that matter. And if we have extra large meetings, everyone is automatically muted and you have to dial a code to unmute yourself, and then when you're done speaking you are immediately muted again.
You forgot to mention snoring :lol (yes, I've heard it)
:lol
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People need to learn during video or audio conference calls to mute themselves whenever they're not talking. That makes everything a lot better. I literally just unmute for a second or two before or after I talk and am muted the rest of the time.
This. Working from home is amazing. Snowstorm? Your employees can still work instead of taking the day off or being late because they don't want to drive in it or schools are closed. Employee is sick but doesn't want to take the day off? They can work from home and not infect everyone else. Or they can work part of the day if they feel up to it. Employees don't have to commute, which means if they're coming up on a deadline and are so inclined, they have extra time to work. Or they have extra time to themselves, making them a little happier and less stressed. They have more money too since they're using less gas. Oh and traffic is just that much better - good for everyone and the environment too. Sick kid? They don't have to take the day off. Etc etc etc.
Plus, you don't lose employees to go work for other companies that allow them to work from home when you don't. This was happening to my company until they finally started a work from home pilot and then made it happen on a bigger scale. They have a software that leaders can use to track idle time to ensure people are actually working.
You (general naysayers) want to lose all of that just because you're annoyed by dogs barking and babies crying? And birds chirping? Like lordxizor says, teach people how to mute. And deal with those who don't have the discipline to work from home on a case by case basis.
Ok rant over. I feel better now. :)
Well, other than an oblique reference to "extra time to work" there's not much there from the productivity side or from the employer side. I know for me, the challenge over the past decade or so has been to make sure that I'm not a voice over the wire and that people know who I am. It makes a difference. There are some things - reviews, negotiations, personal comfort - that emails/texts/phone are just not as effective as face-to-face. Technology won't - in my opinion - ever totally supplant human nature. It also depends on the manager; I've noticed a big difference with my boss since he started working from home himself.
I did mention productivity with the bolded. And that's only one of the ways they have to do it. There are always people who will try to cheat the system. But at the end of the day, there are ways to find out if they're not getting the job done. I have meetings with my boss both by phone and in person. There doesn't seem to be any real difference. But for some people I'm sure there is - that doesn't mean no one should be able to work from home though. I've heard from a couple leaders that the more team members they have working from home, the less time they have to spend on all kinds of B's issues. Office drama goes down. Dress code issues. People wearing too much fragrance. So there's some more productivity for the bosses. Before working from home was a wide spread thing, they used to have individuals work from home when a big deadline for an important project was coming up. Which clearly shows they were more productive at home. Maybe because there's less talking about non work stuff. Obviously if productivity went down during the pilot the company wouldn't have opened it up the way they did. I get that not everyone would like to work from home, not everyone can handle it, and certain jobs aren't well suited for it. But for jobs where people spend the majority of their time on a computer, it should be an option.
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I'd rather deal with any of those issues than be under surveillance every minute of my work day especially through software. F that.
(Although, if that's the case, I'm likely being watched at the office anyway, which means it's a job I don't want :lol)
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Well at my company there's surveillance anyway. Now bosses are able to get reports - so if you're idle for four hours watching TV, they'll know something is up and can ask IT for more spying. But they could do that before as well. I don't like the idea of it, but if they did before anyway, then it doesn't really matter.
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I think surveillance in the work space is a blight upon workplace morale personally. I'm just here to complain about it :lol I have always enjoyed my employment with small business owners because every one I've worked for never gave a crap about what you did during the day as long as your work got done. I think you build better trust between employers and employees that way.
Although certainly in a time of pandemic working from home is a brilliant solution and we're lucky to live in a time we can utilize it, so I guess you just suck it up and deal with the spying :)
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I guess I'm fortunate that (as far as I know), they don't monitor us like that. I've been working from home since last year, and my manager didn't even know that for months. I drove up for the meetings, but otherwise, whether I'm in a cubicle five miles away or at home 15 miles away didn't make a bit of difference. She only found out when she drove over to my building for a meeting and I wasn't there.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure they don't monitor us because I still work maybe 20 hours a week, but I get all my work done, even get kudos once in a while, so I guess everyone's happy. And now of course everyone works from home.
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I guess I assumed that working from home was generally task based. Like at my work in down time, while you're on the clock, you can always clean something.
How does that work when you're home based? I mean they can always run an audit trail right?
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I'm a programmer/developer. There are ad-hoc data requests that get routed to me, and a number of systems I've built over the years that I still support, but if there are no requests and no one needs anything changed/updated/investigated, I don't have anything immediate to do. I have weekly meetings with my manager, and it's her job to make sure I'm earning my pay, not mine. As far as both of us are concerned, if I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, I'm fine.
Blatant non-humble brag: I've been told that I work faster than pretty much any other programmer anyone has ever seen. Two years ago, they cut my group from four programmers down to two, and six months later cut the other guy, leaving just me. I've been supporting all the systems, and doing all the ad-hocs, ever since. And I still spend half my time on Facebook or DTF.
Basically, the shit's getting done, everyone's happy. If I can do the work of four people and still goof off half the time, more power to me. If the shit wasn't getting done, they might check into it. I make sure that that doesn't happen.
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If I may do a blatant non-humble brag as well, I always work fast. A big part of it comes from wanting to get stuff done so I am caught up in case a barrage of new stuff comes over. I mean, if you told me, "This is the all of the stuff you will have today," I would space it out and take my time, but the nature of my job dictates that I get it all done quickly. Plus, I used to tend bar, which was a job where working fast was a must more often than not, so it is ingrained in my head now to work fast and get shit done.
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I would be appalled if more companies did not allow for more telecommuting when we come out of this. Some people definitely need to work in the office, either because they need the supervision, or can't stay focused working from home. I worked along side several people (and by people I mean middle aged women) for whom I believe the office was their entire social sphere. But to require every employee to physically be in the office full time in 2020 is just silly.
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re: bosses keeping tabs on people working from home...
. I know that in our system, everyone on the team (and really in the company overall they they are logged into the system) can see everyone's productivity. The thing is... There's so little coming into their queues, there is more idle time than work time.
In my case, I was told to stretch my work as much as possible.. So as long as I get get the number of boxes of shit processed that they ask for each day, as long as I clock in and out and clock my lunch, text my manager when I go "on the clock", and drive over to the office every few days, I'm good. I'd gladly do more work, but they won't give it to me :lol
After pulling my second full 8 hour shift from home, I've found that it's far from as annoying as I thought it would be.
I do miss doing actual stimulating work though.
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Just need to jump in here - particularly for Marc - on the topic of flight refunds. I just got mine from JetBlue because we were supposed to go to Disney at the end of the month. US based airlines are required to offer refunds if they cancel or severely alter the itinerary. One of the few countries that do that. Dep't of Transportation just reminded them of it earlier this month. Doesn't matter if the reason is outside of their control. The below links specifically reference COVID, and that they are required to offer refunds.
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-issues-enforcement-notice-clarifying-air-carrier-refund
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2020-04/Enforcement%20Notice%20Final%20April%203%202020_0.pdf
Carriers have a longstanding obligation to provide a prompt refund to a ticketed passenger when the carrier cancels the passenger’s flight or makes a significant change in the flight schedule and the passenger chooses not to accept the alternative offered by the carrier. The longstanding obligation of carriers to provide refunds for flights that carriers cancel or significantly delay does not cease when the flight disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control (e.g., a result of government restrictions). The focus is not on whether the flight disruptions are within or outside the carrier’s control, but rather on the fact that the cancellation is through no fault of the passenger.
Pretty sure the airlines count on people not knowing this to force them into "credits".
Back on topic, I don't anything meaningful to complain about, so I won't. I'm very fortunate and grateful that the jingle.household hasn't been terribly disrupted. I'm not trying to brag, just not going to "bitch and whine" about trivial things (and I don't say that as a shot at anyone's previous posts... AT ALL).
