Coronavirus

So I'm on pins and needles this weekend.

My company has another round of "furloughs" coming and since we reach the end of a pay period next Friday AND the beginning of a new month everyone expects the dreaded "you have an important meeting with HR on Monday" email to come out again tomorrow evening like it did in late March for the first wave of "furloughs" (99.9% of whom were permanently laid off last Monday).  Supposedly this wave of furloughs will be "more targeted" but we're all still worried that we're on "The List" this time.

So I keep checking my work email and will be friggin' CAMPED OUT on it tomorrow evening.  The bad part is that even if I don't get an HR email that doesn't really mean anything.  For all we know, the chatter about "The List" already being finalized and coming out this weekend is total bullshit and the axe could fall NEXT weekend.  Or the weekend after that.  Or maybe in the middle of next week. Or.....

Man, this whole situation just sucks on so many levels I can't even keep track of them.  And not just for me but for the entire world. 

If, a year ago, you had submitted a movie script to Hollywood and it detailed the kind of shit we've all been living through, you'd have had the damn script thrown back in your face and laughed out of the office. "That could NEVER happen!!!  Are you serious????"

Well sadly, it IS happening and it's beyond serious.

Best of luck, Toho. Hopefully you don't get the email.

Yeah, Toho, I am pulling for ya brother. Keep a good thought and hope for the best.

Thanks guys.

I should be OK because of what the team I'm on does (basically "keep the lights on") but I'm sure that's what everyone who's already been let go thought too.

25 years ago it was a similar situation that brought me here from CT.  But I was young then and could really move anywhere in the country for a job neither of which is true now.  I sure never thought I'd have to worry about this again.

I somewhat know how you feel. I left retail management behind last August. I got my first "retail" job in the last century! Ha. It's all I ever really knew. I didn't think I could learn a new career at age 45 but I did. I started training last Wednesday to leave the branch for a month and help out our overtaxed call center. I have always been one to volunteer/ step up but right now I am doing what ever makes me less expendable to the bosses.

My wife took a "voluntary" furlough for next week. She was scheduled to use TDI, but unemployment is giving a bonus $600, so she is doing that.With the number of surgeries down there are less patients who need rehab and they have enough for the OT's to do. The week after next will be another of her teammates turns. It works out kinda good though as she really needed a break. She has been wearing almost a full hazmat suit for the last month now while she tries to rehab a 90 year old woman with dementia. She's like "wtf am I doing here" when she comes home from work. I imagine it, from the patient's point of view, as something like when Marty (in BttF) dons the protective suit and wakes his dad up to the Van Halen guitar solo! Ha.

On a good note, we had a family day today. I cooked sausage and eggs while the wife and daughter went to get ice coffe. Then we had breakfast as a family while my wife bought my daughter the Frozen 2 soundtrack on vinyl and ordered me an Ozzy picture disc of Diary. It was gorgeous here in RI, so we went to visit family at the cemetery, then went hiking for a few miles in a nearby town, and then to walk around our church's grounds and had some reflection time. We got beer and pizza on the way home and have spent the last few hours relaxing. It was a really nice day.

I'm sure your wife has tough duty being on the "frontlines" even if she's not actually around corona virus patients.  My brother is sort of in the same boat; he's a psychologist for some of the PA state hospitals and one of the ones he belongs to is a corona "hot spot" so even though he isn't dealing with patients directly, he's still "in the vicinity" which I'm sure is the same stress your wife is experiencing.

As I said in my post at the top of this thread, I realize my situation is (sadly) far from unique and this corona virus mess is impacting EVERYONE (literally in the entire world) and most likely we'll feel the impact for generations to come. 

Glad you had a nice day with the family sentinel; we all could use days like that now.  Unfortunately here in MO it rained all damn day which just added to the depression.

But on a positive note, I DID have another grocery order from the local grocery chain delivered by Shipt today.  You know, at only $99 a month and with free delivery on any order over $35 (how few groceries does it take to rack up more than that????) I might just keep doing this.  I don't have to deal with all the new restrictions at grocery stores these days, they call you to approve any substitutions in case the store is out of what you ordered, and you don't have to run the risk of contamination; the whole thing is completely touchless.  Hell, today I have had some bottles of vodka delivered.  I wasn't sure you could even do that with this service but you just leave your driver's license on the porch face-down and the delivery person simply takes a photo of the bar code crap on the back side of the license which I've read only contains the same crap that's on the front side.  Totally touchless.  And I had over $100 worth of stuff delivered directly to my front door without having to leave the house or risk contact with anything or anyone.

