If you are working like normal...

[skidunks]

Meaning not working from home, not reducing hours, everything is like it was before:
How do you feel about it?
I’m worried. I work in healthcare. I don’t have an option for working from home. I’m not sure what we’re doing with our kids after spring break this week. I’m not comfortable with leaving my kids (8 and 11) home from 7am-6pm every day but if I don’t work I don’t get paid. I think DH can work from home some but I’m not sure how much.
I’m also worried about my exposure. I wear masks and gloves every day all day but I’m also exposed to aerosols all day every day from people’s mouths. I don’t want to come across as an alarmist to my co workers but damn...I’m worried.

[letsgetweird]

I typically work 1 day from home but have been at work the past 2 weeks because we're shorthanded due to spring break and we are super busy due to covid-19 (I work in finance).

My company has instructed employees to work from home 100% but because I work in a client facing office, we're still going into work.

I don't feel great about it. But we're busier than ever. Busy time of year anyways plus a combo of people panicking over the stock market and others wanting to take advantage of the market being low.

[mysteriouswife]

I’m worried more about financial implications. I swapped jobs on the 2nd. I work accounting in the entertainment industry. Tours that should be gearing up are halting or completely stopped with no plans to reschedule. I’ll be the first cut in my department. Not only am I the last in, but my accounts are the smaller and not difficult ones to manage.

Nashville is already at a disadvantage due to the tornado from the 3rd. I’m expecting lots of jobs being cut just from the tornado.

As for COVID 19. I’m not as worried about contact at work. They are doing a great job at keeping us stocked on supplies to disinfect. They are offering paid time off to those who feel ill. A cleaning crew came in over the weekend to do a deep disinfection clean. Plus, I’m not in close contact with anyone besides my manager. She is taking this very serious.

[silvercrayon]

I work for a family owned business. Our owners will never shut down unless they are forced too. We are a manufacturer, so only those of us who work in the front office could possibly work from home. I will be going in every day.

[firedancer10288]

My husband works construction (electrician) so they have to work. No sick days, no vacation, if he doesn’t work he doesn’t get paid. I’m more worried about the job getting shut down and the financial implications of that.

[rosiebear]

State employee here; expected to go into the office unless we need to self-quarantine for suspected exposure. State govt is notoriously wary of giving the impression that workers are somehow shirking. I get it, but I’m going to dry my hands into piles of dust by washing them so much.

[alleinesein]

Im temping at a small law firm. If anyone has it, we have all been exposed since there are only 8 of us. If I don't work, I dont get paid. Most of what we do isn't dependent on the court system so we will be open until the government forces all non-essential businesses to close.

[isabel]

My last day at my current job is supposed to be the 25th. First day at my new job is supposed to be the 30th. I received approval from HR this morning to extend my notice if my start date with my new company is delayed. New company has not indicated my start date will be delayed and seems to be pushing forward with everything, based on emails this week.

All of that is important because... if I were not planning on leaving, I would just work from home full time even though our office is open and they're not encouraging remote work. But because I am supposed to be training someone next week and the week after, I kind of need to be in the office. I'm not thrilled about that because the person I am training is flying in from another state. But, again, I don't really know how I can get around it, as we need to have someone trained for when I leave, and there's nothing currently to say I won't be starting on time for my new job. All of this is also an issue because we've decided to keep our kids home (even though daycare is open) and if I have to be in the office all day, that is going to suck A LOT for DH. I'm so torn on how to handle this.

[Roc A Bee]

Yes I’m worried. I work at a community college but not in a student facing office. Most of our classes are going online but some courses and students will remain on campus.

My bf is a high school teacher and will most likely sent home. Plus his kids would be off too (although they haven’t called it yet). I worry if they are to stay home, but I’m going to work daily, that it really does no good. Like We would be much safer if we just all stayed home. I’m hoping the governor will make the call. I’m in CA.

[wanderingback]

I feel good.
We're already seeing some doctors being out sick in order to be extra cautious, so I'm being extra careful not to get sick myself.
Haven't left the house in 2 days and plan to just go to work and come home, rinse and repeat for the foreseeable future.
Taking care of patients is what I love to do so I'm happy to continue to do so.
Disclaimer: I'm a naturally calm person, so it would take a lot for me to get rattled, but I completely understand everyone's anxiety over the whole situation and being around sick patients these days.