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I think surveillance in the work space is a blight upon workplace morale personally. I'm just here to complain about it :lol I have always enjoyed my employment with small business owners because every one I've worked for never gave a crap about what you did during the day as long as your work got done. I think you build better trust between employers and employees that way.
Although certainly in a time of pandemic working from home is a brilliant solution and we're lucky to live in a time we can utilize it, so I guess you just suck it up and deal with the spying :)
I've worked for the same small business for 23 years. My boss comes into my area sometimes, but otherwise no monitoring. I used to watch sports games online, peek at social media, whatever. Same with working from home. As long as work gets done in a timely manner.
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Got a call from John last night. It was time to talk about the thing that we all knew we had to talk about sooner or later, but nobody has brought up so far.
Because of David's condition, and the fact that he is looking at months of recovery time, and will likely not fully recover anyway, we need to think about finding another guitarist.
We love the guy. He's been in the band for three years and is not the most gifted guitarist, but he's good enough for bar bands and easily the coolest guitarist we've ever had, probably the coolest guy the band has ever had. COVID-19 and its complications have taken away his ability to play guitar, and we need to deal with that. We don't know when the lockdown will be lifted, or modified or whatever. We don't know when venues will open up again. But when they do, they will need bands to play, our agent books all the main venues around here, and he likes us. He told John flat out that once there are gigs again, we will be getting gigs. He's already booked the first half of 2019 for us before all this shit started. Agent Dude has never heard anything except 100% positive about us, from owners, fans, even other bands. He said bands like us are what will be needed to help get things going again, once things get going again. And we will need another guitarist.
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So California is still charging 10 cents per grocery bag AND we are not allowed to bring our own bags. Nice.
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So California is still charging 10 cents per grocery bag AND we are not allowed to bring our own bags. Nice.
That is not right. They should waive that charge until they allow reusable bags to be used.
Let us talk local/state tax structure. In Tennessee we have no state income tax and rely on one of the highest sales tax rates in the U.S. This works ok for the state to fund programs, workers, etc. except when the economy takes a sharp/extended downturn.
I am a state worker and we can save funds on payroll and benefits by letting some people go. I know we will have a hiring freeze, but more cost savings can and need to occur.
How is your state or country funded and how is this economic downturn going to affect services?
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So California is still charging 10 cents per grocery bag AND we are not allowed to bring our own bags. Nice.
I thought we could bring our own bags if we bag our own items? That's how at least Grocery Outlet around here is saying.
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So California is still charging 10 cents per grocery bag AND we are not allowed to bring our own bags. Nice.
I thought we could bring our own bags if we bag our own items? That's how at least Grocery Outlet around here is saying.
It was like that a couple of weeks ago, now they don't want you to even do that.
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Gas is $3 or less per gallon here for the first time in many years. My gripe is this just shows how much gas stations rip people off when they really need gas.
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Gas is $3 or less per gallon here for the first time in many years. My gripe is this just shows how much gas stations rip people off when they really need gas.
Holy crap, 3? In New York I just got gas for 1.99.
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My wife filled up for $1.59 next to her work. Crazy.
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I filled up the other day for 2.35, lowest I've seen in I have no idea how long.
As to the bags, some stores are still charging, and some aren't, even within chains. I think it's a matter of who is paying attention more.
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The cheapo station down the street from me (the kind where you avoid using your card and just pay cash for reasons...) was just below 2.70 last I looked. I'd be stoked if it wasn't for the whole... Not going anywhere lol
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This sucks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
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My wife filled up for $1.59 next to her work. Crazy.
The station closest to me has been $1.59 for a couple weeks. I wish I could stock up somehow!
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This sucks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
Goddamn. The indirect effects of COVID are staggering.
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So California is still charging 10 cents per grocery bag AND we are not allowed to bring our own bags. Nice.
They are their own sovereign nation; they can do what they want. ;) :)
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I love working from home. And it's pretty common where I work even before the pandemic.
We always have everyone mute themselves if they aren't talking. You'd be surprised how much noise breathing can make through a microphone :). Or keyboard typing for that matter. And if we have extra large meetings, everyone is automatically muted and you have to dial a code to unmute yourself, and then when you're done speaking you are immediately muted again.
Belongs in the irritating thread, but nothing is as annoying to me as the "tic tic tic" of typing while someone is talking on the phone. I get it; notes, edits to a relevant document, etc., but the "mute" button is not at the same difficulty as removing a gall bladder or re-gearing a transmission. Hit it.
Also, and more light-hearted, in this burgeoning era of video conferencing, I've become fascinated with glassware/mugs. What people drink out of. Only band I've seen so far is The Beatles (not me) but it's fun to note.
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This sucks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
Goddamn. The indirect effects of COVID are staggering.
Can someone who subscribes to NYT summarize?
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This sucks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
Goddamn. The indirect effects of COVID are staggering.
Can someone who subscribes to NYT summarize?
Many farms in the world exist for no reason other than to supply hotels and restaurants with food. Hotels and restaurants are in the shitter right now, and farms are destroying thousands of tons (literally) of food that they can't unload to businesses. I have a friend in CA who told me a farm near him was selling 50lb crates of tomatoes for $5 each.
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Meanwhile grocery stores can barely keep food on the shelves. Sell it to them! I have to go shopping right when they open to get the most stuff.
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Meanwhile grocery stores can barely keep food on the shelves. Sell it to them! I have to go shopping right when they open to get the most stuff.
No kidding. I find it hard to believe we're eating less as a country right now. God know's we're comfort eating a ton of extra crap and making more exciting dinners than we normally do just because we have the time on our hands.
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Meanwhile grocery stores can barely keep food on the shelves. Sell it to them! I have to go shopping right when they open to get the most stuff.
No kidding. I find it hard to believe we're eating less as a country right now. God know's we're comfort eating a ton of extra crap and making more exciting dinners than we normally do just because we have the time on our hands.
Reading the article in full, it's easy to see the conundrum. Not everyone will cook with fresh vegetables the way that restaurants and hotels do. Not everyone will by 50lb bags of onions or asparagus. Think of all the milk that Starbucks would use (it's mentioned specifically in the article) It's not quite as black and white to say that people are still eating, so let's have the suppliers get their product into the mouths of people simply in different ways.
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The grocery store will dump out that 50lb bag on onions and let you buy just one by the pound. But I get your point. People do cook differently and buy food differently than restaurants do. But it still seems.like we should be able to find a way to use it!
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The grocery store will dump out that 50lb bag on onions and let you buy just one by the pound. But I get your point. People do cook differently and buy food differently than restaurants do. But it still seems.like we should be able to find a way to use it!
What about sell what you can then give the rest to homeless shelters? If you’re gonna throw it out anyway, why not give it to those who can’t afford to buy it?
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I think a lot of these plants are having all kinds of people issues in production and transportation.
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The grocery store will dump out that 50lb bag on onions and let you buy just one by the pound. But I get your point. People do cook differently and buy food differently than restaurants do. But it still seems.like we should be able to find a way to use it!
What about sell what you can then give the rest to homeless shelters? If you’re gonna throw it out anyway, why not give it to those who can’t afford to buy it?
Suggest people read the entire article. It addresses the challenges and limitations of this as a solution.
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Meanwhile grocery stores can barely keep food on the shelves. Sell it to them! I have to go shopping right when they open to get the most stuff.
No kidding. I find it hard to believe we're eating less as a country right now. God know's we're comfort eating a ton of extra crap and making more exciting dinners than we normally do just because we have the time on our hands.
Reading the article in full, it's easy to see the conundrum. Not everyone will cook with fresh vegetables the way that restaurants and hotels do. Not everyone will by 50lb bags of onions or asparagus. Think of all the milk that Starbucks would use (it's mentioned specifically in the article) It's not quite as black and white to say that people are still eating, so let's have the suppliers get their product into the mouths of people simply in different ways.
