Covid Support Thread
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My company sent out an email earlier this week to let us know they’ll likely be requiring proof of vaccination as a condition of employment. Fine by me! I don’t think we’ll go back until maybe spring at this point? They also announced maybe a week ago that we may be merging office space downtown with our two sister companies — one company shares a floor with ours, the other takes up the entire floor below ours and is connected by a staircase (the floor below is super swanky and where we’d all move to). It makes sense if we’re all planning to go hybrid. But, if that happens, I’d very likely lose my office and might request to be full-time remote. The appeal of the office to me, outside of the things that are more efficient in person, is that I have a quiet, private space to work in. Huge desk, lots of filing space, bookshelves, coat closet, floor to ceiling windows with great natural light and a view of a plaza with its fountain and mosaic mural. And, I dunno, it’s been a good set-up. I’ve had my own office for like 2/3 of the years I’ve been working and would rather be at home than go back to the cubicle life. My sister’s company hot desks and I don’t know how she handles it. I *think* I’d be approved to be full-time remote if ever I do ask, but I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I suspect it’s at least a couple years off at this point.
Yeah I assume our CEO has an office, and probably some others (maybe L2s and L3s) but VPs, SVPs, and below do not. It kind of does suck always having to move around for meetings, but I also love how clean and uncluttered it is and how you run into people a lot to chat or just say hi.
@ktfran – I had to do that with a drug test once. Pee in a room. Bring out the cup (before washing my hands) at which time the guy dipped a test, swished it around and then waited for the colors to change. When it proved I was not on drugs, I then emptied the cup in the toilet, washed my hands and went back to work. I felt so sorry for the guy that he had to spend his days with people putting cups of pee on his desk.
Almost all my clients ask for tests, so I get tested every few years but have only once had the swish and wait experience. I look forward to doing drugs in my retirement.
I have happily fled to the desert house near 29 Palms. We installed a giant metal roadrunner covered out of old license plates. The sculpture stands taller even than me! Okay, just barely. I am 6’4. So, yeah… it’s quite the statement piece. I love it!
Our friend’s fiancé — who is a medical doctor by day —- created it for the property and it is VERY Joshua Tree. Putting it up involved making/pouring a concrete base and everything for it — so that was quite the process and I now feel I can have more fun with cement out here if I get so inspired.
We had six of us in the house for a nice long weekend. Everybody left today. But I shall linger here alone for a bit. (The next guests arrive sunday.) So I am working from the desert on a bizarre writing project. One that should prove fun and lucrative. 😉
Other good news. My nephew is now testing negative for Covid19. Nobody else in the home is positive as of yet and it’s been two weeks since his first test. So maybe they somehow all avoided it.
Oh, and for some really bad news, Another friend of mine died. Cancer. Wayyyyy to young. Life is short, everybody. Shorter than anybody realizes. Yikes.
Yeah, I get that offices are kind of a thing of the past these days at many offices. But, my field in general is a bit old school and this is one of the few perks of that, haha. And in any case, I like having one. I like the privacy and quiet to concentrate. I don’t want to go back to the cubicle life.
@BGM – I’m sorry, again, for your loss. That sucks. Again. But Palm Springs sounds even more delightful than ever (it’s freaking cold and dark in NY).
@Copa – when I had an office, I liked closing my door and taking a little nap. Sadly, my next office had a partially frosted glass front wall and door. And a hair trigger movement sensor for the lights.
Since then… open plan blargh.
Booster shot is scheduled for next Wednesday – I’m mixing and matching folks!
Yeah, the first company I worked for out of school decided to move to an open plan not too long before I left for a new job and started office renovations/remodels shortly after I left. Not even the CEO was going to have an office. When it was announced, I was totally fine with the open concept plan. Everyone mid-level or up had their own office because we had the space for that at one point. But the company was growing quickly and needed more space — I at one point had to share a cubicle. The mid-level crowd losing their offices complained endlessly, which was super annoying. Anyway, I get it now. Though I’d keep it to myself if I had coworkers sitting mere feet away from my office two-per-cube.
Thanks, LisforLeslie. Actually, I am about 57 or so miles from Palm Springs. Way up on the other side of Joshua Tree National Park. (Think Northeast of Palm Springs.) But with all the names out here with the word Palm in them it’s easy to confuse them up. The desert house in 29 Palms which is a little more high desert than Palm Springs.
But yes — it is great to be here right now. Warm days mid to upper 70s and cool crisp nights. (Upper 40s.)
In a bit I’ll go start a bon fire. Sip some hot tea.
My bad @BGM, I do not know the area at all; you say Palm + Cali and to me it’s Palm Springs which in my mind is filled with lovely mid-century architecture with a bit of Hollywood Regency furnishings and very very very tan people drinking vodka tonics.
And on the opposite coast we have Palm Beach where the architecture and furnishings are different but you still find very very very tan people. Wearing a lot of bright colors, especially the men.
It’s interesting to see the comments here comparing how things are in “Europe.” Don’t forget that Europe is a huge continent and vaccine rates and Covid rules vary widely from country to country. You’ve got Portugal at around 88% percent vaccinated while Bulgaria is only 25%, for example.
I’m in a small central European country and we’re at around 60%. They keep changing the rules around testing in schools, and it seems to vary between testing all students once or twice a week to no testing. The test-and-stay system that some of you mentioned hasn’t been used here at all.
We had the largest number of cases in the pandemic and the biggest day-on-day increase ever just yesterday. So don’t think that all of Europe is crushing it by any means. Sadly, we have just as many anti-vaxxers here.
Although we are required to wear KN95s in stores and public transport, and those rules have never been relaxed since March 2020 so we’ve got that going at least. It was very disorienting to visit Trader Joes in the US a couple months ago and see most shoppers (and employees!) unmasked. Here, restaurants, gyms, salons, etc. are supposed to check people for a vaccine/test/proof of recovery from covid to be let in. Just yesterday they announced places should only accept a vaccine or proof of recovery (no tests!) and there was a huge protest immediately. Several hundred restaurants also said they refuse to check. So we’ll see what happens.
Oh, and the testing is better. They recently decided to charge for tests in an attempt to encourage vaccination, but for a long time everyone was allowed 2 free PCR tests and 4 free antigen tests per month. Now that they are charging, prices are capped at the equivalent of $8 USD for antigen and $35 USD for PCR. You can also buy a self-test at any pharmacy for around $5 and they are always in stock.
@lucia – You’re right, we shouldn’t lump all of Europe into a single set of metrics, but it’s kind of like the US right now. Some states are more controlled and more vaccinated. Here in NYC, I’d say 90% of shoppers in the grocery store are masked (at least in my neighborhood) and in some markets no mask= no entry. I’ve yet to see anyone throw a mask-related hissy fit. They usually just say “whoops, oh I’m so sorry, it’s right here”. But about 150 miles away in the more rural parts of the state… very different.
