Football Day, Purdue Day, Friday Eve

charlotte989875 · September 2020

Happy Thursday Friends!

Not much here; baby, healing, trying to get him to nap.

But it’s finally football season again! Sure it’ll be a lot different this year, but at least 2020 hasn’t taken that away from us (yet).

MyNameIsNot · September 2020

Nothing much here. Took the dog for a walk this morning; humidity is back. I didn't go as early as I should have, so didn't have time to shower before work and now sitting here feeling gross. Fall can't get here fast enough.

I'm having a friend over for a socially distant glass of wine on the back porch this afternoon. I'm pretty excited about it; we're in book club together and have met virtually, but I haven't seen her IRL since February. Will probably fix dinner and try to catch some football tonight after that. I don't even know who's playing.

short+sassy · September 2020

@charlotte989875, I hope your healing goes well. I didn't even realize the football season started tonight, lol. I also saw there are two games this Monday night.

I need to get outta here at lunch. I'll have to see how that goes. I am feeling so crappy and uncomfortable. I've been missing out on sleep this whole week and last night was my worst night yet. I am especially hating clothes and shoes right now, lol. I have had a heat rash on the inside of my left elbow for a few weeks. I don't have that many short sleeved tops that are appropriate for work, so wearing long sleeved tops keep aggravating it. I need to go shopping on Amazon to find some better tops. I'm feeling itchy. My feet are swollen.

Why can't I WFH? I want the client I work for to adopt me, lol. They've been letting their employees WFH this whole time and I don't think they're planning to have anyone come back anytime soon.

Sorry I'm so grouchy and whiny today! Other than that, things are fine. Not much else going on.

short+sassy · September 2020

MyNameIsNot said:

Nothing much here. Took the dog for a walk this morning; humidity is back. I didn't go as early as I should have, so didn't have time to shower before work and now sitting here feeling gross. Fall can't get here fast enough.

I'm having a friend over for a socially distant glass of wine on the back porch this afternoon. I'm pretty excited about it; we're in book club together and have met virtually, but I haven't seen her IRL since February. Will probably fix dinner and try to catch some football tonight after that. I don't even know who's playing.

Texans vs. Chiefs

MyNameIsNot · September 2020

@short+sassy Could you be allergic to something? That's how H was when we figured out he was allergic to penicillin.

charlotte989875 · September 2020

short+sassy said:

@charlotte989875, I hope your healing goes well. I didn't even realize the football season started tonight, lol. I also saw there are two games this Monday night.

I need to get outta here at lunch. I'll have to see how that goes. I am feeling so crappy and uncomfortable. I've been missing out on sleep this whole week and last night was my worst night yet. I am especially hating clothes and shoes right now, lol. I have had a heat rash on the inside of my left elbow for a few weeks. I don't have that many short sleeved tops that are appropriate for work, so wearing long sleeved tops keep aggravating it. I need to go shopping on Amazon to find some better tops. I'm feeling itchy. My feet are swollen.

Why can't I WFH? I want the client I work for to adopt me, lol. They've been letting their employees WFH this whole time and I don't think they're planning to have anyone come back anytime soon.

Sorry I'm so grouchy and whiny today! Other than that, things are fine. Not much else going on.

I seriously don’t understand how everyone who can WFH isn’t still WFH. I get if you need to be in person but if you don’t why expose your employees? My company is WFH until the end of the year. A friend of mine at Google is home until at least then but probably even longer. H is still WFH too. I’d be so frustrated if my company could, but didn’t, have us WFH.

kvruns · September 2020

WFH - I always wonder how my old job would have handled it (it went bankrupt so no longer around anyway). We weren't allowed to WFH in any circumstance even though our jobs could have been done from home and we didn't have clients to see, they were just old school. I've always wondered if they would have let people work from home or if they would have still forced people to come in.

cupcait927 · September 2020

@short+sassy my company is only letting us WFH two days a week - Wednesday and Friday. Which isn't terrible but there is no reason we need to be in the office really at all. H has been working strictly from home since he went back to work after baby leave, and they have no plans to bring anyone back into the office that can WFH anytime soon. He goes in once a week for a few hours to check his mail and do some scanning but that's it.