This sort of baffles me, though. My wife's ex will bitch to anyone who will listen (and to many who won't) about how little cash he has, about how she's "bleeding him blind" with their kids (mofo, please; I've only been around five years and I'd LOVE to true up with you some time). And yet, every time my step son goes over there, it's "pizza", or "McDonald's" or "Red Robin"... I cook AT LEAST four nights a week (we do that Home Chef stuff) and it's like anything else: you make the time for it. How much effort is it to buy a bag of rolls, a 5lb block of ground beef, and make your own "Red Robin", for probably 20% of the cost? Take one of those fresh tomatoes and slice it for the burger. Take a fucking potato, slice it into strips, throw it in the oven for 20 minutes with salt and pepper and you have half-assed fries, and you're there. You can do that seven nights a week and spend less than one visit to Red Robin (especially if you drink, and he doesn't miss an opportunity to drink, I can assure you).
I call bullshit on the time too; it takes the same amount of time to load everyone in the car, drive them to Mickey D's, sit in the drive-through, and haul all that grease and salt back to your house; cook your burger and god forbid talk to your wife and kids while you're doing it.
/Rant. Sorry. :)
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I'm with ya 100% on that, Bill. Far too many people just want the 'easy' path ... on a multitude of things.
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It's more like wive's exes are usually fucking assholes.
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Got laid off again. Basically i brought up the fact that the work had been inconsistent, and with being less thanfull time... Asked if it would be kosher to claim unemployment for that week and the weeks in general where they have little work for me (since they want me to claim actual hours worked, instead of paying me for full time in spite of the work load.
I also think they are realizing that the amount of actual work they have / will have will not be enough to keep me on for the next couple months until things go back to normal.
Oh well. Back to unemployment.
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Well since I'm "essential" my life is pretty much the same except for the fact that everything fun I usually do outside of work is cancelled.
Also work has been fun since I work in a grocery store. Our store is letting people opt out of working during this and their job is waiting for them when they're ready to come back. Which is nice but now we're short about 15 people. The other day I was doing about 4 jobs at the same time because there were so many holes in the line-up for that day. We were also absurdly busy which was really fun with the short staff.
Also with 2 members testing positive and the possibility of the extension of the stay at home advisory I think its a safe assumption that the Testament show I wanted to go to in may is probably cancelled. I know it's a petty thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things but I haven't been to many concerts in my life due to usually not having the funding to go. Now I've some spending money to spare and everything is cancelled.
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I have mixed emotions about the possible safe at home lifted effective May 1st in Tennessee. Probably best to extend thru May. I will have to end work from home, but our 401k and annuities may take a hit similar or worse than 2007 if the economy does not get going soon.
The wife and I are planning a 17 day train tour of Great Britain the spring of 2021. The wife is from Liverpool and Derby and has only been back 1 time in 50 years. I told her we have the money and this may be our last chance before her knees get worse.
When we do open up to eat out, I will probably tip our waitresses really well.
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When we do open up to eat out, I will probably tip our waitresses really well.
As a career restaurant worker, I love seeing this, and hope everyone follows suite. Servers and bartenders are getting creamed right now, and many are very unsure if they'll have a job to return to.
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I need to replace my ancient desktop ASAP but no one has laptops in stock. All my business records etc are on it. Need to get them on the cloud I guess.
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I know this doesn't really concern anyone but me personally, but since the thread is about bitching and whining about COVID, here's the thing that bothers me the most at this moment. I have the good fortune of people able to work from home and not losing my job (teacher) any time soon. My family and friends are healthy so far, so that's good new too - I'm sorry for everyone who is dealing with loved ones getting ill right now - so as far as direct impact of the COVID, there's not a lot to bitch about, I'll simply have to deal with staying home and adhering with th social distancing rules in my country.
However, my father lives on the other side of the world (literally, 13 hour direct flight) and has done so for the past year. He works there. In the last year I visited him once and he occasionally comes back to work here, around once every two months, and I would meet up with him for a lunch or a dinner. Right now, the place he lives has very strict corona rules. Everybody who enters the country (that would include him when he would go on a business trip and come back) has to go into quarantine for 4(!) weeks. Needless to say, he isn't going anywhere and it's kind-of impossible for me to go there too. Yes, I can do the FaceTime or Skype thing with him, but it's not the same thing. I have no idea when I'll be able to see him in real life again and neither does he. He's in good health and so is his wife, so that's good news, they're doing fine and are able to do pretty much whatever they want, but under strict adherence of rules there, so it's not as if they are 'locked up', but at the moment they can't really leave the country without running into problems and I can't go there. Might seem trivial to some of you, but I wanted to get that off my chest.
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Not trivial at all man. Whether it's 13 minutes, or 13 hours, the lack of being able to physically see friends and family is a drain on everyone.
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My grandson had his third birthday Sunday. There's something dystopian, almost out of Philip K. Dick, that we all got in cars, and drove by him, waiting and yelling, while he stood in the back of his daddy's pickup truck waving at us, wondering why we were just driving by and not stopping to see him. Add to that that his grandmother (his mom's mom) was standing there with a phone while his daddy was on Facetime from fucking Afghanistan, and...
Well, I get called an old man a lot around here - rightfully so - but whether you thing 2020 is better or 1970 is better, there's a level of "complication" in 2020 that I have not yet decided is a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is I hope that little boy remembers the love that went into yesterday and not anything else.
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My grandson had his third birthday Sunday. There's something dystopian, almost out of Philip K. Dick, that we all got in cars, and drove by him, waiting and yelling, while he stood in the back of his daddy's pickup truck waving at us, wondering why we were just driving by and not stopping to see him. Add to that that his grandmother (his mom's mom) was standing there with a phone while his daddy was on Facetime from fucking Afghanistan, and...
Well, I get called an old man a lot around here - rightfully so - but whether you thing 2020 is better or 1970 is better, there's a level of "complication" in 2020 that I have not yet decided is a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is I hope that little boy remembers the love that went into yesterday and not anything else.
Yeah, this kind of stuff really sucks and is kind of surreal. My parents swung by on Easter to drop off some candy and stuff for my kids, They stood on one side of the front yard and we stood on the other and talked for a bit. The kids don't really get it and are asking all the time to go to the store, or the playground, or to see their grandparents. It's hard to explain why we're not supposed to do those things even though we're not sick.
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Haven't been able to hug or snuggle with my granddaughter
for 6 weeks. They surprised me and came over to sing Happy
Birthday from the end of the driveway. My Grandaughter cried
and said, "hug Papa!" so that made my eyes well up. Uugghh!
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Yeah, this is the aspect of things that is truly fucked up - trying to explain all this to young children. I'm so grateful I've got adult-aged kids, and no grandkids.
Hugs to all of you that do.
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The little girl across the street from us had a birthday the other day. We woke up and there were signs all over their yard. Happy Birthday! With balloons and decorations and stuff. Then came the "parade" later in the morning. My wife and I work from home, so we're here in the basement and there are lots of cars honking their horns outside. People cruising down the street, cars all decorated with ballons and stuff, hanging out the windows. I watched for a while.
We live on a dead-end street, so the really fun part came next as they all got to the end of the street. There's no circle or bigger area to turn around; the street just ends because there used to be railroad tracks on the side of the fence. So there was mass confusion as people took turns trying to turn around in the driveways of the houses at the end of the street. People started honking their horns again, presumably in jest since it was pretty obvious that it was a clusterfuck, but then more people started and it was even louder than before. But I was so busy laughing, watching the mess at the end of the street, that I didn't care. Hey, it was a fun diversion. These days, you gotta find your entertainment where you can.
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I'm sorry to be an emotional drama queen, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to remember that little boy's face in that moment for the rest of my life. It was one of those expressions that strike you; joy, but with a whiff, a thread of something else. Confusion? Melancholy? Dissappointment? Nothing and it's my imagination? I don't know and I'll never know, but it was striking. I've lost it twice since then thinking about it.
Again, sorry.
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I see nothing to apologize for. Being emotional in the face of all of these changes is very human. There is no shame in that.
I get very emotional when I think about all the people dying alone in hospitals and their families just aching to be with them to at least hold their hand. When I read about how very busy doctors and nurses take the time to comfort them in their last moments. The toll it takes on them too.
I was with my mother when she passed on a ventilator a year and a half ago. It was horrible but at least I got to be there.
