Copa
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We had dinner last night with my boyfriend’s family to celebrate his birthday. His mom decided to bring up COVID/the vaccines because my boyfriend’s sister, who is a teacher, just got COVID. His mom went on a rant about how the vaccine is an experimental drug that doesn’t even work. (She’s fully vaccinated, but OMG.)
I’ve flown twice now during COVID and it has been fine. The first time was during the spring, and I kind of assumed that since then, things had changed on flights and people were letting their guard down at airports/on airplanes, but that has not been my experience. My flight to SF last week was only half full. We were at the front of the economy section and when I walked to the back to use the bathroom, not a single person had taken their masks off, chin strapped, or pulled it below the nose. The way home, we were on a much larger and full flight, so I guess harder to feel like I saw everyone or even most people. The people I observed were all following the rules, though.
Oh, but for anyone who may be curious: I continued to test negative for COVID and the boyfriend made it through his isolation period. I feel exhausted after the past two weeks between work getting weird fast and being the only able bodied person around here once the extreme fatigue hit my boyfriend. He’s cleared to go back into the world but still has some minor lingering symptoms (no taste/smell, still has a bit of a cough) that will hopefully clear up soon.
Any my dad was able to get a booster shot as a clinical trial participant, which is a huge relief to me since we’re all traveling next week for my grandma’s funeral. I’ve been stubborn about not wanting to cancel but also increasingly apprehensive about my dad.
Yeah. One of the things he asked me to take on was actually supposed to stay with me when I changed roles but something had to give. It’s something I helped launch a few years ago and was sad I had to give it up. So that I’m happy to take. I’m more familiar with the workflow of that role than my boss is and I don’t think he realizes that one thing he floated by me as something I could take back on isn’t that easy to lift out of the rest of the role. So I’m open to new responsibilities and do want to talk to him about growth opportunities, but what he’s proposed doesn’t quite make sense.
And yeah, after that interview my coworkers and I stayed on Zoom to discuss. One coworker immediately brought up the anecdote as inappropriate and another was like, “Wait, we’re not allowed to do X anymore? This is considered offensive?” Oh boy.
Looks like I spoke too soon about toxic work. We’ve spent the past couple weeks interviewing candidates for an open role and the woman we’re now in the process of hiring told an anecdote about her personal life in the interview that did not sit well with me at all. (She did something I consider offensive, unbelievably tone deaf in today’s world, and racist.) When asked to give our feedback, one coworker wanted to disqualify her altogether over it. I was the other person to say it didn’t sit right. I suspected everyone else involved would want to hire her notwithstanding so that’s what’s happening. So already it’s like, well this blows. But now my boss is trying to add a few responsibilities to her role, but in doing so feels he needs to take a couple responsibilities off her plate, so he called yesterday to get my thoughts on adding them to my plate. Like, what!? The job she applied for is the role I had when I first started at the company, I’ve since made a lateral move to a role that I feel much better suited to and enjoy more. I don’t really want any old responsibilities back. It feels like a move backwards for me even though the move was lateral… and it’s not an insignificant chunk of work. I feel caught off guard and like this should’ve been discussed with me sooner. He said we could discuss more today and I’m writing down all the points I’d like to say.
I think I’m in a minority amongst my friends and family with a job/employer that respects work/life balance. Things do seem to be worse for a lot of people right now from what I hear, but even pre-COVID, my situation always just seemed… well, better than many I’d hear about. And better than what I’ve experienced in the past, particularly at my last company, where I assume things have gotten worse for many now that there’s little separation between work/home. In my family group chat, there’s a lot of humble bragging from cousins around my age about how little they sleep/much they work, and I’m over here like… that’s not a flex.
We’re currently hiring for an open role and I just came out of an interview. The woman we interviewed did, in my opinion, an excellent job for a virtual panel interview. Did not seem rattled at all by six new faces asking her questions over Zoom.
Thankfully, I have not experienced this much at work. I’ve had more work since last December-ish since we laid off a few employees and I absorbed some responsibilities, so am generally busier, but I’ve gotten in the groove and it’s been manageable.
I do find myself wanting to lose my shit at people, though, so maybe I’m coming unhinged anyway. Sometimes over relatively minor stuff. Yesterday on a Zoom meeting I was hosting, an old guy couldn’t figure out his audio and kept emailing me asking how to fix it and what was wrong with my meeting. I’m not IT, this is not my issue, other people managed to join just fine. He was critical to the meeting, so we had to reschedule after 20 minutes of him joining, dropping off, emailing, joining dropping off, emailing.
My sister’s jobs have usually been crazier than mine. Every company she’s worked for has seemed pretty fucked up. But it’s definitely gotten worse for her the past year and a half. She’s really overworked right now, said that it’s not uncommon for people to be sending emails back and forth or even phone calls very late at night. So I guess she’s spoken up and someone high up essentially told her that she’s replaceable, but they obliged her request to be put on a different team starting in October. She’s finally realized the toll her job has taken on her health and is trying to correct it but it’s tough since her company does not seem to give a shit that they’re understaffed and current employees overworked, but hopefully a new team will help.
Re: boosters. My dad volunteered for clinical trials so he found out in early January that he’d actually been vaccinated in October as part of those trials. Since we’re now wondering just how long that protection lasts, I texted him yesterday to ask if he could get a booster shot. He’s late 60s and creeping up on a year since his vaccination shots. Turns out he received a call about a booster yesterday, which is a relief to me. I hope he can get one before my grandma’s funeral.
I suspect the boyfriend is feeling pretty lousy today. It’s 10:45 and I haven’t heard him yet today (he felt meh the past two days and watched quite a bit of Netflix).
On the advice of a pharmacist friend who said I should test again 3-5 days out from my boyfriend’s first day of symptoms in case it was too early, I took another test this a.m. Still negative. A different pharmacist that I talked to when I bought the at-home kits said that if I test negative on day 10, I’m in the clear.
I’m also very glad Chicago will be mandating masks again. I wouldn’t mind at all if we did what SF is doing and requiring proof of vaccination for indoor activities and large-scale outdoor events. People might be more inclined to get vaccinated if life gets harder for them and they are excluded from parts of society that they do not want to be excluded from.
Had to go to a few pharmacies before I was able to find some at-home COVID kits. Seems they’re selling out fast around here. Perhaps these are the new hot item to hoard. I bought two. I want to have some around but also didn’t want to take too many. I’m trying to figure out some kind of game plan for at-home monitoring. IDK if I tested negative because I tested too soon, because I don’t have it, or what.
Sorry to hear about your shingles! I liked most of the first season of Modern Love on Prime, and the second season just came out. My book club just read The Guncle, and while it wasn’t really for me (I was in the minority not really caring for it), it was an easy-breezy and heartwarming read.
We came up with a game plan (separate bedrooms and bathrooms, open windows, masking up in common areas, lots of cleaning) but I guess I’m expecting to test positive eventually. It felt weird to go to bed without him last night and of course woke up at 3 a.m. to worry the rest of the night away (bought a pulse oximeter on Amazon at like 4 a.m.). I’m going to try to stock up on a few at-home test today so I can keep an eye on myself.
So far his symptoms are mild flu-like, but he said his night sweats were really bad again last night so he’s tired from poor sleep. His first symptom we now realize happened on Sunday, when he said his ears were plugged up — I didn’t realize this was a COVID symptom.
We’re suppose to go to the Bay Area in a few weeks and now I’m worried we won’t be able to go. It’s for my grandma’s funeral mass and I haven’t seen my family in over three years so I’ve felt stubborn about reconsidering.
