The Work Thread
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Today was day 3 of training for the new job. Things are weird; we're financial sector and therefore essential employees. Almost everyone that can work from home has been sent to do so, leaving about 50 total people in the building, including our 10 person class.
At around 8:45 this morning, I got a message from my wife saying she wasn't feeling well and she reported 2/3 of the Big Three: Coughing and Shortness of Breath, lacking only Fever. She goes through the CDC website, gets in contact with a nurse, who advises that she should go to the facility packed with people who suspect they have the virus to get evaluated.
I raise this concern to the trainer at this time, forwarding my wife's email with my thoughts: I need to go supervise my kid, and if we suspect she has the virus, then I'm sitting here exposing your 10 new hires, any trainers, and everyone else in the building.
Okay, I'll check that out on break, she says. This will be the last we'll discuss the matter. It's possibly relevant to understand that the trainer is on WebEx, training from home.
Around 11, I get another message from the wife. She talked to her actual doctor who advises that she not go to a facility with a near-certainty of infection waiting just yet, but rather to take 24 hours to observe and audit her condition, watching for worsening condition and/or the onset of the final member of the trifecta.
I still have heard nothing from the trainer by the time the class goes to lunch at 12, and at this point I'm just sitting there thinking about how I'm exposing every single person in the building. I finally speak to the proctor in the classroom, who with evident anxious concern (stepped back far away from me and) agreed that wisdom suggested my immediate departure.
Since then, I've been calling around to all these people at the company's HR department. So far the prevailing wisdom is that they would like me to return to the office tomorrow.
I can't confirm that I don't have the virus in my household, suspect that I might, in fact. It seems negligently stupid to want me to come in -- but then this advice was dispensed by people who live and work in North Carolina, not here in the Maine office with me. I suspect the people here might feel differently about me walking into the facility.
@lawyerbots, any words of wisdom applicable to this situation? I think it's pretty stupid to go to work tomorrow honestly, unless we wake up and she's just clearly in perfect health. I do not want to be responsible for anything that would lay down that path.
Hating haters and their hate since a year that neither rhymes nor alliterates
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@gryphter If you do go in, wear a face covering. There are sites showing you how to make an improvised face mask but even a bandana worn outlaw style is better than nothing. If you are infected, it'll keep you from breathing/coughing infected droplets into the air.
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@TNP I was able to purchase two locally made cloth masks. It's not perfect, but better than nothing.
Hating haters and their hate since a year that neither rhymes nor alliterates
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@gryphter Definitely wear a mask and just try to social distance at work if possible, you don't need the N95s as regular masks are there to keep your vapor droplets from spraying far if you happen to cough or sneeze, and it also helps prevent you from touching your own mouth or nose. HR won't do anything unless there is a threat that there could be a potential lawsuit against the company, they're there to protect the company, not the people. As for your wife, her actual doctor is definitely correct, avoid the infection zone that is the hospital as much as possible. It sucks that people are being forced to choose between health safety and financial safety.
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So I get to "Work" as we are all working remotely and our chats are filled with general vitriol about being laid off. A few of us are planning on taking our equipment back, but due to gathering rules we are trying to stagger them. It's very surreal to see 60 people going through the stages of grief remotely. Some are panicking, as they are older people and they are concerned about life after Covid19.
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So I finally got a call from IT. I am now able to set up to work from home. I have a Zoom conference at 2, and they have some mystery project they want me to work on.
I am not putting on work clothes for this. They can live with my Star Wars "Rebel Scum" t-shirt and my Quarantine hair, don't care ponytail.
Especially since I'm not on the clock for today
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@Macha said in The Work Thread:
So I finally got a call from IT. I am now able to set up to work from home. I have a Zoom conference at 2, and they have some mystery project they want me to work on.
I am not putting on work clothes for this. They can live with my Star Wars "Rebel Scum" t-shirt and my Quarantine hair, don't care ponytail.
Especially since I'm not on the clock for today
Use the Enterprise Bridge Background or something else wildly inappropriate
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I'm already going to be in bed, so...! I'm sure Logan will make a surprise appearance too. Hope everyone likes dogs!
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It was expected to take two months, it took six and a lot of bullshit, but my project is finally out of the shithole and no longer on probation. I feel like I can breathe again.
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Happy teacher today.
I've decided my zoom meetings with my class are NOT going to be instruction based. They don't need a half-assed lesson from me with sound popping in and out and them not able to see what I'm writing. They need connection and a chance to talk to other kids. So, we're playing games. Today we did a "scavenger hunt" where they had to find something and bring it back to the computer to show. It was HILARIOUS. One of them was "Get a drink of water and drink it on camera." One boy came back, took a sip, and I said "ALL OF IT!" to which there was a sudden burst of laughing from a parent in the background with, "I TOLD YOU SO!" Another was "a family member" and we had sisters, brothers, parents (the father that did an impromptu dance for us was the best), dogs, cats - it was awesome.
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@silverfox That's cool. What grade level again? Because I'm a bad person and don't remember although you've probably told me seven times.
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They're 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade aged, though they're all doing 3rd grade material. So 8-11.
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@silverfox Can I play too?
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@silverfox I also would like to play.
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@silverfox That's awesome! The kids are lucky to have you as their teacher.
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If it weren't for FERPA laws I'd totally invite people.
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MSB scavenger hunt ZOOM call (I actually would not do this, but I'd watch the rest of you doing it - please record)
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Just to close the loop on my doomy-gloomy post from about a week ago, we all woke up the next day feeling fine so the whole thing was a moot point.
Sort of? What if we weren't fine, and I brought the 'rona into the group? It still bugs me, because the logic obviously follows that other people who've been exposed might be directed to come to work and expose me.
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I am mentally exhausted, pretty depressed, very stressed out and oh yay one of my coworkers in our 4 person office just went home after exhibiting signs of coronavirus infection. She has been the one meeting with people inside the building one at a time. Now it is a matter of when she can get tested/how long it takes, but fucking yikes.
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Edited: Removed. Because on a reread it felt like whining.