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I'm sorry to be an emotional drama queen, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to remember that little boy's face in that moment for the rest of my life. It was one of those expressions that strike you; joy, but with a whiff, a thread of something else. Confusion? Melancholy? Dissappointment? Nothing and it's my imagination? I don't know and I'll never know, but it was striking. I've lost it twice since then thinking about it.
Again, sorry.
No need to apologize. We get it.
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I'm tired of the neighborhood police - neighbors sitting in their homes and complaining about every little thing happening outside their home. I have a neighbor with whom I've had a few negative conversations with over the last 10 years. They get irritated by something mundane, like me mowing the lawn while they're having lunch on their deck, approach me and tell me I shouldn't be doing it.
Their side yard borders my driveway. They have a line of small trees/wild brush on their property line. In the summer, it blooms and provides some privacy, but it gets very overgrown very quickly. They have NEVER cleaned it up in the last 10 years. So every summer, I trim back my side so I can run my mower past it and maintain a safe view so I can see the street when backing my car out of the driveway. I get tired of having to do it, so at times, I'll just cut the brush down and toss it back under the growth. They obviously don't give a shit about maintaining it...why should I be paying to get rid of the brush?
So yesterday, she comes over and starts bitching at me about throwing the brush back on the ground. She tells me that if I find it to be a nuisance, that's my deal, but I can't be putting it back on "HER PROPERTY" because it's on my side of the property line. She then reprimands me for cutting back "THE VILLAGE's" side (i.e. the brush facing the new sidewalks) and doing the same thing. Uh, the village isn't going to come around and maintain stuff on your yard. Hell, I'm the one shoveling the sidewalk a block past my house and on the side of your house every time it snows, just because you don't do it.
I countered her reprimand by saying that if she doesn't like it, she can pay to have someone clean it up, and that it becomes my responsibility when my kids want to go down the sidewalk and I don't want them poking their eyes out on the branches. She just reiterates that she has lupus and can't be picking up the brush, and that she has me on video and will call the police. I just laughed and said "go ahead."
I went out after lunch and picked up the branches that I tossed on the ground. Yes, I know I was being un-neighborly, but they've never been nice to my family.
I know the general rule - whatever is over your property line is yours to maintain, but to get so nitpicky over this stuff is insane. Her husband never does anything outside, and she gardens and tends to the landscaping. If you're not going to take care of your own overgrowth, or have someone do it for you, don't complain when I do it my way.
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One word: FENCE
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One word: FENCE
I was thinking a Lousiana Hot Pocket, but that's just me (that would be my made-up name for a flaming bag of dog poop on their stoop.)
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Haha. I wish I could. A fence wouldn't be a bad idea and I'm sure it wouldn't be too expensive. I already have a privacy fence around my back yard. This would extend from that side of the privacy fence and continue to run down the length of my driveway and a small portion of the side yard. Definitely an idea to consider!
** Update - I spoke with the permit department of my village. I could extend the privacy fence through the side yard to the front of my house, but can't bring it down the length of the driveway to block the view of the foliage from the neighbor's yard. I'd have to have a split-rail fence, which doesn't solve the problem since it would just grow under and through the fence. Oh well...it was a good idea!
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I really want to quit my job. Prior to this Covid stuff, jobs were plentiful, and I would have strongly considered quitting without anything else lined up and travel a bunch over the spring and summer while looking for something new. As things stand now, hiring has slowed down a lot (though not completely) and there's no way in hell I leave without something else lined up first. I'm just so ready to be done here.
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Haha. I wish I could. A fence wouldn't be a bad idea and I'm sure it wouldn't be too expensive. I already have a privacy fence around my back yard. This would extend from that side of the privacy fence and continue to run down the length of my driveway and a small portion of the side yard. Definitely an idea to consider!
** Update - I spoke with the permit department of my village. I could extend the privacy fence through the side yard to the front of my house, but can't bring it down the length of the driveway to block the view of the foliage from the neighbor's yard. I'd have to have a split-rail fence, which doesn't solve the problem since it would just grow under and through the fence. Oh well...it was a good idea!
Then Hot Pocket it is! You'll thank me later. Post video, too. We'll get a kick out of it.
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So I have a friend. Well, friends... they're married. Just had a second kid. Wife is out of work now, so half their income is gone. She applied for unemployment, and after a bit of fighting and confusion, discovered that someone has been claiming unemployment using her info, down in Los Angeles.
I haven't heard if she has resolved it or not yet, but I doubt it seeing as a few days ago I called the Unemployment office 350 times and wasn't able to get through.
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A few days before this thread started, I was going to go on a slight 'self pity' trip on the other thread. Instead, I do occasional 'updates' for all of the plans my wife and I had for this year that were cancelled. I'll probably do a very condensed version here in a few days.
I gain a lot of insight from here, especially regarding special needs kids. So, we reached out to a few friends with this situation, and they accepted. They'll bring their child over, and we give them some time to play outside with our dog. We keep our distance (of course), but it was a way of reaching out, and does us all a world of good. We've heard there is a positive carryover effect for their kids at home as well.
Personal: as to my wife and I, our parents were in a way 'two generations' older than us. Their teen years were spent in the Great Depression. My old man would have been part of the November '45 invasion of Japan. My folks marriage was certainly interrupted, but not nearly as much as Japanese Americans at that time, or of those who had to deal with the warfare and bombings in Europe.
The frugality of our parents certainly prepared us well for this time. Always paid cash for a car, no mortgage, we pay our credit cards off every month, and managed to put a kid through college. Perhaps this setback / pause we're going through will change the habits of some for the better.
My wife and I have also been through our shares of hell before and after we met. Most of that is an often forgotten memory or a tiny speck in our rearview mirrors. Keep pushing and be patient.......we'll get through this. The one big difference of what we're going through now (other than wearing a mask while seeing so many empty shelves and produce sections in the store today), is that the pictures are not in black and white.
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First the legitimate worries I had/have: I have a handicapped sister (she has a major chromosomal deletion, mentally like a very young child with significant autism, physically detoirating fast due to severe muscle dystrophy). Initially me and my parent were super worried about her mental state, because she has a history of significant automutilation when thing aren't okay. And we aren't allowed to visit her anymore. Thankfully she has been doing really well and has responded well to skyping instead of actual visits. Still, the worry of her contracting the illness is there, as she most definitely is at risk due to all her underlying health issues.
Now for the bitching: I'll admit the social isolation is getting to me. Perhaps a positive on the long run, but I realise how important seeing friends/family/colleagues in person is now that I don't do that. Some things I have been taking for granted. I work at a hospital (though now mostly at home), sometimes right next to our corona clinic, so I am not allowed to do anything else and will not go to other households or interact with my friends/family. So ever since early march, I have only seen strangers on the street (at work we are all solo, planned at different timeslots). It is weird. And our national regulations are extended until late may, so in the end that will be nearly three months of no real social interactions. Just prior to the crisis, I moved to another flat on the other side of town, so socially I don't know the people around me (yet).
I also feel kind of bad for doing so little for my money, but my function requires me to gather data prior to analysis and I am not allowed to do that outside of processes essential to patient care (and that constitutes only a very small part of my job). I also cannot do my voluntary work because that involves interacting with potential patients elsewhere (I am a First Aid teamlead for the Red Cross). So all in all I am stuck with myself. I even found myself calling with a colleague I usually don't even interact with for nearly two hours about some minor work-related process :lol
But objectively I am in a good spot (income, job security, health, no affected people close to me etc.), unlike so many others.
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ErHaO I'll be thinking about your sister.
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ErHaO I'll be thinking about your sister.
Thanks! Due to her illness there are unfortunately always worries, but this situation makes things more tense for sure.
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ErHaO I'll be thinking about your sister.
Ditto. People like her are why I get so upset when politicians and others blabber on about how people at risk should just keep isolating while the rest of us do what we want. It's like nobody stops to think about what this really means on a person level and how it impacts that person's family who are trying all they can to do what's best for them even without this damned disease.