ETA: I actually just found out I can moonlight so I plan to pick up extra shifts. My SO is a musician and his income has essentially dropped to zero since all his work has been cancelled for the next 6 weeks. He had some big jobs coming up so it's definitely a blow. So I'll happily pick up the slack since he's usually the breadwinner. 

[Alex]

I'm a fed with no WFH options. We deal in paper applications and just can't. I mean, I could, since I manage people, but they would all still have to be in the building. The building that is just an open floor the size of a city block. I think we will be shut down as soon as there is a case, but it will take a diagnosed case in the building. Which, as a very immunocompromised person, is terrifying.

[Patsy Baloney]

I work on a university campus that has switched to online learning but campus is still open for those who need it. I work in faculty HR and facilitate the tenure review process, reappointment, promotion, and annual review process.

All of those are coming due in March/April, so my office is pretty high traffic.

I’m worried in a way that I can’t quite articulate. I don’t feel like faculty members are taking this particularly seriously - still standing too close, coming in too often, touching my hands, etc.

If it was a different time of year, I might be less jumpy because my office would be a ghost town.

I’m also intensely worried about going out sick or campus fully shutting down and not being given a WFH option. I’ve been saving my leave since having my son because he will have a surgery in late April/early May to close a cleft in his soft palate. We have worked so hard to get him ready and scrimped and saved every single hour to have time to be home with him after his surgery. What if that time disappears? I’ll have to go unpaid. What if all these assholes who won’t participate in distancing overtax the hospital and his surgery gets pushed back?

I’m...high stress, lol.

[mcsangel2]

I work in an accounting department of a collections agency that has offices in 4 different states. The NY office went to remote work this week, from what I can tell, it isn't going well with the remote server. Our office is still intact but I expect them to have the collectors move to remote work (who knew they could do that) this week. I have been told our building will still be open, and truly, most of our department has to be there to work. We receive payments that have to be posted, and we prepare bank deposits that are picked up. My particular job also requires me to access a bunch of different physical folders; I can't possibly take home everything I would need to do my job.

I am mostly worried about one coworker who is in my department. In our entire office, he is the one person who is most at risk for complications (organ transplant recipient, diabetes, late 50s). I am exceedingly worried about the virus being brought in by someone before symptoms show. He absolutely would not survive getting it. I'm thinking about asking my bosses this week if they've considered putting him on compassionate leave for the next month. The company has supported him twice before when he was on extended leave with his illnesses, I think they might do it again in this case.

Beyond that, I'm only worried about more restrictive measures being enacted locally that would prevent us from working in the office (like in Europe now where everything is required to be closed except for groceries, pharmacies, gas stations, banks and post offices) since I can't really do my job effectively at home. I'd actually be better off personally if they completely suspended operations temporarily than trying to have everyone work remotely, but of course that means no one would be paid. Interruption in income is fortunately not something I need to be worried about. DH's company already went to remote work this week, I also don't want to try to juggle both of us working from home.

[Que?]

I can do a lot from home, but I have a brick and mortar business that remains open. My current tasks mainly involves fielding concerns from employees, reducing payroll as much as possible (bad news for seasonal/contract employees) and sorting out unemployment insurance issues for those folks. It’s super fucking stressful to be totally honest; I have just under 50 employees with 8 currently at different stages of their 14 day self quarantine, and 6 more on vacation now who will have to quarantine when they get back. It’s a logistical nightmare, everyone is stressed and scared and I’m bleeding money like a mofo.

[starlily]

I work in criminal courts, which are deemed essential and tend to have a lot of people coming through, so 😐

I'm just trying my best to maintain at least a 3 foot distance from most people and am washing my hands constantly. The bailiff in the courtroom I'm in most often does a pretty good job of wiping down the tables with Clorox wipes 2-3x a day and has a good supply of hand sanitizer so at least there's that.