Now if only I can keep my job that affords me the luxury of being able to keep doing this...

She actually is seeing Corona patients. She has to be tested every two weeks (it's the less invasive test of the two) and so far she is okay. I am really starting to fear the reopening of our state (and country) as I don't think we are anywhere near ready and I think it was cause an even worse second wave of illnesses that will result in more deaths. I am all for the return to normal, but I don't want to destroy the progress we have made and ultimately make things worse.

On a positive note: I have scoring some good deals online lately. I am owed about five packages in the mail.

I am positive things will work out well for you, Toho. So don't worry about it.

This whole Corona outbreak has changed everyone's lives. My wife is an anesthesiologist and she is handling Corona patients, in pre-op, surgery and post-op.

That gives us constant stress. Even the kids who are too young, always ask her if she is ok.

Sentinel, what albums have you ordered? .

Hope the best for ya Toho, there’s nothing worse than going through that mental anxiety. I went through that with work a couple months ago. Not corona related but with restructuring, thinking I was gonna get bumped off my job.It all worked out ok but I was sweating bullets for a while.Good luck to you.

I hope toho you don't lose your job and I have faith you will not be ones that is let go. These types of corporate decisions make me angry, I know its business as usual but it is not business as usual, they should at least hold off on making these types of decisions til this coronavirus pandemic is declared at least somewhat under control.

Well it's almost 9pm here and I still haven't received the "HR Email Of Death".

Which either means I've been spared for another round or the "scuttlebutt" about the next round happening this weekend was crap.

This just means I have to keep proving what I can do so I say "Bring it on!"

Tohostudios - I pray for the best for you. These are trying times, for sure.

Well, this was bound to happen. Covid has hit my fire department. 37 of us positive so far, 7 tests pending. Not me (yet). All symptoms either mild, or asymptomatic. Everyone in great spirits. It seems we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks and we're ready to do this. The sooner we get it and then get over it, the sooner we move on. Positives are Q'ed up so they are not exposed to the public.
The rest of us will cover until they get back.

One guy scored a 98% on his fitness test the same day he popped positive!! With how asymptomatic we all are I'm now convinced MORE THAN EVER that WAY more of the popluation has had it, meaning the death rate is WAY lower than we've been led to believe. Have you seen some of the reports from NYC? WAY, WAY more have had it than we first thought. The young and the healthy have a huge chance of having had it without even knowing it.

I might not be around here much if I need to work OT to cover, but will try and check in.

We are ONE DAY CLOSER! Hang tight y'all, we're ONE DAY CLOSER!!

Stay safe Scott.

Here's an odd situation -- my wife was out of work when this started so we went to the Florida unemployment site and filled out all the info. Then a couple of days later she was contacted and her employer told her she would still be paid. Whoops! So I went back to the unemployment website to try and remove all of her information. Website kept crashing and I could not get in. Tried every day. The website would tell you to call a phone number. Then you call the number and all it does is tell you to try the website. Endless circle! I was never able to get back in.

So this morning I check the bank account and they deposited money! I quickly went back to the website to try and log in and let them know to take the money back! Website is down again! I don't want us to get in trouble for an honest mistake. Called the number and they are not open yet so I will try again later today. Hopefully we can get this worked out.

Also, someone in Kansas used my debit card with Sprint Wireless. I got the "fraud" phone call immediately and I indicated that purchase was NOT me. Called the bank, closed the card, etc but this morning that purchase cleared as well! So I gotta take care of that crap too and hope I get my money back.

tohostudios wrote:

Thanks guys.

I should be OK because of what the team I'm on does (basically "keep the lights on") but I'm sure that's what everyone who's already been let go thought too.

25 years ago it was a similar situation that brought me here from CT.  But I was young then and could really move anywhere in the country for a job neither of which is true now.  I sure never thought I'd have to worry about this again.

Good luck, Toho. It's a rough spot to be in. I used to think I was essential to my company too. They thought differently.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Tohostudios - I pray for the best for you. These are trying times, for sure.

Well, this was bound to happen. Covid has hit my fire department. 37 of us positive so far, 7 tests pending. Not me (yet). All symptoms either mild, or asymptomatic. Everyone in great spirits. It seems we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks and we're ready to do this. The sooner we get it and then get over it, the sooner we move on. Positives are Q'ed up so they are not exposed to the public.
The rest of us will cover until they get back.