Back at work today after having the last 5 days off. It was wonderful and went by way too quickly. We saw family, took the baby on her first hike, took her for her first swim in the lake and just enjoyed every second of being with her. Of course now she's going through some separation anxiety and cried real tears for the first time when I left her this morning with the sitter. Broke my heart. She's usually fine but just really wanted her momma this morning.

Now I have a day full of meetings when really I need to be getting caught up with the last two days I was out.

MissKittyDanger · September 2020

@charlotte989875 how was labour and how is healing going?

I have zero motivation. It's been grey and rainy past 2 days

I'm tired too ....

That is all.

kerbohl · September 2020

I get to WFH permanently regardless, but other departments at my company still need to physically be in the office. If they could, I truly believe my company would just let everyone work from home. They are great when it comes to looking after their employees.

SSDD here. I did my online exercise class last night, and it seemed to go okay, except for the fact it was at the time that I usually take my dog for her night time walk. So she was really, really in my face. Sort of hard to cuddle with me when I'm moving around, but she just keeps trying.

MyNameIsNot · September 2020

charlotte989875 said:

short+sassy said:

@charlotte989875, I hope your healing goes well. I didn't even realize the football season started tonight, lol. I also saw there are two games this Monday night.

I need to get outta here at lunch. I'll have to see how that goes. I am feeling so crappy and uncomfortable. I've been missing out on sleep this whole week and last night was my worst night yet. I am especially hating clothes and shoes right now, lol. I have had a heat rash on the inside of my left elbow for a few weeks. I don't have that many short sleeved tops that are appropriate for work, so wearing long sleeved tops keep aggravating it. I need to go shopping on Amazon to find some better tops. I'm feeling itchy. My feet are swollen.

Why can't I WFH? I want the client I work for to adopt me, lol. They've been letting their employees WFH this whole time and I don't think they're planning to have anyone come back anytime soon.

Sorry I'm so grouchy and whiny today! Other than that, things are fine. Not much else going on.

I seriously don’t understand how everyone who can WFH isn’t still WFH. I get if you need to be in person but if you don’t why expose your employees? My company is WFH until the end of the year. A friend of mine at Google is home until at least then but probably even longer. H is still WFH too. I’d be so frustrated if my company could, but didn’t, have us WFH.

Agree 100%. I'm officially WFH until January, but we're hearing there is basically no chance they'll be bringing us back then. Maybe March. Not only am I WFH, but I'm not even allowed on campus. I parked at work back in June for a march and had to get director level approval to even be allowed in the decks. I think that's the right decision. There is so much liability for potential exposure to bring us in when we can effectively work just fine from where we are.

My mom and H work for the same company and they are in the same boat. My mom is planning to retire some time in fall 2021, and we're already joking that she's going to retire from home.

short+sassy · September 2020

kvruns said:

WFH - I always wonder how my old job would have handled it (it went bankrupt so no longer around anyway). We weren't allowed to WFH in any circumstance even though our jobs could have been done from home and we didn't have clients to see, they were just old school. I've always wondered if they would have let people work from home or if they would have still forced people to come in.

Bingo! That is exactly the company I work for.

They originally weren't going to let us WFH at all. They changed their mind at the last minute. As in about 4 days before NOLA issued the Stay At Home order. Then we needed to be back in the office, as soon as it was lifted. I think they changed their mind about WFH because of pressure from employees and also the client I work for. About half the employees at the NOLA office work for this client. They didn't mind their contractors also WFH and even encouraged it.