[VillainV]

Last week work was basically normal. I imagine when we go back Monday a lot will have changed. I am VERY worried, but I’m also in a position to influence the leadership, so I plan to push for telework as much as possible and a strict “if you do t have to be here, don’t be here” policy. There are some functions that we DO have to be there for, so much will continue, but I have some ideas on how to change our procedures to make it a little bit safer for everyone.

[wambam]

Work for an 8 person aerospace materials company. Our offices are two rooms. If one person gets sick (even with normal colds) it’s almost inevitable all of us will get it. I’m trying to KOKO. I’m already very conscious of hygiene because of my emetophobia.

I’m more worried about the business as all of our customers are reducing their work.

[fernweh]

I work in an automotive assembly plant. Our corporate offices have all been instructed to work from home. I could maybe work from home for 2 days before I get to my tasks that have to be done at the plant. I know they are trying not to shut down up there is some concern that with all schools closed here that we 1. Won’t have enough line operators to build vehicles or 2. Won’t have enough parts coming from our suppliers.
They are being as cautious as they can be while not shutting down. I’m really torn in that because obviously I think the responsible thing to do would be to shut down all our manufacturing facilities but I also worry about the economic impact that would have on our area.

[calmcosmo]

I am a high school counselor at an independent school. Our student body is very privileged so we are able to go straight virtual through Zoom. I will be working from home and meeting my students and having meetings and running wellness groups and special topics groups via Zoom. I’m expected to work 3 hours a day.

ETA: my kids (3rd and 5th grades) will be home with me. I’ll keep them on a homeschool style schedule.

My husband will have to go to work. He’s a commander on an aircraft carrier and so many sailors live on the carrier that leadership needs to show up. It does scare me that an aircraft carrier is probably even more of a floating Petri dish than a cruise ship. They are screening people coming aboard with an interview and temporal thermometer but the more i read about the 20-somethings being a-symptomatic carriers the less i feel confident in that plan. My husband is healthy and 39 so I’m not super worried about his health but I think the chances are fairly high he brings it home. So we plan to just stay home.

[lovelyshoes]

My h to go in, very wealthy private company that can certainly afford to close and it is beyond infuriating that they refuse to close. It’s not essential at all and it’s infuriating that customers still come in to browse. I’m worried to put it mildly. I haven’t slept well for days.

[felicity]

DH is, and it's scary. He still has to go to a packed building and sit in a cube surrounded by other people. He is a government contractor and basically everybody in his building is in same boat in that no work can leave the building or done remotely. If the agency shuts down, then his company will likely tell them not to come in, which means using vacation or unpaid leave.

[mslhb]

I manage a manufacturing plant that supplies automotive OEMs and other tiers. We need to be at the plant to make and ship parts. It is going to be extremely stressful over the next couple of months. At this point our customers are telling us they intend to maintain production. If we all shutdown it is probably the right thing to do to help control the virus. But I can’t even imagine the economic impact to my workers and the larger economy if we end up having prolonged shutdowns.

[Alps79]

Mar 14, 2020 22:16:15 GMT -5 silvercrayon said:

I work for a family owned business. Our owners will never shut down unless they are forced too. We are a manufacturer, so only those of us who work in the front office could possibly work from home. I will be going in every day.

same. Buuutttttt- we manufacturer cleaning chemicals including disinfectants that are EPA registered to kill coronavirus and hand sanitizer so we really need to be at work and luckily we have the supplies to help keep us healthy. As you can imagine, we are really busy! (and owners and myself are very proud that we are not price gouging in any way) 

ETA- my dh is also working; commercial airline pilot. :/ It's a very scary time for his industry. 

[nessness]

I'm a Fed and feeling super frustrated because my job totally can be done from home, but for now they're sticking with their 1 day/week policy.

[wanderlustmom]

I am a mental health therapist and I have a small private practice with just me, I am moving to all telemental health this week and I have no idea if my clients will be okay with it. I don’t get paid if I don’t work. But I wanted to make the decision unilaterally.

My husband is a chemical engineer and works with lots of people from all over the world. They have all been told to work from home for at least the next two weeks in the US. He’s making me feel better because he’s not a worrier like me and he has tons of coworkers in Asia that are back to work and KOKO.

