How has the pandemic affected you?

SacredWarrior

SacredWarrior

Umbra Witch
Consider this a support thread of sorts for people whose lives have been affected by something completely unprecedented that we never saw coming. We may not all be in this together but we can at least let out our worries and grievances here :)

As for me, I'm considered an essential worker (I work at an ice cream factory for a huge corporation that I won't name) so I still have a job thankfully. My department got put on 12 hours starting yesterday due to the increased demand for production and man am I TIRED! No matter how much sleep I get, I'm still exhausted! I work from 5:30 pm to 6:00 am and the way 12 hours works at my job is that there are 4 shifts (A, B, C, and D. I'm B) and one week I'll be off on Wednesday and Thursday while the next week, I'll only be working on Wednesday and Thursday. It's 2-2-3 basically. Sadly the downsides to this is that I'll have less personal and vacation days and that I'll get less holiday pay :(

Sorry for my rambling but I'm definitely feeling burned out. I hate ice cream!
 
The pandemic has made it impossible for me to see my partner, atleast untill next year June. I’m also a essential worker and the hours are okay but the pay is meh.

life currently is not the way we knew it, but it iswhat we need to adapt to.
 
This pandemic has made me a full-time stay at home mom! I love my kids but before I was a manager at a restaurant, I got laid off because of the pandemic. (mostly because I have to watch my kids and since they're young they get sick easily and have tons of doctors apts) So now I've just been at home, everyone in my house also got laid off so were just working out the kind with our landlords and stuff. But, the bright side is I get a lot more time with my kids!!
 
It's made things a bit more difficult for me. I'm an ambivert, and at first I was excited to be away from school, but once one week turned into three and that turned into the whole school year, well... my whole family's going stir crazy. It doesn't help that my phone got destroyed so now that makes it difficult to keep in touch with friends who have been supporting me through this.
To be honest though, the pandemic is the reason I'm on this site. I'm so bored and I need something to do lol
 
I'm an NHS worker- not frontline or patient facing but still, I've been working 50 hour weeks since March. I'm exhausted and burned out.

Seeing the photos of crowded beaches this week has made me want to cry, I don't know if I can do this again through a second spike.
 
HisMarcMaterials said:
I'm an NHS worker- not frontline or patient facing but still, I've been working 50 hour weeks since March. I'm exhausted and burned out.

Seeing the photos of crowded beaches this week has made me want to cry, I don't know if I can do this again through a second spike.
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And let me guess. They're taking away everyone's vacation time (assuming you even get any) so no one can take time off
 
SacredWarrior said:
And let me guess. They're taking away everyone's vacation time (assuming you even get any) so no one can take time off
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They haven't taken away anyone's holiday time- so we theoretically still have it all to use. But no one's actually able to take any time off for the foreseeable. Will be interesting to see what happens later in the year, when everyone's trying to use a full year's worth of holiday time (since we can't carry it over), but they still have to keep the place staffed. Plus all the Flexi time we're racking up, since we don't get paid overtime- even before this no one ever actually managed to use all of the hours we rack up.
 
HisMarcMaterials said:
They haven't taken away anyone's holiday time- so we theoretically still have it all to use. But no one's actually able to take any time off for the foreseeable. Will be interesting to see what happens later in the year, when everyone's trying to use a full year's worth of holiday time (since we can't carry it over), but they still have to keep the place staffed. Plus all the Flexi time we're racking up, since we don't get paid overtime- even before this no one ever actually managed to use all of the hours we rack up.
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I sense some Malicious Compliance here ;) Also they shouldn't be allowed to do that. If they wanna keep the place staffed, they need to hire more people and increase the damn pay. That's what I'd say. Wait you guys don't get overtime? OH HELL NO! :mad: Is the NHS that damn cheap?!
 
SacredWarrior said:
I sense some Malicious Compliance here ;) Also they shouldn't be allowed to do that. If they wanna keep the place staffed, they need to hire more people and increase the damn pay. That's what I'd say. Wait you guys don't get overtime? OH HELL NO! :mad: Is the NHS that damn cheap?!
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I don't want to paint the wrong picture- my manager's been great through all of it, and is generally great at making sure people get their time off and reorganising workloads in a fair way. These are just the measures of an emergency service reacting to deal with a global pandemic. At the end of the day I'm there to provide a service.

But the NHS has been creaking due to deliberate underfunding for a long, long time. The money isn't there to hire new staff or pay overtime in back-office services, because its more needed in the teams that actually treat patients- that's what we're all there for, after all.

At a much higher management level, there absolutely is something Machiavellian going on- they know the NHS attracts workers who particularly believe in public service and are more interested in helping people than making money, and so they know that they can get away with underpaying people or relying on people working unpaid hours. The NHS has run largely on employee goodwill since long before I worked there, and to an extent always will. It's just a lot harder on the ground to cope with right now than normal.

On the whole I like my job, and I don't want to paint a depressing picture. I'm just struggling right now.
 
HisMarcMaterials said:
I don't want to paint the wrong picture- my manager's been great through all of it, and is generally great at making sure people get their time off and reorganising workloads in a fair way. These are just the measures of an emergency service reacting to deal with a global pandemic. At the end of the day I'm there to provide a service.

But the NHS has been creaking due to deliberate underfunding for a long, long time. The money isn't there to hire new staff or pay overtime in back-office services, because its more needed in the teams that actually treat patients- that's what we're all there for, after all.

At a much higher management level, there absolutely is something Machiavellian going on- they know the NHS attracts workers who particularly believe in public service and are more interested in helping people than making money, and so they know that they can get away with underpaying people or relying on people working unpaid hours. The NHS has run largely on employee goodwill since long before I worked there, and to an extent always will. It's just a lot harder on the ground to cope with right now than normal.

