Essential Staff! Covid-19 Be Damned, We Still Have to Work

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

People are starting to test positive at my work which isn’t great to say the least. Fortunately no place I’ve worked at for months since I work at several locations. So far we have had three people that I know of test positive.

[Kalmia]

I work for a company that does many things, mainly motoring related, and the main line of business is as an emergency breakdown and recovery service for vehicles. We're still going and are classed as essential, although we're being moved to working from home as much as possible. There's several hundred working in my office, so the more that can go home the better.

[the2ndevil]

I work in Pharmacy at Walmart.

Yesterday, there was apparently talk of Walmart shutting down for 2 weeks, because people are morons and are not following the stay at home recommendation of the CDC and treating it as a vacation day, putting everyone at risk.

[Bub (BLM)]

Apr 2, 2020 18:02:09 GMT -5 the2ndevil said:

I work in Pharmacy at Walmart.

Yesterday, there was apparently talk of Walmart shutting down for 2 weeks, because people are morons and are not following the stay at home recommendation of the CDC and treating it as a vacation day, putting everyone at risk.

I had to go get a couple more weeks of supplies at Walmart yesterday, and the sheer amount of people just casually poking around was staggering. Tons of kids, too. I understand single parents, but when I see two adults plus kids running around touching everything, I get pissed. If there's a second parent, they should be staying home with the kids.

[the2ndevil]

Apr 2, 2020 18:11:31 GMT -5 Bub (BLM) said:

Apr 2, 2020 18:02:09 GMT -5 the2ndevil said:

I work in Pharmacy at Walmart.

Yesterday, there was apparently talk of Walmart shutting down for 2 weeks, because people are morons and are not following the stay at home recommendation of the CDC and treating it as a vacation day, putting everyone at risk.

I had to go get a couple more weeks of supplies at Walmart yesterday, and the sheer amount of people just casually poking around was staggering. Tons of kids, too. I understand single parents, but when I see two adults plus kids running around touching everything, I get pissed. If there's a second parent, they should be staying home with the kids.

That drove me nuts while working last weekend.

People were in close quarters like it was any other day.

[Dr. T is an alien]

One of my email accounts has been blown up by recruiters looking for temporary workers doing temperature screening at a local pharmaceutical company, so there is that. Granted, I still get fully paid for both of my jobs but I am severely tempted to do this job as I am being paid to stay home. I queried about the PPE that would be provided. I am awaiting their response to know if I want to try to get some cash reserves during this time.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Given the Omicron variant I thought this thread might be worth an unfortunate bump. Particularly because I work in healthcare and am working with more Covid positive cases due to staff shortages.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

I'm presently not particularly happy with my employers. On December 19th I worked with somebody for two hours who tested positive less than 24 hours later, and nobody informed me. I received a notification via the NHS tracking app that I'd had close contact with someone who'd tested positive, and then found out on the morning of the 27th via thirdhand information that it had been my co-worker.

On the 26th I worked an eight hour shift with somebody who tested positive within 36 hours, and again, I didn't find out until this morning, once again from a co-worker and not a member of management who never thought to drop me a heads up to get tested before I came to work.

The new variant has screwed my New Year's plans pretty hard. I was going to spend it with my girlfriend, but she was one of 14 people at her job (out of 17 total staff) to test positive within 72 hours of their final pre-holidays shift. Right now I think I'll just have an early night.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Dec 30, 2021 10:44:37 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

I'm presently not particularly happy with my employers. On December 19th I worked with somebody for two hours who tested positive less than 24 hours later, and nobody informed me. I received a notification via the NHS tracking app that I'd had close contact with someone who'd tested positive, and then found out on the morning of the 27th via thirdhand information that it had been my co-worker.

On the 26th I worked an eight hour shift with somebody who tested positive within 36 hours, and again, I didn't find out until this morning, once again from a co-worker and not a member of management who never thought to drop me a heads up to get tested before I came to work.

The new variant has screwed my New Year's plans pretty hard. I was going to spend it with my girlfriend, but she was one of 14 people at her job (out of 17 total staff) to test positive within 72 hours of their final pre-holidays shift. Right now I think I'll just have an early night.

Yeah, managers of some places are doing some shady stuff to make sure some spots are filled. The less restrictive guidelines aren’t encouraging them against it either.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Dec 30, 2021 10:57:53 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

Yeah, managers of some places are doing some shady stuff to make sure some spots are filled. The less restrictive guidelines aren’t encouraging them against it either.

At my job management have always been pretty tight-lipped when someone has tested positive, and it's really unsettling. As things stand I am one of only a small handful of people there who haven't caught any of the variants, and I'd like to keep it that way, but shit like the last week has made me really mistrustful of just about everybody.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Dec 30, 2021 11:03:32 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

Dec 30, 2021 10:57:53 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

Yeah, managers of some places are doing some shady stuff to make sure some spots are filled. The less restrictive guidelines aren’t encouraging them against it either.

At my job management have always been pretty tight-lipped when someone has tested positive, and it's really unsettling. As things stand I am one of only a small handful of people there who haven't caught any of the variants, and I'd like to keep it that way, but shit like the last week has made me really mistrustful of just about everybody.