He believes kids will be back to school and jobs will resume mostly to normal mid April. I so hope he’s right.

[buckeyegirl]

My DH is a firefighter and is working like normal which concerns me because the rest of us are holed up at home. We are in Ohio and I’m a teacher so I am home with our two kids ages 4 and 8. 

[mala]

H is because he's emergency personnel. I will work normally this week, but I expect it's going to be sooner rather than later that it won't be worth the risk to me. I work food service, so I can't do it from home, and I get no sick leave. Small busniness too, so the new measures from congress won't apply. My boss is reasonable, and has said we will take it day by day, so I don't think it will come to me having to decide to walk away from the job to keep from spreading this, but if that moment comes, as I told H, I have no qualms about walking away. Since H is healthcare we ARE going to be exposed sooner rather than later. I'm not worried about this week with how H's work schedules fall, but if he brings it back from his shifts this week, we will be infected and infectious as early as next Monday, so I'll make a decision then.

Also, I checked the sales info from yesterday and it was like a normal fucking Saturday. What the hell people!?! I'm glad from a business standpoint but that means that people AREN'T social distancing in our town. It's going to fuck us all over in the end. Also, the longer sales stay normal, the longer we will continue with normal hours, and frankly, I think we need to shut it down for a bit, hopefully the boss can float a few weeks without sales. I can't imagine how much stress she's under right now since her daughter who's 14 was just diagnosed bipolar after a breakdown and is in an intensive therapy program right now and her husband is a police officer. I'm not going to add to her stress by bugging her about closing down. Yet.

[wildrice]

Mar 14, 2020 22:40:59 GMT -5 isabel said:

My last day at my current job is supposed to be the 25th. First day at my new job is supposed to be the 30th. I received approval from HR this morning to extend my notice if my start date with my new company is delayed. New company has not indicated my start date will be delayed and seems to be pushing forward with everything, based on emails this week.

All of that is important because... if I were not planning on leaving, I would just work from home full time even though our office is open and they're not encouraging remote work. But because I am supposed to be training someone next week and the week after, I kind of need to be in the office. I'm not thrilled about that because the person I am training is flying in from another state. But, again, I don't really know how I can get around it, as we need to have someone trained for when I leave, and there's nothing currently to say I won't be starting on time for my new job. All of this is also an issue because we've decided to keep our kids home (even though daycare is open) and if I have to be in the office all day, that is going to suck A LOT for DH. I'm so torn on how to handle this.

Obviously every place is going to be different, but I'm actually working from home for the next 2 weeks EXCEPT when I have to go in for new employee orientation. We made the decision not to delay start dates and will have staff come in to get them started. It's going to be a weird way to start a new job and I doubt they will have much productivity, but we tend to err on the side of giving new (and existing) employees leeway vs taking a chance on messing up their pay situation. I am not thrilled about having to go in (especially since I'm the only exempt employee involved, so everyone else will be getting paid extra to come in and I won't be!) but I AM glad that we are taking care of our people and won't be leaving people with a new job lined up to fend for themselves.

Can you train the new person at your old job via WebEx? If it's mostly computer stuff it again won't be ideal but would be better than nothing. If you deal with a lot of actual physical items in your job I imagine it would be harder, but from what I think your job entails I would guess most stuff is on a computer anyway?

[beerlover]

I'm a cyber school counselor in PA where the governor declared "all K-12 schools including cyber charter schools" closed for two weeks. My administration is saying that they are "still seeking clarification on this" and to go to work tomorrow. I don't know WTF clarification they still need, but OK. There is truly no reason we can't stay open because everything is delivered virtually. However, now all staff with kids will have them at home since schools are closed, so that will make people less productive obviously, and be really hard for teachers who teach live sessions. I'm okay with working (and would prefer to) as long as my son's daycare stays open. As of now they are, but other counties have mandated the closure of all licensed daycares, so that could definitely be coming here too.

[mmmomof2]

DH is still going in until they make everyone work from home. I guess it's not great for the community at large, but we are all low risk and if we get it odds are we'd have mild symptoms. We won't be visiting older relatives for a while though.

Flattening the curve doesn't mean zero cases.