Ok, my first official bitch. So you know how the days are running together? Well this morning as I'm sitting on the can taking my morning pee at 0645 and I hear the garbage truck and realize that holy fuck it's garbage day and now I've gone and missed it for the week. Of course our can is full to the brim. >:(
I don't normally forget things like this. I'm kicking myself hard today for this one.
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ErHaO I'll be thinking about your sister.
Ditto. People like her are why I get so upset when politicians and others blabber on about how people at risk should just keep isolating while the rest of us do what we want. It's like nobody stops to think about what this really means on a person level and how it impacts that person's family who are trying all they can to do what's best for them even without this damned disease.
Ok, my first official bitch. So you know how the days are running together? Well this morning as I'm sitting on the can taking my morning pee at 0645 and I hear the garbage truck and realize that holy fuck it's garbage day and now I've gone and missed it for the week. Of course our can is full to the brim. >:(
I don't normally forget things like this. I'm kicking myself hard today for this one.
There's some sort of cosmic ratio at play there; the more full your can is, the greater the odds of missing the pickup. Our general pickup is weekly, with recycling every other week. Couple weeks ago, I had a full recycle bin (couldn't close the lid) and another stack of boxes ready for the next go-round. Sure enough, missed it.
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the more full your can is, the greater the odds of missing the pickup.
Ain't that the truth! :P ;)
Thanks for the laugh. And I'm glad it's not just me!
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I almost missed garbage pick-up this week too. Good thing I had to run into the office and noticed my neighbor's bin out before the truck came.
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the more full your can is, the greater the odds of missing the pickup.
Ain't that the truth! :P ;)
Thanks for the laugh. And I'm glad it's not just me!
For a second, I thought I was in the lonely hearts thread. I had to double check the thread title...
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Update - the garbage collector came around again and picked it up!! I'm so glad I left it out at the curb for awhile.
Thank god for that essential worker. :hefdaddy
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I have a reminder in my calendar for every Wednesday morning. It's saved my bacon on a few occasions.
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I have a reminder in my calendar for every Wednesday morning. It's saved my bacon on a few occasions.
I've got a naggy wife to remind me of that.
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I have a reminder in my calendar for every Wednesday morning. It's saved my bacon on a few occasions.
I've got a naggy wife to remind me of that.
My wife can't nag when she's still in bed.
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I really have no room to complain about any inconveniences as I already feel guilty that I'm not impacted anywhere near as much as others, such as those with kids, essential jobs, and more immediate struggles.
That said, my brother and his fiance are coming to grips with the real possibility their wedding in Disneyland could be in jeopardy. It's set for the end of September when we should be in some intermediate stage of re-opening, but how that will affect these plans is very much in the air.
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Well now I have something to bitch about. After almost 23 years with the same company, I was laid off. They say it's only temporary until business picks up, but who knows how long that will be. I was the most expensive employee, being 3rd in command behind the owner and his wife, and I had high level health insurance because of my wife's medical conditions. I was kind of looking to leave anyway, I'm really bored there, and my wife's parents are getting older and sicker, we want to be closer to them if I can get a new job in their area. It's just kind of stunning, this job has been my rock with all that's gone on in my life, and now it's gone.
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Bummer. :(
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Being a elementary school teacher here in Germany, I don't really have anything to bitch about...
I'm getting paid, though we are now finishing the sixth week without school. The kids are getting weekly tasks to do (not online, but on paper - which they submit and pick up new ones in front of the school every Monday).
On Monday, the 4th grade was supposed to go back to school, but that was cancelled by a court decision.
So I guess it's 2 more weeks of "home office", until a decision is final when all kids can come back to school.
I have a girlfriend about 4 hours with the car from my place - and I'm allowed to visit her.
I can go shopping (one has to wear face masks for that) and the stores have (almost) everything.
I can go for walks.
My dad - aged 81 - is fine (which is kinda surprising as he does not listen to most of the given advices).
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I'm getting paid, though we are now finishing the sixth week without school. The kids are getting weekly tasks to do (not online, but on paper - which they submit and pick up new ones in front of the school every Monday).
Is there a reason nothing is being done online? Is that a national thing, or a regional thing? I feel like most areas in the US are doing everything online. I am reasonably pleased with my 3rd graders learning. How is drop-off/pick-up handled? I would think it would be hard to accommodate every family as some are still working, have to rely on bus, or some issue.
I have a girlfriend about 4 hours with the car from my place - and I'm allowed to visit her.
I can't imagine a situation where I would not "be allowed" to visit someone. I know we are "directed" by our local governments to not make unnecessary trips/visit, but no one is pulling people over in theri cars verifying their destination is somewhere "essential."
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Is there a reason nothing is being done online? Is that a national thing, or a regional thing? I feel like most areas in the US are doing everything online. I am reasonably pleased with my 3rd graders learning. How is drop-off/pick-up handled? I would think it would be hard to accommodate every family as some are still working, have to rely on bus, or some issue.
Some parents - and our school... - don't have the software (and hardware) to do it. We are in the middle of nowhere, with 66 kids.
My kids come from 2 villages. First one is in the village where my school is, the second one 5 kilometers away. By now, picking up worked well. If it doesn't, the teacher still can deliver stuff - or call the parents.
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Our district let kids pick up their Chromebooks so they could have the hardware/software but I get that isn't going to work for all districts. Some won't even have Chromebooks to begin with.
In the early stages my wife dropped off materials for her students and got a light wrist slap for doing so by her principle. He is just watching out for his staff, he doesn't want them to face unnecessary risks. Right now the only way to get materials home to kids is via mail from the district offices. They don't even want teachers to call/text parents from their personal phone. Makes sense, my wife won't give out her cell number, she doesn't want calls at home from pissed off parents at 7am on a Saturday (or anytime for that matter).
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Well now I have something to bitch about. After almost 23 years with the same company, I was laid off. They say it's only temporary until business picks up, but who knows how long that will be. I was the most expensive employee, being 3rd in command behind the owner and his wife, and I had high level health insurance because of my wife's medical conditions. I was kind of looking to leave anyway, I'm really bored there, and my wife's parents are getting older and sicker, we want to be closer to them if I can get a new job in their area. It's just kind of stunning, this job has been my rock with all that's gone on in my life, and now it's gone.
I am really sorry to hear that, man.
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So I was re-laid off on the 17th. Filed online to reopen my Unemployment claim that same day. for 9 days, when I'd check the website, status read "We've received your request to reopen your claim".
I checked 2x a day since, and no change.
Today I check the site, and there is nothing but the option to request to reopen my claim. So... the last 9 days have literally been erased?
The site has been overloaded for weeks, and was down for a few days for maintenance. Since they are accepting PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) per the CARES Act starting this week, I am hoping they did some work to help streamline things and accept the load of traffic coming in to the website.
(For those who don't know, the PUA helps those who don't normally qualify for State Unemployment, like those who are self employed or work in the Gig style jobs- like my other half).
But my Stim deposit is finally coming on the 30th, so at least I can pay rent :lol
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Sorry to hear all that, Jay. But at least you can pay rent. :)
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edited
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Bitching time because this is not a tragedy, but a major blow to my teenage years came right now.
I've discovered that an historical music shop in the center of Milan (and I literally mean it, it was in the underground subway premises below the cathedral, the absolute center of Milan by definition) is not gonna reopen after the quarantine. This is gonna sound abstract to you but I'm sure you're no stranger, especially those who are not teens now and have lived in a pre-internet world, to the pleasure of having a trusted shop, the place to go looking for new CDs, to buy tickets, to look on the handwritten panels the future releases, with the added bonus of people working in the shop being actual music fans and knowing what they were talking about.
I'll confess, I didn't go there anymore, my work route does not pass there and I am too guilty of using online shops to buy music, but knowing it was there, going there just for the sake of old times (last time I was there it was for a meet n' greet with the band Ghost, it was the Infestissumam era and so Tobias Forge was dressed as the bald man with tiny mustaches, the off-the-stage persona of Papa Emeritus II), was good.
