What's your work status now? Back at work? Furloughed? Working from home? Or bugger all?

[May Kasahara]

WFH full time through most of lockdown, with a couple of onsite meetings; our office building opened up again, with restrictions, in mid-June so I have done a few days in since then (one p/w max). I get most of the school holidays off so am currently not at work, but will be back working mostly from home next week or the week after.

Not sure what will happen with the office; I suspect a continuing rota of 1 day p/w, perhaps with slight increases, unless things get locked down again.

But yes, have worked like a fucking lunatic the entire time. Very grateful, very tired.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Been WFH from early March, no plans to go back into the office at all until this whole thing blows over. There's an outside chance the 500+ people that make up the vast majority of our office will get laid off (travel industry), so there might not be an office to go back to for the rest of us. Not particularly bothered either way tbh - quite happy working from home and doing everything over video conference.

 

[MickiQ]

Also found out that a friend's daughter lost her bar job at the start of lockdown and was offered her job back recently but with minimum wage rather than the £11ph she was on before.

Sadly I think there is going to be a great deal of this shit going on

 

[Cloo]

I see the Mail and its ilk are now whipping up resentment against British workers, specifically civil servants, for 'lagging behind' the rest of Europe in going back to the office, presumably because they can expect their 70+ old readership to not get that a lot of people really can do their whole job from home.

 

[William of Walworth]

I see the Mail and its ilk are now whipping up resentment against British workers, specifically civil servants, for 'lagging behind' the rest of Europe in going back to the office, presumably because they can expect their 70+ old readership to not get that a lot of people really can do their whole job from home.

The Mail and other Tory scum papers really hate us Civil Servants. So please forgive this rant!

Did they use the word 'featherbedded'?
Highly disappointing absence of obvious Tory-cliche there, if not!

Joking aside, one of the reasons I was eventually called back in on Tuesday (4th Aug) is that our paperwork backlog had grown to near-mountainous proportions over four months.

No doubt the Mail and its readers will just moan about that and slower service, withut having any insight or understanding as to why.

But now, increasing numbers of us are returning to tackle it.
Still nowhere near full-complement though -- offices like ours have no choice but to appluy strict distancing and therefore keep very many desks empty.

There's talk of renting another building, so I have selfish hopes of moving to one near town/within walking or cycling distance
.
But in reality, the new office will almost certainly be for new staff -- 500 are about to be hired

With our particular Department, I'd been assuming that quite a low percentage of us had been working from home up to now -- senior bosses only, I'd thought.

But in fact, it turns out that a fair few of the (necessarily) empty desks would be filled in normal times by people now WFH -- a significantly larger number than I'd thought.

Also, as the Mail will never publicise, there had been a small but significant number of us coming in throughout.

I know a couple of them. They were there to prioritise stuff to do with emergency workers' enquiries mainly.

Ourselves and a few other CS departments/organisations that I know about are managing as best we can.

The Mail are bound to hate us, partly/largely because a lot of are in PCS and we've been on strike in the past

 

[Pickman's model]

The Mail and other Tory scum papers really hate us Civil Servants. So please forgive this rant!

Did they use the word 'featherbedded'?
Highly disappointing absence of obvious Tory-cliche there, if not!

Joking aside, one of the reasons I was eventually called back in on Tuesday (4th Aug) is that our paperwork backlog had grown to near mountainous proportions over four months.

No doubt the Mail and its reades will just moan about that and slower service, withut having any insight or understanding as to why.

But now, increasing numbers of us are returning to tackle it.
Still nowhere near full-complement though -- offices like ours have no choice but to appluy strict distancing and therefore keep very many desks empty.

There's talk of renting another building, so I have selfish hopes of moving to one near town/within walking or cycling distance
.
But in reality, the new office will almost certainly be for new staff -- 500 are about to be hired

With our particular Department, I'd been assuming that quite a low percentage of us had been working from home up to now -- senior bosses only, I'd thought.

