I still think the most eye opening part was watching the smog clear up in real time in India where the Himalayan mountains became visible again to many parts of the north
Same in Denver. It has never been that clear ever. That's what I guess it could be like if we actually started to fight greenhouse gases for real.
And then animals started being seen a lot more around here.
Sigh
I saw so much wildlife in my city. Including a deer for once. Drunk ass me: well deer, looks like me the other essential workers and you inherited the earth.
Of course the bankers survived. Of course they would.
I'm a tad jealous of people who got to do this. My work just got busier. It was like normal except people were dying and I had all my groceries delivered.
Ah yes. As an "essential worker" it was nice that for about 3.5 minutes it was acknowledged that all of us "unskilled" workers were required for society to function and then get nothing for it except more work and exposure to to a deadly disease.
Yeah I’m a software engineer so the only thing that changed was I got to wear more comfortable pants and didn’t have to drive to work. I still felt mentally exhausted after working all day and didn’t have the energy to pursue any hobbies
I'm a software engineer too. I'll tell you what changed. I have a kid. Daycare was shut down, but since both my wife and I can work from home we were expected to do just that. We got to spend a lot of time with the then two year old, but hardly saw each other except for the back of the head because one of us was always working. What was your corona project? Surviving, that's what!
Must have been nice. I was an "essential" worker so I spent the entire time busting my ass in the middle of a packed grocery store, terrified of being assaulted by some angry dicknosed moron and bringing their lethal infection home to my elderly parents. I started having panic reactions to seeing unmasked faces, even those of close family members I was living with. Meanwhile, I kept hearing all these people talk about being paid twice my wages to sit at home and learn new skills like I had always wished I could afford to do.
And what did I get for all of my hard work? A fancy pin from my employer with a letter patting themselves on the back for protecting us. They didn't protect us at all! They actively defied the mask mandate and told us it was our own fault if customers threatened or attacked us for wearing one!
“Everyone”
Edit: as a project manager who stayed home for months, I find the ignorant privilege blasting from these kinds of statements enraging. How can someone be so blind to the world around them, that they don’t even realize that other human beings had a vastly different experience?
Yeah, this pissed me off. Covid was nothing more than checking on relatives, making sure they don't die, and yelling over an international phonecall for my aunts to take my aging grandfather to get a vaccine after they tried to wiggle their way out of it several times.
I also got Covid during the time when no one was being tested, only the elderly, and had to live alone in my dorm room with a pile of frozen pizza, using the shared student kitchen at night so as to not get anyone killed. For a few of those days I was completely bed-ridden, couldn't even get the fuck up, and the Swedish authorities refused to test me because I'm not a risk group. Later on I discovered I have asthma so I was at risk all along.
It's great that everyone got to make bread and not work as many hours as they usually would or at least save time on transportation, but for a social person who actually has a goddamn life, this was shit. Pure shit. I would never repeat it. I don't want millions to get sick and die while I stand by the oven with mittens on taking out my sourdough bread slab, surrounded by all these plants.
Ah yes and also, I already have fucking plants. You don't need the world to end to go buy yourself a few and spend 10 minutes reading about how to care for them. There's a few apps for that too.
Edit: typo
I worked for the hospital system... I only remember dreading tomorrow and wishing for a moment to catch my breath. I didn't really get to work from home and I rarely got time off outside of my schedule.
It sucked! I didn't even get to enjoy other people's enjoyment 👎
I remember thinking, "i am not essential. I am expendable"
I work in a hospital. I continued to commute to work and do my job through all of the shortages and all of the uncertainty. I died a little each day I had to stop my then 3.5yo twins from rushing to hug me at the door so I could change, drop my clothes in the wash, and wash my hands before they touched me. Then they stopped trying. It was a year before I was greeted at the door with a hug. I knelt there crying the first time they did it again.
I saw all my friends doing all the lock down things and knew that society and employers would never make it up to those of us who worked through it all. We didn't even get pizza parties because my hospital had a no shared food policy for infection prevention.
I walked past maskless protestors outside my hospital accusing of us every ludicrous talking point there was. For the first time in my career I questioned why I did it. Why was I risking my family's health and my own to take care of THEM.
Yes... #blessed
Still had to work myself and ngl I was really envious of people who got to stay home :( in food service we just got more and more yelled at by people
I remember my brother suffering from depression because he just no way of getting out of his apartment
I remember people people dying and not being able to go meet/help them
I remember the working class suffering because they just couldn't work
I am not blaming anyone but it wasn't "singing and dancing" for most people except the most privileged
You can tell who the introverts and who the extroverts were during the pandemic. For those that got to stay at home:
Extroverts: "My mental health is crumbling! I'll never be the same after this. Literally the worst thing that's ever happened to me!"
Introverts: "I just beat a handful of games in my backlog, read 4 books, started learning how to make Chinese food at home, and I just started learning Spanish on Duolingo. I'll never be the same after this!"
Is there a third thing besides extroverts and introverts? Because I hate being around people and I also hate being alone.
i wish i did that instead of getting depressed from the lack of human contact and living the same day for almost a year
i do not remember that
My plants all died in the end, except my persimmon tree :)
Hell no, I was buried in a depression hole and couldn't leave the house
In this thread everyone was a work martyr and no one had time off. As Marsha said in the Brady Bunch "Sure Jan".
Ah yes, "everyone". I'm not even in healthcare, but as an "Essential Worker", I got to be exposed to the the virus before a vaccine was available as well as extra work, abusive people, and anti-vaxxer blame. The entitlement...
Where does the flour for the bread come from ?
From the essential workers who don't get to enjoy this wonderful utopia everyone is so excited about. Ask healthcare workers how they liked the pandemic.