One guy scored a 98% on his fitness test the same day he popped positive!! With how asymptomatic we all are I'm now convinced MORE THAN EVER that WAY more of the popluation has had it, meaning the death rate is WAY lower than we've been led to believe. Have you seen some of the reports from NYC? WAY, WAY more have had it than we first thought. The young and the healthy have a huge chance of having had it without even knowing it.

I might not be around here much if I need to work OT to cover, but will try and check in.

We are ONE DAY CLOSER! Hang tight y'all, we're ONE DAY CLOSER!!

Good luck, Scotty. My next door neighbor, a nurse, has it bad. She's expected to recover, but her mom told us it's rough going.

Thanks fellas.

I'm on duty today and I'm having a seemingly odd reaction: relief. And I think I know exactly what's happened. In the Lord of the Rings movies Pippin said this:

"I don't want to be in a battle, but waiting on the edge of one I can't escape is even worse."

That's it! We knew this was coming and it's like we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks. Now it's here and we can get this over with in our little corner of the World.

Toho, what's the latest?

Florida Mike - Yeah, that's a pickle!

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Tohostudios - I pray for the best for you. These are trying times, for sure.

Well, this was bound to happen. Covid has hit my fire department. 37 of us positive so far, 7 tests pending. Not me (yet). All symptoms either mild, or asymptomatic. Everyone in great spirits. It seems we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks and we're ready to do this. The sooner we get it and then get over it, the sooner we move on. Positives are Q'ed up so they are not exposed to the public.
The rest of us will cover until they get back.

One guy scored a 98% on his fitness test the same day he popped positive!! With how asymptomatic we all are I'm now convinced MORE THAN EVER that WAY more of the popluation has had it, meaning the death rate is WAY lower than we've been led to believe. Have you seen some of the reports from NYC? WAY, WAY more have had it than we first thought. The young and the healthy have a huge chance of having had it without even knowing it.

I might not be around here much if I need to work OT to cover, but will try and check in.

We are ONE DAY CLOSER! Hang tight y'all, we're ONE DAY CLOSER!!

Wow Scott, that's scary.  Stay safe!

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Thanks fellas.

I'm on duty today and I'm having a seemingly odd reaction: relief. And I think I know exactly what's happened. In the Lord of the Rings movies Pippin said this:

"I don't want to be in a battle, but waiting on the edge of one I can't escape is even worse."

That's it! We knew this was coming and it's like we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks. Now it's here and we can get this over with in our little corner of the World.

Toho, what's the latest?

Florida Mike - Yeah, that's a pickle!

The latest is....nothing.

No word on any new furloughs at all.  We thought for sure they'd happen this past weekend because we ended a pay period last Friday and we start a new calendar month this coming Friday. 

I guess this is an example of "no news is good news" but I sure wish we all knew where we stand.  It makes buying anything, even the most mundane, everyday choices of crap you buy all the time, a gamble.  Do I really need this if I'm going to lose my job soon? 

It's sort of like something else you said in that post:

Quote :

That's it! We knew this was coming and it's like we've been holding our breath for 6 weeks. Now it's here and we can get this over with in our little corner of the World.

That's pretty much where everyone I still work with is at regarding their jobs.

Toho- glad all is quiet so far on the gateway to the Western front.

Scott - Hope you stay safe brother, and if you get sick, your positive attitude alone would kick it's ass!

Mike - if you got the call about the fraud and said no, they should have shut it down right away; capture card and reissue. I know there are a lot of new people in the call centers for banks ( I am on day 3 of my training) whoa re bankers by trade and doing their best to relieve an overtaxed system.

Here's what I kinda can't wrap my head around- some states are seemingly reopening this weekend or early next week, and others (like where I live in RI) are eyeing the week after next (May so why are businesses still looking to furlough or lay off people? In the next few weeks it's gonna be a deluge of people looking to go out and be out and about with stimulus checks in hand. I know it's gonna be gradual openings the way it was gradual shutdowns, but still, I feel like the people are gonna come out in droves.

the sentinel wrote:

Toho- glad all is quiet so far on the gateway to the Western front.

Scott - Hope you stay safe brother, and if you get sick, your positive attitude alone would kick it's ass!