Before the internet that store was for me, and for any metalhead of Milan, THE number one reference for underground music. It's sad to know it will be gone. I have local friends on FB sharing the news like someone had passed away.
This goes under the "Unimportant things, in the bigger picture, that were very important for those who cared" category. Next time I'll happen to pass by there and see something else in place of that music shop, it's gonna be a bad feeling.
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That's a bummer. :( There are places in my hometown that I still swing by when I can, and I'm happy to see that they're still there. And there are places that aren't there anymore, or have been converted into something else, and it's sad, like losing an old friend.
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So, my company is getting acquired, and the deal will close Friday (last regulatory hurdle was cleared this morning). The acquiring company is treating everyone's role in the new company (and whether or not they have one at all) on a need to know basis. We are expecting a bloodbath, but no one really knows for sure. And even though most people know their fate now (in, out or TBD...I'm a TBD), there is very little knowledge of what has happened to others. We're being kept completely in the dark. And because the offices/sites are closed, their is no collegial discussion, no water cooler, no handshakes, hugs or eye contact...and no real flow of information. I've been through this rodeo a few times before, and there is always a collective grieving, and a processing of the drastic changes that are happening. I know this sounds melodramatic, but it sort of parallels death with no funeral...there is no collective processing, no reinforcement of bonds, no ritual. It's just a dissolution...of our teams, our work relationships, of what we built over years and years. There may eventually be some happy hours once things return to (somewhat) normal, but even that will be weird. I even want to get laid off, but the whole thing is just sad. There is no closure.
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Sounds shitty Mill.
Like you say, it's a time when peers need each other.
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So, my company is getting acquired, and the deal will close Friday (last regulatory hurdle was cleared this morning). The acquiring company is treating everyone's role in the new company (and whether or not they have one at all) on a need to know basis. We are expecting a bloodbath, but no one really knows for sure. And even though most people know their fate now (in, out or TBD...I'm a TBD), there is very little knowledge of what has happened to others. We're being kept completely in the dark. And because the offices/sites are closed, their is no collegial discussion, no water cooler, no handshakes, hugs or eye contact...and no real flow of information. I've been through this rodeo a few times before, and there is always a collective grieving, and a processing of the drastic changes that are happening. I know this sounds melodramatic, but it sort of parallels death with no funeral...there is no collective processing, no reinforcement of bonds, no ritual. It's just a dissolution...of our teams, our work relationships, of what we built over years and years. There may eventually be some happy hours once things return to (somewhat) normal, but even that will be weird. I even want to get laid off, but the whole thing is just sad. There is no closure.
I work out of the house, and have for years now, and the ONE THING that I miss is that unofficial channel of communication. It's counter-intuitive. The same people that no doubt are floating pictures of their junk all over the internet, somehow find discretion while at work. I relish work functions, because I can pull people aside and talk, and I invariably come away with gallons of information. In a situation like you're in, that information is crucial, because timing can be the difference.
Good luck, buddy, I hope it works out for you; acquisitions (we're in the early stages of acquiring a competitor now; this will be my fourth one not counting those that I just worked on) are stressful.
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I mentioned my mom was on chemo in February, when we all started worrying about the coronavirus, and that I was worried about catching a flight home to see her in the first place. Well, I did catch a flight to see her back in March because she'd been released from the hospital as there was nothing they could do for her anymore. She died a week later and I've been stuck in Serbia ever since.
That week was filled with just about every inconvenience you can imagine, because the hospital staff was busy with COVID and all we had to go by were anti-anxiety meds and painkillers from the store, for a person dying of cancer, and then there were all the general inconveniences of taking care of a bedridden and mostly non-verbal person. Watching her health decline every day was a mind trip, the doctors implied we had months and she was able to talk and have meaningful time with my brother and my sister up until the night I came. Add to that watching the news to stay informed, watching incompetent liars mishandle this health crisis in every possible way, while doctors are falling apart at the seams to the point where we have to beg on the phone for someone to take 15 minutes out of their day to try and come over and give her IV, so that she could try and live another day. I'm so full of anger, I can feel a firm ball of pure fire growing in my stomach every night when I try to go to sleep. I almost don't talk to friends online because they'll ask me how I've been. Frankly I'm not sure if I should even type it out here, even though the thread title says bitch and whine so everyone's been warned about the contents. Not receiving a hug from anyone I don't live with in months is a bitch. I hadn't seen my friends in so long before this, and seeing them twice (when the number of cases in my city had dropped to zero for three weeks straight) and not being able to come near them or touch them was very difficult. Seeing my BFF and not running into her arms for the first time ever after 15 years must have been the weirdest experience of my life.
Flights to possible transfer spots started running a few days ago but of course they may be shut down again in a week or two when I am able to catch one. I've been apart from my husband for almost four months (and our marriage wasn't a 10/10 before this whole business either), and when I come back I won't be able to see all the people I'm missing because we moved cities while I was stuck here. I'm supposed to start a business with my brother and my sister, doing a job I hate (but the only job I'm halfway qualified for), and I'm feeling the exact same lack of motivation and lowered productivity as everyone else is, not to mention that we're still not earning any money whatsoever, so not even that is a motivating factor. Looking for unqualified work/a part time job back in Norway is probably not a picnic now, either. Being in law-mandated self-isolation for 28 days brought out some strange effects, I had a couple of panic attacks going out when that whole business ended, but right now at least I feel mildly okay about that.
I feel like I have absolutely zero things going for me, that there's no area in my life that I can point to and say "well, at least I have that one sorted". My mental health is in absolute shambles, I have almost no older family members left (down to one grandma that's also bedridden now), I have friends I can't see, I have a husband who's unequipped to live with someone whose entire personality is just two or three untreated mental illnesses stitched together, I have a temporary residence permit in a country I'm stranded away from, I don't have a career or any life plans or even a paid job right now, and the one hobby that manages to lift my spirits a little is dead until 2021, if it can even come back that soon, or at all. I could say I still have my health, but that can change in two seconds if one unmasked asshole decides to sneeze in my direction in the grocery store.
There, that's a novel. Fuck you, COVID-19. Also, fuck cancer.
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Oh geez, Milena. That's heartbreaking. All of it. So sorry for you to have to struggle and endure thru all of that.
This pandemic is the fucking worst.
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I mentioned my mom was on chemo in February, when we all started worrying about the coronavirus, and that I was worried about catching a flight home to see her in the first place. Well, I did catch a flight to see her back in March because she'd been released from the hospital as there was nothing they could do for her anymore. She died a week later and I've been stuck in Serbia ever since.
The rest of your situation sucks but this, out of all things, is really awful. Cancer sucks big time. It's just such an awful way to go and it can happen to all of us and there's nothing to be done with it.
I hope things will get better for you. They probably won't, but I hope they will.
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ok so straight up, i didn't read hte thread. just being honest. those of you who know me wont' care, those of you who don't might.
so, stop caring. it's imperitive to the conversation. lol
how did it fuck with me today? well i work 8-5, 6 days a week, doing e-commerce fulfillment of grocery orders at my local walmart. i LOVE this job. But it's in NY, and we were hit very hard with covid. it's been a really tough situation to power through considering I have at least two autoimmune disorders, and am currently recovering from a surgical "excision biopsy" which obviously means they're looking for cancer (and it can't be a nice normal one - NOOOOOOOO - it has to most likely be Subcutaneous Panniculitis-like T-Cell Lymphoma, the rarest of the rare. The lump already grew back AND THE FUCKING INCISION ISN"T EVEN HEALED YET WTF IS THIS SHIT). And people wear their fucking masks with their nose hanging out.
I really don't need to say more. I won't debate this. People who get it, get it, and those who don't, I don't care to hear from, simple as that really.
I'm there fulfilling grocery orders for people sheltering in place at home and recovering from being ill, or who depend on our grocery delivery service, and a great number of entitled dickheads walk around our store, in an area where masks are REQUIRED in public via governor cuomo's executive order, as well as just being a store rule, with their nose hanging our or some with no mask at all. And obeying our one-way directional markers on the aisles? psh. they don't care. at all. no amount of explaining the reasoning for it helps. and i'm off the clock so won't be doing it here. because- again - people who get it, get it. those who think these rules are just government imposing restrictions on people for fun, who think they are ENTITLED to not have to follow rules- i don't want to hear from those people, or know them, and i hope they get fucking covid and die.