The company I work for loved to remind us that they were "essential services" (eyeroll). Okay, whatever. That is technically true. But it undermines the spirit. They're an engineering firm so they aren't open to the public for essentials, like a grocery store or pharmacy. Plus, the work can be done from home.

But now we are back to no one can WFH, even for one day. There are only two exceptions. 1) An employee has COVID or has been contact-traced that they were exposed. 2) The office is closed due to weather.

short+sassy · September 2020

MyNameIsNot said:

@short+sassy Could you be allergic to something? That's how H was when we figured out he was allergic to penicillin.

I suppose it could be. Though I haven't had any allergies in the past. I did take some OTC allergy medication because, even if it isn't an allergic reaction, it can help the symptoms. But I took the pills about one hour ago and haven't felt any difference.

banana468 · September 2020

It's really surprising to me that companies refusing to embrace WFH are not seeing analysts approach them with productivity results. More and more companies with employees who are WFH all or the majority of the time are seeing that the productivity of their employees INCREASED when they did this. And long term, by doing this they reduce the overhead costs.

I've been WFH for nearly 6 years. The company is in manufacturing so we can't move any of the production employees home but those in the offices don't need to be there every day. That can increase flexibility, productivity and it's a fantastic way to mitigate risk.

CharmedPam · September 2020

I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually liked going back to work. We were WFH from March 13-July 6th. We practice social distancing/mask wearing/ no shared things etc. it’s going well for us. BUT we only have 5 people in our office now.

mrsconn23 · September 2020

My little sis had her gall bladder out today. It went well and she's heading home. She was so anxious last night. I'm so glad it's over for her.

We're firming up our plans for next month. I got our airfare booked this morning. I'm reservedly excited since it's 2020 and I'm not positive this will actually happen because...2020.

Pretty much everyone who wants to WFH can still, but they are reopening the office a little bit at a time. There's very few jobs that require people to be IN the office.

Looking over Prudie.

levioosa · September 2020

I can’t WFH but FI can and it’s so frustrating that his company is making him come in....for jobs that should be wfh by the very nature of the company. But they’re obsessed with micromanaging and they want him to helicopter over the employees so that’s not happening.

I feel like I’m living in an apocalyptic wasteland and it’s making me so angry. Everything is covered in ash, the sky is orange, just filling up my car with gas and now I have ash all over me. I don’t even know what’s happening with our trip. I’m frustrated and sad.

short+sassy · September 2020

CharmedPam said:

I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually liked going back to work. We were WFH from March 13-July 6th. We practice social distancing/mask wearing/ no shared things etc. it’s going well for us. BUT we only have 5 people in our office now.

I can understand that. There are pros and cons to both, though I prefer WFH overall. I could see a hybrid like @cupcait927 has as being ideal. I work a lot with a client employee who normally works in our offices. WFH for so long is driving him nuts. He's also talked about he wished he could have a hybrid schedule.

But, like @MyNameIsNot mentioned with her employer, his employer isn't even allowing people to go back to their offices unless it is an emergency.

kvruns · September 2020

CharmedPam said:

I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually liked going back to work. We were WFH from March 13-July 6th. We practice social distancing/mask wearing/ no shared things etc. it’s going well for us. BUT we only have 5 people in our office now.

we are allowing people to go in if they want now. 3 people go in most days and then others occasionally for a meeting or short reason. I was in yesterday for a few hours to pick things up and worked a bit. It was nice to be back a bit for my real desk and stand up desk but I still like being lazy at home

MyNameIsNot · September 2020

banana468 said:

It's really surprising to me that companies refusing to embrace WFH are not seeing analysts approach them with productivity results. More and more companies with employees who are WFH all or the majority of the time are seeing that the productivity of their employees INCREASED when they did this. And long term, by doing this they reduce the overhead costs.

I've been WFH for nearly 6 years. The company is in manufacturing so we can't move any of the production employees home but those in the offices don't need to be there every day. That can increase flexibility, productivity and it's a fantastic way to mitigate risk.