When all this started a big chunk of staff bailed and never came back. Then for a while we didn’t get any new people. New people started trickling in when things looked brighter. A lot of them though have very little experience and no experience working with a Covid positive population. In short in addition to staff getting sick I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another exodus.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Dec 30, 2021 11:07:44 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

When all this started a big chunk of staff bailed and never came back. Then for a while we didn’t get any new people. New people started trickling in when things looked brighter. A lot of them though have very little experience and no experience working with a Covid positive population. In short in addition to staff getting sick I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another exodus.

We've been pretty lucky with staffing. Brexit hit us harder, as 90% of our housekeeping staff were Polish and Romanian who have since left the country, and the British replacements generally haven't been as good or reliable, but our front-of-house team has seen very little change since the pandemic began.

That said, I'd not be surprised if we see some people bailing. If people can't feel safe working and don't believe management has their safety at heart the question of whether it's a hob worth staying in has to be asked.

[bob]

I'm a substitute teacher and have been really busy due to a sub shortage in the district I work in, which has been great for me

2 years ago (I opted out last year after covid nearly killed my dad) it was hard for me to find jobs more than 2 or 3 days a week

I've been working 5 days a week regularly and haven't been told I've come in contact with someone who had covid

some teachers I've worked with don't wear masks despite state law saying you have to

the talk of having schools go all online again would make my services no longer needed

[Killah Ray]

ER Nurse speaking….f*** the last two years.


That is all….

[Dr. T is an alien]

Apr 2, 2020 20:01:32 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

One of my email accounts has been blown up by recruiters looking for temporary workers doing temperature screening at a local pharmaceutical company, so there is that. Granted, I still get fully paid for both of my jobs but I am severely tempted to do this job as I am being paid to stay home. I queried about the PPE that would be provided. I am awaiting their response to know if I want to try to get some cash reserves during this time.

Quoting myself because while I didn’t do this, my wife has done it for most of the past two years. On the plus side, we’re one of the select few (outside of the ultra-rich who made out like bank robbers) that were positively affected financially by the pandemic. My primary job switched me over to testing thousands of samples a day for Covid, so my wife and I both work in that particular field now.

Now for the downside: I managed to avoid getting infected for two years despite handling thousands of Covid positive samples and living in a region where a large percentage of the population refused to do any mitigation protocols even when they were mandated. I was cautious, but now I’m walking around my own house with 2 masks on as I wait for results after being exposed to a coworker who tested positive.

Funny thing is that my employer did not want the testing staff to test themselves. They did not want our facility to shut down in the event of a staff outbreak. It was only after we pointed out that we could contaminate the samples if we were positive (which actually happened when one person, the same coworker that tested positive this week, was infected a year ago) that they relented and let us test ourselves as frequently as everyone gets tested.

Anyways, crossing my fingers that I test negative. It would complicate things significantly in any of the rest of us turn out infected.

[Deleted]

I'm a teacher and to say the job has been awful since the pandemic started is an understatement. I teach in a district where we have a woefully unqualified superintendent who has made it public that he doesn't think COVID is 'that bad' and I teach at a school with a principal who is the textbook definition of toxic positivity. Three teachers (that includes me) in the whole school wear masks, none of the kids do. Our superintendent sent out an email to staff/parents at the beginning of the year letting everyone know that quarantining was now 'optional' and 'at your own discretion'. Throw in the normal awful stuff you deal with as a teacher and I am now actively looking for other work. I love teaching and working with the kids, but everything else about being a teacher is completely awful.

[y4j1981]

I work at a construction plant, and we do some work on private & public buildings and a little government buildings. Government buildings made us essential personnel so we did not close during the pandemic. Only one weekend so OSHA could come in and wipe and spray.

We did have a minor covid outbreak where out of bout 300 employees, maybe 20 got it. Me among them. Still did not close. Many weren't happy. The government gave the owner money to give each employee out with Covid 2 weeks pay. He sadly taxed it when giving the checks to those infected. And for the rest who didn't get it, he just pocketed the money.

[Eunös ✈]

I've worked all throughout the Pandemic.

We have had some people at work test Positive.. Somehow I have managed to dodge it so far, Have tested Negative each time.

[GuyOfOwnage]

My store just reduced its hours back to what they were in the pre-vaccine era. And I just got my booster shot a couple of weeks ago in response to Omicron. I won't say much outside of the fact that this would be long since over if we didn't have the tinfoil hat brigade to deal with.

[Limity (BLM)]

Jan 1, 2022 9:35:35 GMT -5 @deerock said:

I'm a teacher and to say the job has been awful since the pandemic started is an understatement. I teach in a district where we have a woefully unqualified superintendent who has made it public that he doesn't think COVID is 'that bad' and I teach at a school with a principal who is the textbook definition of toxic positivity. Three teachers (that includes me) in the whole school wear masks, none of the kids do. Our superintendent sent out an email to staff/parents at the beginning of the year letting everyone know that quarantining was now 'optional' and 'at your own discretion'. Throw in the normal awful stuff you deal with as a teacher and I am now actively looking for other work. I love teaching and working with the kids, but everything else about being a teacher is completely awful.

*hugs*

I think teachers have had it the worst in all this, even moreso than medical staff. While hospitalizations ebb and flow, patients come and go, you teachers have been dealing with this crap nonstop. Shitty kids and shitty parents and shitty politics.

I understand your wanting to get out of teaching, and we as a society are poorer for that loss.