Zonked

I've been waiting to sit down and read through this entire thing. It's everything I hoped and wished for. By the pics and videos, it looks like it was an excellent day!

My parents are getting their first shot today which I'm thrilled about. I'm getting my second next Friday. It seems vaccine/appt information in the city has gotten much better and it isn't as confusing. The FEMA convention center spot is running like a well oiled machine. I'm hoping things continue on this path so we don't need to push our wedding. We took a big chance picking a wedding date in 2021 but I think we will be fine. We just need indoor catered events to resume by August

I know when I'm tagged in something it has to do with a buddy pass haha I guess I should make plans asap to come to Blue if I want to ski this season

I'll make it one weekend.. It's been a while since I've skied with you guys. I probably still can't keep up with any of you haha

also I should add that I am not saying no one got covid by attending. I'm also not saying getting together in huge groups is a great idea during this all but Trump had rallies all year. What's the difference? Not saying either is right or wrong. People will do what they want in the US because we can. Most people will never change their mind on what went right or wrong this year so how about we just all say we agree to disagree and just try to make it out of 2020 alive and move on?

I was personally at these peaceful protests in Philadelphia and I can promise you MAJORITY of people (I saw as I wondered through center city) had masks on. Again, I was not every single spot in Philly so yes media or social media coverage could have shown different. Plus anyone wo spits into each others faces is gross. pandemic or not, that's gross.

To me, it's really not a big deal in the City. My life since March has basically been these exact guidelines. If you've been a half decent human who cares about friends, family, strangers, grandparents, the US, the world, these new guidelines starting Friday really don't make a huge impact.

In the long run - who knows. I feel like healthcare costs are always in the fast lane. I handle the benefits for our company and BCBS notified us that they will be issuing a one-time medical premium relief credit for the month of December. We will not withhold medical insurance payroll deductions for any of our US employees in December. Which is nice for alot of our lower paid employees with families. That could be a few hundred back in their pockets. Even looking at our stats/claims over the past few months, its so odd compared to a normal year. We are just hoping it doesn't backfire when we go to renew and they want some crazy % increase.

I voted by mail because I wanted to. I absolutely was not afraid. All my closest friends who voted by mail also were not afraid. It was an OPTION that was provided. If the only option was voting in person...well that's what I would have done. But when you give options, people are allowed to decide what works best for them.

we already made new plans for Thanksgiving - I refused to visit with 3 different families in 1 day. It's actually a nice excuse because usually we spend the day just driving between houses/families and its not very enjoyable. We also started talking about Christmas plans. Both my parents are high risk so I made it very clear I was not comfortable seeing a bunch of people for both holidays.

I don't like to talk about politics. I'm really just talking about humans in general.

I joined a few protests with friends in Philly and we all wore masks and we didn't loot. Our country (and world) need more kindness and decency but some people are just ignorant down to their core. Back to ski chat.

The cities are laid out completely different. Downtown/center city Pittsburgh is mainly just businesses and some restaurants whereas center city philly is bustling. To go out and drink and explore nightlife in Pitt you have to take a stroll to surrounding areas. The stadiums are close to downtown so it makes for a great view. I have a lot of friends who stayed “out west” after college so I visit quite often. I don’t love Pittsburgh but I’m happy to go visit once in a while.

Yeah kinda, we are trying to understand how it will work IF any employees are interested

We just got the official work from our parent company that we will not be going back to the office for the foreseeable future. Which is what we expected. With schools being virtual we didn't want the pressure of some people working at the office while others had to stay home with kids. I still go in about once a week to stay on top of personnel files and some payroll items which is nice to get out of the house especially. I made it this long without a desk but I think its time to invest in one.. In other news, I got my hair done yesterday for the first time since February. I feel like a new person!

Oh really? Had no idea - I'm so out of the loop on school/education information. I'm sure in class will shut down pretty quickly. IEveryone in UCFSD has means to do virtual learning. Many of the kids probably have the nicest laptop on the market.