I've heard this too. I think the liability risk and public appearance are big factors in companies staying remote, but I think productivity factors in too.

The real estate component is interesting. A lot of companies rent their space or rent a portion of it. Commercial leases are usually long term, but seeing productivity increase, overhead decrease and employee satisfaction improve, it's going to be interesting to see how many companies stay WFH or hybrid long term. So then I wonder if the value of in-town commercial real estate will decline with decreased demand for corporate rentals.

short+sassy · September 2020

MyNameIsNot said:

banana468 said:

It's really surprising to me that companies refusing to embrace WFH are not seeing analysts approach them with productivity results. More and more companies with employees who are WFH all or the majority of the time are seeing that the productivity of their employees INCREASED when they did this. And long term, by doing this they reduce the overhead costs.

I've been WFH for nearly 6 years. The company is in manufacturing so we can't move any of the production employees home but those in the offices don't need to be there every day. That can increase flexibility, productivity and it's a fantastic way to mitigate risk.

I've heard this too. I think the liability risk and public appearance are big factors in companies staying remote, but I think productivity factors in too.

The real estate component is interesting. A lot of companies rent their space or rent a portion of it. Commercial leases are usually long term, but seeing productivity increase, overhead decrease and employee satisfaction improve, it's going to be interesting to see how many companies stay WFH or hybrid long term. So then I wonder if the value of in-town commercial real estate will decline with decreased demand for corporate rentals.

I absolutely think this is going to happen. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd say, "I'm so glad I don't own an office building," but here I am saying that! Commercial real estate, including office buildings, are usually money-making machines with little overhead or maintenance. In commercial real estate, the owner is only responsible for structural things. The business tenants are responsible for all the rest of their maintenance.

This is not an industry that is going to be coming back to pre-pandemic levels for many years. Maybe not ever.

CharmedPam · September 2020

Me, in 30 years: “back in my day... people used to go to another building to work. Craziness!”

kvruns · September 2020

CharmedPam said:

Me, in 30 years: “back in my day... people used to go to another building to work. Craziness!”

LOL

kvruns · September 2020

MyNameIsNot said:

banana468 said:

It's really surprising to me that companies refusing to embrace WFH are not seeing analysts approach them with productivity results. More and more companies with employees who are WFH all or the majority of the time are seeing that the productivity of their employees INCREASED when they did this. And long term, by doing this they reduce the overhead costs.

I've been WFH for nearly 6 years. The company is in manufacturing so we can't move any of the production employees home but those in the offices don't need to be there every day. That can increase flexibility, productivity and it's a fantastic way to mitigate risk.

I've heard this too. I think the liability risk and public appearance are big factors in companies staying remote, but I think productivity factors in too.

The real estate component is interesting. A lot of companies rent their space or rent a portion of it. Commercial leases are usually long term, but seeing productivity increase, overhead decrease and employee satisfaction improve, it's going to be interesting to see how many companies stay WFH or hybrid long term. So then I wonder if the value of in-town commercial real estate will decline with decreased demand for corporate rentals.

We have our main office in the suburbs and then had a small office downtown in a prime real estate area. Just let that lease expire a month or so ago bc it wasn't worth the $ with no one using it and lots of offices downtown empty so we wouldn't have people utilizing that space to visit clients.

VarunaTT · September 2020

Add my name to the "annoyed we can't WFH" list. 90% of my job can absolutely be done from home, the other 10% could be done through a rotating shift to match up necessary paralegals/attorneys. It'd just be a matter of figuring some things out. There are definitely some people who wouldn't be able to b/c of internet issues (small MO towns), but they could be here and their risk level would be minimalized as much as possible with those of us who could WFH doing so. It just ends up feeling like your bosses don't trust you. My small sliver of hope is that if this training position is implemented the way it's being discussed, an audit system will be being developed. That audit system could show when people are/aren't working and then WFH isn't about "we can't babysit you to make sure you're working."