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The one way aisles at stores are kind of a joke. Even the employees don't follow them at my local grocery store.
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The one way aisles at stores are kind of a joke. Even the employees don't follow them at my local grocery store.
The signs say "SHOP THIS WAY" not "WORK THIS WAY". There's a reason for that.
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The one way aisles at stores are kind of a joke. Even the employees don't follow them at my local grocery store.
The signs say "SHOP THIS WAY" not "WORK THIS WAY". There's a reason for that.
If the idea is to keep people distant from each other, the employees should follow it too.
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There, that's a novel. Fuck you, COVID-19. Also, fuck cancer.
So sorry to read all of that. Must be horrible to have all those things piling up on one another. I wish you to get out nicely of this horrible 2020 and that everything fixable will be fixed, as hard as it might be!
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Thanks guys. It's nice to vent with you all.
And people wear their fucking masks with their nose hanging out.
I really don't need to say more. I won't debate this. People who get it, get it, and those who don't, I don't care to hear from, simple as that really.
I'm so sorry that this is happening. I have believed since March that the sooner we learn to all wear masks in closed spaces, the better. It's July, we've had months of lockdowns, some countries more strict than others, inability to move freely, inability to socialize, to go back to work, if we had done that we would have been almost out of the thick of it, but I have a feeling that the thick of it has just begun. Either we're gonna do it properly, or we're gonna suffer and watch people die for months upon months with basically every country's health system crashing and burning right in front of our very eyes. That sounds very pessimistic when you consider the sheer number of absolute cretins out there who hear the word "mask" and start making excuses.
The heat is terrible here in the summer, and even without a mask it's hard to breathe and stay comfortable, but it would be harder to breathe if I got the mother fucking rony. The median salary in Serbia is under 300 dollars/month, so masks are kind of expensive for the average house budget. I consider them as essential as food, toilet paper and pads/tampons right now, and there has to be enough money left for them. If I can do it, so can someone in fucking New York.
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Oh no, I'm so sorry for your loss Mora. What a terrible experience. All I can say is to keep your chin up and power through, this will only make you stronger.
Jen, I'm sorry for what you are going through as well. Fuck cancer. I hope you are able to power through this as well.
The world is just so damn depressing right now, it's hard to look for positives but it's all we can do.
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The one way aisles at stores are kind of a joke. Even the employees don't follow them at my local grocery store.
The signs say "SHOP THIS WAY" not "WORK THIS WAY". There's a reason for that.
If the idea is to keep people distant from each other, the employees should follow it too.
Well, that's part of it. However the executive order in NY states to wear masks anytime one is in public, particularly when unable to keep six feet distance from one another. Walmart itself mandates all customers and employees wear masks at all times [since we often realistically cannot keep six feet distance from one another].
Our announcements on the radio specifically state that this rule is to "make it easier for our employees to do enhanced cleaning" etc, which is exactly right - we are not open 24 hours anymore and most of our stores never will be again - that's a shift we've been pushing for in corporate apparently for some time - and overnight people are not stocking anymore, they're disinfecting. So we have to stock during the day while people shop, and when they go both ways then our stockers taking up one "lane" in each aisle turns into people thinking we are "blocking half the aisle" when in fact if they follow the directions and shop single file, we have our required space to stock the items that they are there to get.
Unfortunately so many people are acting so entitled to ignore our requests and instructions that they've made it oftentimes impossible for our stock people to do their job for large chunks of time, becuase htey have to just stand off to the side and wait for people to randomly wander through. Often the customers will try to squeeze into small spaces and then glare at employees who are only there through this because we need a paycheck because we didn't have jobs when this all started that would get us unemployment that is literally more than twice our paycheck each week, which is what these people are in there spending on big screen TVs, video games, and junk food from doors-open to doors-close.
Which is fine - that's a bigger MyShare payout we'll get each quarter as employees (Walmart is the best company I've ever worked for - we get quarterly bonuses based on company sales/stocks; we get quarterly bonuses on top of that just because of Covid - not big ones but any extra $150/$250 I find in a paycheck is welcome; we get the "$1 per day degree program" where walmart picks up the rest of the college cost; we get the "free microsoft certifications" for people who want to eventually go into the software/coding side of the company -- al things I'll be taking advantage of/am taking advantage of). But if they could do it WHILE following instructions so we can get more products on the shelves for their buying needs, that'd be great, mkay
People who are concerned about contracting covid-19 at walmart are strongly encouraged to use our online grocery pickup service or the online grocery ordering plus delivery service. That is my job - e-commerce fulfillment in the grocery section. You can stay in your car, not roll down your window at all, just pop your trunk and we do the rest. But if you CHOOSE to come inside, then please follow the rules and directions and help us to help you to have the essentials you require.
thanks, we appreciate you!
(I didn't have a job until med-april. I joined at the height of the pandemic in my own county, during a time when our store had employees testing positive. We hired an entire second staff as temps, because nearly everyone was out on either mandated quarantine, or optional leave of absence. I'm thankful for the job, but as a person with two autoimmune disorders among other things, I would be even more thankful if people would stop acting entited to ignore directional markers and just care a bit more about their fellow humans.
all that said, most of us do follow the one-ways even though they're not for us. The stock guys really can't. Those pallets can't be taken around that many tight corners, they really require a straight-shot down main aisles as much as possible. But since I can take the corners, I do. thanks for the discussion.)
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Thanks for sharing, it's nice to get that perspective. I was referring more to employees who are not stocking anything or doing anything other than just walking across the store. I regularly see them go the wrong way when they could go one aisle over and go the right way. It's hard to take it seriously when they clearly don't. that said, I try, but I often forget since I'm not looking at the floor when I'm shopping.
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John contacted us last night to announce that he's ending the band. The best fucking band I've ever been in has lost a guitarist and a singer to COVID-19, and we'd managed to cobble together a band with some alternates, but last night our drummer announced that he won't be attending practices for the few gigs we have. Playing in a cover band isn't worth his life. I don't blame him. I don't blame our singer for not choosing to risk her life, I sure as hell don't blame our guitarist for catching the fucking virus, and I don't blame John for deciding that this just isn't worth it any more.
I just checked. I started this thread three months ago, to the day. Almost to the minute I got the text from John. Funny how that works.
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Orbert, I've come to really "enjoy" (not the right word) your story and your updates. I only wish that my work travel brought me closer to your geography, so I could have supported you more tangibly. In any event, I'm sorry for that, and hold out some hope that there are silver linings to your current dark clouds.
It's just me, though, and I can't imagine from all I've read that John will let this sit for long. There WILL be opportunity again for gigging bands (I actually think that the demand will be high at first; attracting people to bars), and maybe you can be a part of that.
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That sucks Orbert, but you are right that a cover band just isn't worth risking life if people feel that way. Having said that, live finds a way and I wouldn't be surprised to see you in a new band or reformed same band in some time when things start to go back to normal.
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I hope to eventually get back into the game someday. Right now, the whole world feels like it's half on hold, and the other half is just fucked up anyway.
Also, the prospect of building another band from the ground up is not attractive at all, and it's just worse because of the current climate. Eventually, one way or another, our species will achieve herd immunity. Either they develop a vaccine and enough people take it, or people die in huge numbers and the world looks like it does in post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies. So many of those movies are set in the future, after some disease has wiped out most of mankind. I just never thought I'd live to see it. And I hope to live through it.
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Mora, so sorry for your loss. I hope you make it home soon.
Orbert, maybe you guys can reform once things get back to normal. It might be quite a while, but it could be something for you each to look forward to.
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I hope to eventually get back into the game someday. Right now, the whole world feels like it's half on hold, and the other half is just fucked up anyway.