On the whole I like my job, and I don't want to paint a depressing picture. I'm just struggling right now.
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I'm all for helping people but I damn sure am NOT working for free nor am I being underpaid. There's being selfless and there's being stupid. At the end of the day, everyone has bills to pay and mouths to feed so yes medical staff should be paid lots of money and be given great benefits. This is why I'll never work for a government service. Give me private any day of the week.

I hope you get out of your struggle :( But it's good to know that you have a great manager. They are VERY hard to come by these days.
 
Totally a fair position to have. Work should pay.

My job is in a service that supports other employees rather than patients, and is a job that exists in the private sector just as frequently as in the public sector- I could 100% find the same job in an easier environment for 2-3k more per year. But I find it a lot more fulfilling to know that my boring-ass job is being done to support nurses and healthcare workers for a public good rather than for some carpetbagging shareholders who couldn't care less about me. (Not casting judgements on your or anyone else's employment preferences, all of your above reasoning is completely valid- just stating what I like about my job).

Thanks for the kind thoughts, it's why I'm here- I desperately need some escapism and all of my regular hobbies are either closed for quarantine or can't fit around my current schedule!
 
HisMarcMaterials said:
Totally a fair position to have. Work should pay.

My job is in a service that supports other employees rather than patients, and is a job that exists in the private sector just as frequently as in the public sector- I could 100% find the same job in an easier environment for 2-3k more per year. But I find it a lot more fulfilling to know that my boring-ass job is being done to support nurses and healthcare workers for a public good rather than for some carpetbagging shareholders who couldn't care less about me. (Not casting judgements on your or anyone else's employment preferences, all of your above reasoning is completely valid- just stating what I like about my job).

Thanks for the kind thoughts, it's why I'm here- I desperately need some escapism and all of my regular hobbies are either closed for quarantine or can't fit around my current schedule!
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You can't do any of your hobbies online? :(

How do you not fall asleep at work? If it's so boring that is LOL!
 
SacredWarrior said:
You can't do any of your hobbies online? :(

How do you not fall asleep at work? If it's so boring that is LOL!
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Haha! Between caffeine and being busy I manage to stay awake. I'm out like a light when I get home though.

I used to spend a lot of time at the British museum- closed, and an irresponsible train ride away.
I was learning to read heiroglyphs from an online lecture series, but I don't have the mental energy for it and I don't have the time to keep up with the homework assignments.
I read a lot, but mostly on my commute- and I've been coming out of work so drained that I just can't focus.
I play d&d- but my current hours make it too difficult to organise a session that works for the rest of the group, and I don't really like playing online.

I used to forum roleplay years ago, it was my gateway to d&d, and it's much easier to fit around everything else that's going on, so I found this place!
 
HisMarcMaterials said:
Haha! Between caffeine and being busy I manage to stay awake. I'm out like a light when I get home though.

I used to spend a lot of time at the British museum- closed, and an irresponsible train ride away.
I was learning to read heiroglyphs from an online lecture series, but I don't have the mental energy for it and I don't have the time to keep up with the homework assignments.
I read a lot, but mostly on my commute- and I've been coming out of work so drained that I just can't focus.
I play d&d- but my current hours make it too difficult to organise a session that works for the rest of the group, and I don't really like playing online.

I used to forum roleplay years ago, it was my gateway to d&d, and it's much easier to fit around everything else that's going on, so I found this place!
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UGH I SO RELATE TO THE SLEEP AND CAFFEINE THING! Especially since I work 12 hour nights -_- I really don't wanna resort to using caffeine again to stay awake but I might have to. I already take iron pills due to me being anemic and I'm starting to take B12 vitamins too. I'm like a damn pharmacy!

Those hobbies are pretty cool :) I'm a gamer so I generally just do that on my days off when I'm not writing or reading. Or watching anime or movies (I have a pretty big DVD collection).
 
Oof, night shifts are rough at the best of times!

This is definitely a time that calls for some movie and gaming marathons.

What games have you been playing? I bought a switch back in November- my first console since I was a kid. I've been playing loads of stardew valley to try and relax myself.
 
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HisMarcMaterials said:
Off, night shifts are rough at the best of times!

This is definitely a time that calls for some movie and gaming marathons.

What games have you been playing? I bought a switch back in November- my first console since I was a kid. I've been playing loads of stardew valley to try and relax myself.
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Sadly my job doesn't really have much downtime (unless something crazy goes wrong) so I'm just packing ice cream on the line all day LOL! I never wanna see another Klondike bar ever again!

I've been playing Project DIVA Mega Mix, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Smash Bros Ultimate :)
 
SacredWarrior said:
Sadly my job doesn't really have much downtime (unless something crazy goes wrong) so I'm just packing ice cream on the line all day LOL! I never wanna see another Klondike bar ever again!

I've been playing Project DIVA Mega Mix, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Smash Bros Ultimate :)
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I've never been good enough at video games for competitive games like smash, hope you're having fun though!
 
I can't shop without severe crowding, competition, or adjustments to my work schedule. I have to shop 3 times as often to get half as much, and compensate for the 'being up from the hours of 7 am to 2pm looking for basic commodities' and still working nights.
These stores need their old hours back.
I get it, you need someone to guard the self check outs so they don't run off with two gross of toilet paper, and to pretend to clean surfaces for closed parts of your store, or close 30 minutes earlier than you claim to close so your employees get an extra break.
Maybe not cramming everyone shopping into the same 13 hour period would combat this supposed threat more effectively, though?
 
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