Best posts made by gryphter

@Auspice Good luck!

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.

Left work yesterday in the middle of an actual real-life panic attack. Fuck you misophonia, you and mandatory team lunches can fuck right off together.

My lifehacks:

1. Plan nothing. React to all things spontaneously and in a spirit of panic.
2. Save time on meals by simply not eating them! The hunger pangs and migraines as your body seeks to consume itself will help to keep that killer instinct sharp.
3. Do nothing to address your rising sense of anxious dread until you have a panic attack at work and have to bail unexpectedly.This will help you to feel more comfortable and relaxed about returning to duty the next day.
4. Avoid conflict and confrontations by always deferring and shoving your emotions down; I'm sure that will work out great (see #3)
5. Always take on more than one person can reasonably manage. Ideally, shape these commitments such that other people can't do their work until you do yours, as this will help you maintain a constant sense of urgency. Carrying around the feeling that you're always failing someone somewhere is good for building a humble character.

This advice I give to you all for free. Enjoy.

@Roz

@Auspice Upvote for support, downvote for content.

This is where I'm at also. I only live about 15 minutes from the office, but my new awareness of the not-new panic disorder I have is making it hella hard to physically go to work. I need to swivel this thing into a remote job, but I'm not totally woke to what that process is.