But in fact, it turns out that a fair few of the (necessarily) empty desks would be filled in normal times by people now WFH -- a significantly larger number than I'd thought.

Also, as the Mail will never publicise, there had been a small but significant number of us coming in throughout.

I know a couple of them. They were there to prioritise stuff to do with emergency workers' enquiries mainly.

Ourselves and a few other CS departments/organisations that I know about are managing as best we can.

The Mail just hate us because a lot of are in PCS and we've been on strike in the past

The mail hate you because they're right wing shits who still think there's no such thing as society

 

[William of Walworth]

The mail hate you because they're right wing shits who still think there's no such thing as society

I know, nothing I said contradicts that.
And the fact that we've been on strike as well on (quite rare) occasions, makes them even shittier .......

ETA : Last line of my rant now amended a bit ....

 

[NoXion]

Started working from home in March, but the past couple of weeks they've been having us come in to the office for part of the week. I really don't see the fucking point, it adds risks and my department is most certainly not a customer-facing role. I'd much rather work from home full-time, especially since with the new arrangements in the office (no tea/coffee provided, no microwaves, no cutlery, not allowed to leave the premises), it's a less pleasant place to work.

I've been talking with my supervisor about this situation. At the next opportunity, I'm going to bring up the prospect of schools re-opening and how it will increase the risk for both myself and the rest of the office. I have to take the bus to get into the office, and it seems very unlikely that schools will get their own buses laid on when they re-open.

Really not happy about having to come in and needlessly expose myself to additional risk. What's the fucking point?!

 

[stuff_it]

I'm freelance and just started a part-time role a week or two before lockdown.

 

[quimcunx]

Started working from home in March, but the past couple of weeks they've been having us come in to the office for part of the week. I really don't see the fucking point, it adds risks and my department is most certainly not a customer-facing role. I'd much rather work from home full-time, especially since with the new arrangements in the office (no tea/coffee provided, no microwaves, no cutlery, not allowed to leave the premises), it's a less pleasant place to work.

I've been talking with my supervisor about this situation. At the next opportunity, I'm going to bring up the prospect of schools re-opening and how it will increase the risk for both myself and the rest of the office. I have to take the bus to get into the office, and it seems very unlikely that schools will get their own buses laid on when they re-open.

Really not happy about having to come in and needlessly expose myself to additional risk. What's the fucking point?!

Prevention/avoid/elimination is the best/first step in reducing risk so they should really be justifying the need when you staying home would avoid the risks.

 

[editor]

Financially I'm OK but these long months with almost nothing productive to do have been a strain. I did love my old job

I'm beginning to really struggle to be honest. There's only so many articles and photos I can publish on my own sites, and although it's great that they seem to be appreciated and sometimes making a positive difference, it's not good for the old mental health to be sat home. Everything I do is about interacting with people and providing some sort of entertainment and there's no prospect of any of that returning this year as far as I can see.

This is how my diary reads for the next month:

Pay rent
Funeral
Pay rent

Whoppeeefuckingdo!

 

[Mogden]

editor have you thought about teaching through videos or live links like Zoom? You've got a multitude of skills that you could pass onto others whether that's music related in terms of playing or organising gigs or events, DJing, writing, running an online forum. Might help elevate the wobbly moments.

 

[cupid_stunt]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

 

[Mogden]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

Same thing with Google Maps timeline, plus my Fitbit weekly report pisses me off now. I used to walk the equivalent of a marathon, and then some, a week. Now I'm lucky to have done a couple of miles. I've been busy this week though so it should look a little better next week.

 

[zora]

editor so sorry you are feeling the burn of this prolonged change to your work and social life. And dealing with bereavement at the same time.
Hope it can be a small comfort to you that, as you say, your work for the local and online community is not just a bit, but massively appreciated. I think I am not just speaking for myself when I say that this place has been a massive resource and proper lifeline for me in the past few months.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

The Mail and other Tory scum papers really hate us Civil Servants. So please forgive this rant!