Thanks! I still go into work about once a month right now for payroll purposes. Only essential employees have been allowed to go in at all. So really its been only 4-5 employees in randomly over the past 4 months so I felt safe. We will see going forward

It will be interesting to see what happens with my offices reopening the office plans. As of now, we are still planning to open July 13th with some strict guidelines in place but with numbers on the rise again I don't see many people coming back to work. In fact, I do worry a bit since I have been on contact with my family. My parents are in their 60's and my mom has health issues and depends heavily on my Dad so I don't want either of them to get sick. I will probably limit my time at the office. Also, for those who I am not facebook friends with - I got engaged last week! my boyfriend (fiance..? weird) had big plans for the proposal and he kept waiting for things to get somewhat normal again but they really haven't. And with the numbers on the rise, instead of waiting any longer he decided to pop the question at home. Pandemic proposal.

I think its all good conversation - hearing different sides can make you a more well rounded thinker. I was only speaking about our company and how was respected our essential employees. Huge amount of respect for grocery store employees who dealt with craziness (and other essential jobs).

I feel as though I am helping keep our employees who run the plant safer by not bringing 100+ employees back and increasing the chances of something spreading. Making our employees WFH (those who can) is showing respect to those who have had to go into work the past 3 months. If I showed up to work sick and infected our production team, who would run the plant and make our products? We respect our production team so much we said here is everything that can help keep you safe, we are leaving the site to your teams only and limiting the exposure. Also, I don't trust the cleanliness of my coworkers. They keep the office kitchen area so dirty...they are like children haha I enjoy working from home because it has kept employee relations down. I get tired of hearing "Bob breathes to loud , can HR talk to him about it? or "someone moved my lunchbox in the fridge, I'm really upset". It's a nice change to be able to focus on real work

Yup - it is optional. The company will still continue a flexible, work from home schedule for anyone who cant come back due to childcare/health reasons/concerns. The CEO was clear that it is optional for now however she expects the corporate office to eventually return to "normal". All our roles should not be work from home forever.

Some old bag yelled at my friend and I running the other day because only one of us was wearing a mask and despite the fact my friend who wasn't wearing one went around a parked card to avoid the few people and him on the sidewalk. This person clearly had a terrible day because he pointed as us and yelled aggressively. Asking us if we were stupid and knew how to read (i guess he meant can we read the news?) and that he needed 6 feet of distancing. If he is that concerned, he can walk his dog on a street that has way less foot traffic. We gave him plenty of room so the public shaming was uncalled for. We told him to have a fantastic Monday evening. I'm glad a lot of people still wear masks and are taking precautions because I don't want to see a spike in our area. I'm happy things are starting to open slowly. I'm all for wearing masks and I try to wear it for most of my runs but I do pull it down to get fresh air once in a while. No one had said anything until Monday. Anyway - our office is reopening July 13th. We split employees into 2 teams and will be alternating onsite work weeks. Part of me is sad because I'm enjoying no commute and working from home but I think it will feel good to get back in the office every other week. It will be interesting to see how many employees will actually come back. I'm sure alot of employees will enjoy the summer months by continuing to work from home.

I haven't seen Clorox wipes since early March. Still empty as of today. In fact the entire cleaning aisle is very bare. Haven't run into low meat supply. We've gotten lucky with some good deals at Acme. We had filet quite a few times during quarantine because they were on sale. Random veggies would be very low but otherwise Acme did a great job.

Oh absolutely. Working from home with flexibility will be the new thing. Those who want and need to be in the office, go for it. If you want to work from home and come in when you have big meetings or such, great. Shoveling employees into small cubicals will be a past for many employers. I've enjoyed the flexibility and have adjusted fairly well to being at home (minus not having a true desk area - which is in the works). My boyfriends company has scheduled September 14th as their re-opening the office. His company was one that thought everyone had to be at the office to do their jobs and it became very clear that was not the case. They've maintain efficient and worked through some tight deadlines with no issues.

Our office has determined to reopen effective July 13th. We have some strict guidelines and things that will be in place for those who want and can return to the office. Should be interesting to see how this all goes. We sent a survey out to the employees to gauge their readiness and only 6 people said they were eager and ready to return. For a while we will be on a every other week onsite schedule so I will still get to enjoy working from home.