Also, the prospect of building another band from the ground up is not attractive at all, and it's just worse because of the current climate. Eventually, one way or another, our species will achieve herd immunity. Either they develop a vaccine and enough people take it, or people die in huge numbers and the world looks like it does in post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies. So many of those movies are set in the future, after some disease has wiped out most of mankind. I just never thought I'd live to see it. And I hope to live through it.
If that is going to happen, I don't think it will be from covid19. But yea, things will be different and tough to restart, but I got to imagine, people will want to restart things once this pandemic comes to an end.
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I just got off the phone with John. It seems that our singers (one regular, one alt) and lead guitarist (alt, who is married to our regular singer) don't want this to end without a fight. They've found "5 to 7 drummers" who would be willing to play with us, all either in bands that aren't gigging right now or out of work because bands aren't gigging right now. John sounded very encouraged that others are willing to fight for the band, as he felt he was doing all of this himself, which led to the decision last night. Things look different today. But he called me, because unless I'm in, there's no point. Apparently replacing me was the one thing he couldn't see doing. So I guess that's a good thing.
I'm still not 100% sure about all this. With all things, there is risk, but you play the cards you're dealt, right?
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I just got off the phone with John. It seems that our singers (one regular, one alt) and lead guitarist (alt, who is married to our regular singer) don't want this to end without a fight. They've found "5 to 7 drummers" who would be willing to play with us, all either in bands that aren't gigging right now or out of work because bands aren't gigging right now. John sounded very encouraged that others are willing to fight for the band, as he felt he was doing all of this himself, which led to the decision last night. Things look different today. But he called me, because unless I'm in, there's no point. Apparently replacing me was the one thing he couldn't see doing. So I guess that's a good thing.
I'm still not 100% sure about all this. With all things, there is risk, but you play the cards you're dealt, right?
? Having read your other posts, I can't quite see the reluctance. What's it hurt to see how it sounds? If you're worried about COVID, there can be precautions; distancing, and unless you're a singer, you can wear a mask.
Obviously your call, but that sounded like good news for a moment there (and I'd be proud AF if a bandmember told me "you're the guy we can't replace". I'd ask him to put that in writing. ;))
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My reluctance is the same as I had before; the idea of spending extended time in a room with people who may or may not have been exposed in the past 5-14 days but aren't yet showing symptoms. John opened up more of his basement so we can all stand around more than six feet apart, but if we're breathing the same air for two hours, the distance between us becomes irrelevant.
I don't have any reluctance about going with a new drummer. I'd still rather be in a band than not be in a band. But when John texted everyone last night saying that he was ending the band, a part of me was relieved, the part that was concerned about exposure. I'm 58, with a heart condition and a history of asthma. I don't have to do this; I choose to. But if I get exposed, I'm likely done for, and I don't want my final thoughts to include "Well, I hope it was worth it" because it wouldn't be.
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I totally get that. And I've read/heard several health people saying that the six feet is kind of arbitrary and not really far enough. Are live shows happening where you live right now? Maybe you can delay getting together and take a wait and see approach?
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Yeah, I undertand that completely (seriously).
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Outdoor venues have been open for a while now, and are currently the only ones I'll consider. The two gigs we have on the books are both outdoors. The stages of both are separated from the audience space, and I'm in the back corner of the stage as well. So there's still some risk, but it's pretty minimal.
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I hope you can find a way to make it work, Orbert, as I think anyone who follows your posts here knows how much you love to play music.
COVID can still f right off.
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I just got off the phone with John. It seems that our singers (one regular, one alt) and lead guitarist (alt, who is married to our regular singer) don't want this to end without a fight. They've found "5 to 7 drummers" who would be willing to play with us, all either in bands that aren't gigging right now or out of work because bands aren't gigging right now. John sounded very encouraged that others are willing to fight for the band, as he felt he was doing all of this himself, which led to the decision last night. Things look different today. But he called me, because unless I'm in, there's no point. Apparently replacing me was the one thing he couldn't see doing. So I guess that's a good thing.
I'm still not 100% sure about all this. With all things, there is risk, but you play the cards you're dealt, right?
Regardless of the final outcome - your worries are very understandable and the decision isn't easy - it sounds your band is coming out of this CoVid situation very much alive and full of spirit, with you basically declared as its centerpiece. I'd take that as a win (believe me, I can perfectly understand your frustration about not being able to rehearse and perform) and a clear signal the band, once we leave this horrendous present behind, has certainly a future.
That's all I've got, as well as rooting for you because your passion for ensemble music jumps out of every sentence of yours I've ever read.
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I just read the last few days worth of posts. Mora and Jen, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what you are going through right now. And Orbert, keep trying, maybe something will work out.
May God be with all of us right now.
In my state things are pretty much working as normal, and you'd think everyone has forgotten about Covid-19. But then I read stories like these and reality comes swinging back.
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Now college football is in danger of being postponed or cancelled. Great. Conferences are starting to cancel fall sports. That's gonna cost a bunch.
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Dating sucks now.
Most of my normal go to places are either still closed or limited in being able to go there. A lot of people are hesitant to meet in person more now than ever. And even meeting in person there's that awkward urge to avoid physical contact, which is the exact opposite reason of why I date people. What a world :lol
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Dating sucks now.
Some married couples who are stuck together round the clock either because they are unemployed or working from home would say being married isn't all rainbows and gumdrops now either :lol
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Yeah, stuff sucks all around. Divorce rates have been going up. Familiarity definitely breeds contempt.
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Dating sucks now.
Some married couples who are stuck together round the clock either because they are unemployed or working from home would say being married isn't all rainbows and gumdrops now either :lol
This is one thing about Covid that I think has been a blessing for us. Me being home has been great for our family and our marriage. We're actually in a better place today than we were 6 months ago. Not just because of me being home, but some other stuff I've been working on as well, but I feel like we're one of the rare couples that is doing great with all the togetherness. That said, I miss getting out and doing stuff on my own.
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Not my life, but COVID is making my sister's life quite difficult. She's a nurse down in SC, and her hospital is flooded with patients. They don't have the resources they need to adequately treat people, and there's a lot of anxiety going around. Many nurses - my sister included - are having to take sleep aids and such because they're not able to "turn off" outside of work... My thoughts go out to all of the front-line workers on this thing (in addition to the patients themselves, of course).
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This is one thing about Covid that I think has been a blessing for us. Me being home has been great for our family and our marriage. We're actually in a better place today than we were 6 months ago. Not just because of me being home, but some other stuff I've been working on as well, but I feel like we're one of the rare couples that is doing great with all the togetherness. That said, I miss getting out and doing stuff on my own.
It's been a blessing in disguise for us. I'm still on unemployment, which has allowed us to pack and move in with my in-laws. No more paying high rent! I get to help them and my wife around the house.
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Not my life, but COVID is making my sister's life quite difficult. She's a nurse down in SC, and her hospital is flooded with patients. They don't have the resources they need to adequately treat people, and there's a lot of anxiety going around. Many nurses - my sister included - are having to take sleep aids and such because they're not able to "turn off" outside of work... My thoughts go out to all of the front-line workers on this thing (in addition to the patients themselves, of course).
You know what I just realized after reading this.
Were the Healthcare workers, ever briefed or even considered, at university, about the possibility of a pandemic overload? If one thing needs to be addressed, it's this when people become nurses. It would help them be aware it could happen, and would prepare themselves mentally.
I'm also so glad, it's not as worse as it could've been.
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But some of this is metaphorically like "touching the hot stove" or "having your heart broken". You never really know what it's all about until you experience it and live through it. I remember being in a seminar at business school and an Air Force Major General was talking with us, and after at the Q&A, 9/11 came up (it was less than a year after) and he conceded in a moment of candor that even with specific concentrated training there is always the factor of "the moment" to consider.
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Yea totally. I don't think a teacher can prepare you for moments like this. Maybe they can do things better to be prepared, but when you see a frontline doctor commit suicide from feeling helpless, it kind of shows that this situation is bigger than anything you can just train for. It goes beyond just doing the job too, the mental health of these workers is important too.