Mike - if you got the call about the fraud and said no, they should have shut it down right away; capture card and reissue. I know there are a lot of new people in the call centers for banks ( I am on day 3 of my training) who are bankers by trade and doing their best to relieve an overtaxed system.

Here's what I kinda can't wrap my head around- some states are seemingly reopening this weekend or early next week, and others (like where I live in RI) are eyeing the week after next (May so why are businesses still looking to furlough or lay off people? In the next few weeks it's gonna be a deluge of people looking to go out and be out and about with stimulus checks in hand. I know it's gonna be gradual openings the way it was gradual shutdowns, but still, I feel like the people are gonna come out in droves.

I did get my new debit card yesterday. I had to leave work early and go pick it up and it was pretty easy. If they were going to mail it, it would've taken 5-7 business days but my credit union said they could print one up so I just went there and got it. Luckily my wife's debit card has a different number so we just used that one over the weekend. But as of this morning the charge from Sprint is still in my account so I am $250 lower than what I should be. I did ask the person at the bank about it and they said it should be reversed but it takes a couple of days.

As for unemployment for my non-unemployed wife, they keep sending money. It's crazy! People who need the money are not getting it and I want to give this back. The Fla website is notorious for NOT working so much so it has made national headlines. I was finally able to get into the website and THERE IS NO WAY TO REPORT YOU HAVE RETURNED TO WORK! They just keep depositing funds in my account. They even sent a paper check yesterday in the mail! The website has no option to change any status. So I called the local Career Source office yesterday and asked them if they knew anything about it. I explained my wife thought she was unemployed but wasn't and that she has continued to be paid even though she is not working and I wanted to stop this. They said the only thing I could do was to talk to them on the 1-800 number to change status as that option isn't available on the website. When you call the number it says something like "All operators are busy and we cannot call you back. Goodbye" and it hangs up! It won't even put you on hold! So I will try again today as soon as they open along with hundreds of thousands of other people.

And to explain my wife's situation a little more, she was a high school teacher. She got fed up with disresepectful students and parents. When one student told her to "F" off and admin did nothing about it she decided to quit and give them a one month notice. The principal at the school is a decent guy but he is in his early 30's and wants to be everyone's buddy. A principal (as much as we hated them when we were in school) is NOT there to be your friend. I see that now as an adult, they are there to lay down the law and this guy did not do that. This was back in Feb. So she found another job a week after her job ended still with the school system as support staff at an elementary school. She loved it but only worked 2 weeks before spring break and then schools shutdown for the rest of the year. The school system closed her e-mail account not realizing she was still an employee. So her new school would send her e-mails about what was going on but she wasn't getting them. After about 4 weeks they finally called the house and asked her if she still wanted to work and she said yes. They said they had been emailing her but she wasn't responding. They finally opened up her email again and now all is well and she is being paid but in the meantime we filled out unemployment papers online. I have been trying ever since to get it cancelled. She will physically go back to the school May 4 to help them close out the school year. She said if she had known about Covid-19 she would've waited it out and just kept her job and let them know she wasn't returning next year. While the new job is completely stress free it pays less than half of what she made being a teacher but I told her being stress free and happy was more important than money.

Just take the money and go buy some music with it .

Gilbert wrote:

Just take the money and go buy some music with it .

Good Advice! I was thinking like you! Lol!

Mike, I won't quote the whole txt as it would waste space on the page, but I am glad you got your debit card situation straightened out. I was a high school teacher for 3 years (2005-2007) and I was all set after that. I definitely sympathize with her. The other situation, with the unemployment money is just crazy. I was telling my wife and she can't believe it.

Well I got my first Covid-19 related delay in a pre-order. I had pre-ordered the new box set version of Cirith Ungol's Forever Black and it was supposed to be released last Friday. Today I got a notification from Metal Blade that the release was delayed due to Chinese supply chain disruptions and they hoped to have it "at some point during the month of May." Lol.

Like Mike my debit card was hacked and used to purchase an Uber ride in LA and to take out $160 in cash. Thankfully I caught it the next day and I have already been reimbursed.

As of yet my law firm hasn't laid off or furloughed anyone but everyone took pay cuts ranging from 10-20%. My firm is gigantic and worldwide but they are being very cautious with money right now so they can continue operations. We have been working from home since March 11th and we won't be back in the office until June at the earliest. My wife is a teacher and she's been doing distance learning with her classes since about that time as well and her school won't be going back for the rest of the school year.