Otherwise, SSDD. Came into work early and getting ready to work through most of lunch. Can it be tomorrow yet?

OliveOilsMom · September 2020

S+S - Maybe try switching deodorants too. I suddenly got a rash under my arm pit and I had to switch to a gel based deodorant. It cleared up and have been fine since.

The majority of my law firm is WFH. We have our document production group and office services going in, but with no one else there - you can really spread out everyone. They also added in safety precautions of one way stairwells, temp checks, etc. You also basically need to provide your left arm, if you want to reserve a conference room.

My dinner last night was great! One of the ladies didn't come. She has been flaking out more lately each time we get together and blaming her BF each time. So I don't know what's up with her. But we had a great time sitting and chatting outside. We had a tiny bit of drizzle, during dinner, but it stopped. It did start raining, but it was getting dark out and winding down anyway.

I have yoga tonight. I also need to finish up our tomato sauce so that I can get it canned tomorrow. We will be going down the shore for Friday night so we can hit up our favorite ice cream place before it closes for the winter. It seems like a lot of places are throwing in the towel early, I can't blame them though.

kvruns · September 2020

I just need to vent -- we get paid today so I checked my paycheck and still no pay increase from my promotion so I sent our HR guy a note.

Didn't hear anything back from the HR guy yet but just talked to my boss about a work matter and she's like oh btw don't you remember that when we talked about COLA raises for 7/1 there was no money for other stuff since things are tight with covid/client attrition/etc. I said yea but my promotion was 6 weeks later so I didn't know they were connected. She said it isn't, because I got my 7/1 COLA no matter what, but basically that bc of those cut backs there is no extra $ for promotions. Which means it is just a title change. A title change they could have given me 3 years ago when I first started pursuing a promotion bc if you're not giving me more $ then what's the point. She even had to create an updated job description showing updated responsibilities to justify the "promotion". Which makes no sense if you're not giving me a raise.

Of course I was just mad and felt like I was going to cry so I didn't really say anything bc I probably would have just started crying in frustration. I'm not one to cry and definitely not going to do it in a work situation so I clammed up instead. She's like I'm sure you're disappointed but remember lots of companies are doing no raises/COLA and some of us even took pay cuts like me (she had a cut bc her role has changed and she was basically demoted from C suite to SVP).
I 100% feel lucky that we did even the COLA raise for our new fiscal year, and I know many companies aren't doing anything, reducing pay, or laying people off. But that was for my regular "old" job, I would have received that even if they didn't do a promotion at all. Don't try to make it sound like some big deal for this "promotion" and even announce it at our quarterly company meeting when all that changed is my title. Could have changed my title 3 years ago if it didn't involve any $ change.

kerbohl · September 2020

Wow, @kvruns, that sucks! What does this mean going forward? Is there at least a future change coming that is in your favour? Or just more work for little reward?

kvruns · September 2020

kerbohl said:

Wow, @kvruns, that sucks! What does this mean going forward? Is there at least a future change coming that is in your favour? Or just more work for little reward?

I don't know for sure, but basically I think it was just to placate me with a promotion I've been promised for a few years. The work doesn't really change bc I've been doing it for years they just kept refusing to give a promotion that I deserved (since I do everything + more of the person who previously had this job and the title I wanted).

My boss did say she's working on a bonus structure for me based on my work but that is a bit of BS bc I do work in a niche area and we only gain new clients in my area if our salespeople upsell so I have to rely on others to grow the service set. And if I ever lose someone it is because they are leaving the firm, not because of anything I am doing/not doing. Just not sure how it would work since I have no control over gaining/losing clients in this service area, I just do the work to hopefully keep them happy.

mrsconn23 · September 2020

That's bullshit @kvruns.

short+sassy · September 2020

I'm sorry, @kvruns! I've been there myself and it really sucks. More experience and more responsibility SHOULD be a pay raise.

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