Did they use the word 'featherbedded'?
Highly disappointing absence of obvious Tory-cliche there, if not!

Yeah, but you would say that wouldn’t you, you with your gold-plated pensions?

 

[MickiQ]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

I get them, April, May and June, the pin remained firmly stuck in my house, however in July a second pin has appeared showing the Garden Centre

 

[baldrick]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

Depressingly familiar. Only mine is Birmingham and the park and Lidl 5 mins from my house

 

[William of Walworth]

Yeah, but you would say that wouldn’t you, you with your gold-plated pensions?

In fact, every McCloud has a silver lining

 

[gentlegreen]

Six weeks back at work, benefiting from the exercise getting there and feelings of being useful to my team and to the institution where I've worked for 38 years - mostly preparing laptops for homeworkers - plus a bit of stripping rooms down to half capacity to facilitate social distancing for when people start coming back to work - but it's having the desired effect and once my pension statement arrives, I will hand in my notice - so I should be gone before I have to cycle in the dark.
The job was changing, and CV19 has accelerated that - and I'm effectively working for £20 per day - and at 60, it would take a lot more than £7,000 a year to make a difference to my retirement options - ditto holding out for up to six more years for more pension.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I see the Mail and its ilk are now whipping up resentment against British workers, specifically civil servants, for 'lagging behind' the rest of Europe in going back to the office, presumably because they can expect their 70+ old readership to not get that a lot of people really can do their whole job from home.

I'm afraid I can't help but harshly judge anyone I see buying or reading that scum paper when I'm out and about. They're either thick as shit or a raving bigot. A useful metric to judge who not to sit next to on a train.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

Jet set lifestyle indeed - more adventurous than mine. Mine has involved - Coop (30 seconds away) and occassionally town for the big marks. Furthest I've been is about 10 miles for a medical appointment.

 

[marty21]

editor, I know what you mean, I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

They logged my 'highlights' in July as:

1 - 'Cities' visited - Worthing (home), Lancing (< I had to pick something up, to deliver to>), Shoreham.

2 - Places visited - Tesco Extra, Tesco Express, and the Co-op.

Furthest I've travelled since Mid March is Epping Forest, which is about 10 miles away. most of my time has been spent in Hackney , with occasional trips over the border to Waltham Forest or Harringey.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Furthest I've been is about 10 miles for a medical appointment.

Furthest I've travelled since Mid March is Epping Forest, which is about 10 miles away

Luxury!

Worthing to Shoreham is only 7 miles.

 

[Roadkill]

Jet set lifestyle indeed - more adventurous than mine. Mine has involved - Coop (30 seconds away) and occassionally town for the big marks. Furthest I've been is about 10 miles for a medical appointment.

Furthest I've been is about three miles into town, and I've only done that once!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Furthest I've been is about three miles into town, and I've only done that once!

Worthing to Shoreham is only 7 miles.

If it wasn't for the appointment my maximum distance would have been 2.5 miles. I've let myself down.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Yeah, but you would say that wouldn’t you, you with your gold-plated pensions?

My 'gold-plated' pension for fifteen years service is £115.00 a month.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

My 'gold-plated' pension for fifteen years service is £115.00 a month.

Yeah, got my statement recently. Its fair to say I'm worth a lot, lot more dead than I am alive.

Time to start thinking about that Transatlantic canoeing trip Mrs [62] and I have always talked about...

 

[Sue]

Furthest I've travelled since Mid March is Epping Forest, which is about 10 miles away. most of my time has been spent in Hackney , with occasional trips over the border to Waltham Forest or Harringey.

Me too though Islington rather than Waltham Forest and I've also ventured into Tower Hamlets and Newham.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

They're either thick as shit or a raving bigot

or both

I got one of those 'google maps timeline' e-mails the other day.

hmm

i don't think i'm trackable, but thinking about it, since mid march, i've been either at home or at work on in one of a few shops either between the two or a couple of miles beyond

blargh