Is this the "new normal"?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by JD001

The 'new normal' is yet to come. It's slowly happening here in the UK. My department has realised that we can work from home with infrequent visits to the office, so that will be one of the 'new normals' for me and my work colleagues..

Great! Now as long as my company doesn't figure out that they have been getting 10 and 12 hour days out of me and only paying me for 8 and hope that will continue then all will be good for me.
There is not a hope in hell I could do my job from home.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Wally86

This is something I've been super curious about. How many business realize there's no reason their workforce needs to be on the road daily. It would save their company time and effort to keep employees at home on top of not needing physical real estate maintained. All of this will be interesting over the next couple of years.

There are reasons to keep an actual office and have people come in. Both my wife and I have worked from home for extended periods and you miss out on a lot of value you get in person. If you aren't forming social bonds, you get forgotten pretty easily. It is working for now because most people already know each other. But it's really hard to bring new people into a remote team, and it's hard to be a new person on a remote team. Happy hours and lunches are more important for morale and job satisfaction than you might think. And happy+motivated workers are the best workers.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Great! Now as long as my company doesn't figure out that they have been getting 10 and 12 hour days out of me and only paying me for 8 and hope that will continue then all will be good for me.
There is not a hope in hell I could do my job from home.

I can't even do my job from the same state. Typically i'm on the road 4-8 weeks out of the year. Sometimes longer.

On my end of town everything appears normal except about half the people out and about are wearing masks and not being able to go to the bar or get a hair cut. Traffic is just as heavy as usual and restaurants and FF places are PACKED for takeout orders at lunch and dinner time. Our purchasing mangers neighbor is the manager at a local restaurant. They typically gross 150K a night Friday and Saturday. They are doing about 100K a night on Friday and Saturday takeout only

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I can't even do my job from the same state. Typically i'm on the road 4-8 weeks out of the year. Sometimes longer.

On my end of town everything appears normal except about half the people out and about are wearing masks and not being able to go to the bar or get a hair cut. Traffic is just as heavy as usual and restaurants and FF places are PACKED for takeout orders at lunch and dinner time. Our purchasing mangers neighbor is the manager at a local restaurant. They typically gross 150K a night Friday and Saturday. They are doing about 100K a night on Friday and Saturday takeout only

Pretty much the same here.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I can't even do my job from the same state. Typically i'm on the road 4-8 weeks out of the year. Sometimes longer.

On my end of town everything appears normal except about half the people out and about are wearing masks and not being able to go to the bar or get a hair cut. Traffic is just as heavy as usual and restaurants and FF places are PACKED for takeout orders at lunch and dinner time. Our purchasing mangers neighbor is the manager at a local restaurant. They typically gross 150K a night Friday and Saturday. They are doing about 100K a night on Friday and Saturday takeout only

There has definitely been less traffic on the Baltimore beltway, but other than that it's the same here except everyone is required to wear a mask here and all parking lots are pretty empty. We've lost 2 local restaurants so far, don't know whether it was to business or personal reasons.

Oh and grocery shelves are still missing and/or low on some stuff to include TP.

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by JD001

The 'new normal' is yet to come. It's slowly happening here in the UK. My department has realised that we can work from home with infrequent visits to the office, so that will be one of the 'new normals' for me and my work colleagues..

My job and entire profession thrives on in-person connections. Yes you can do strength training online if the client has the equipment/ space, but it's very difficult. And contrary to popular believes, no you won't build muscle or get the same results from at home workouts or yoga. God forbid this goes on any longer. I'll have to convince the Army to hide my medical records and let me back in under the name of Kyle Reese or something lol.

As for other jobs, it makes sense for them to reassess it all. Especially those that do not require you in person most of the time.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by weederr33

My job and entire profession thrives on in-person connections. Yes you can do strength training online if the client has the equipment/ space, but it's very difficult. And contrary to popular believes, no you won't build muscle or get the same results from at home workouts or yoga. God forbid this goes on any longer. I'll have to convince the Army to hide my medical records and let me back in under the name of Kyle Reese or something lol.

As for other jobs, it makes sense for them to reassess it all. Especially those that do not require you in person most of the time.

I'm dying over here without being able to go to the gym. I gain weight easily and have to watch what I eat and how I eat on top of working out. I've severely cut calories to keep from gaining to the point I have to eat 5-6 small meals a day and drink about a gallon of water to not feel hungry all the time.

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I'm dying over here without being able to go to the gym. I gain weight easily and have to watch what I eat and how I eat on top of working out. I've severely cut calories to keep from gaining to the point I have to eat 5-6 small meals a day and drink about a gallon of water to not feel hungry all the time.

lol yup diet is key right now. Especially with out inactive so many people are.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Wally86

This is something I've been super curious about. How many business realize there's no reason their workforce needs to be on the road daily. It would save their company time and effort to keep employees at home on top of not needing physical real estate maintained. All of this will be interesting over the next couple of years.

We had "hot desking" in the office which needs a very serious rethink... I'm happy to go to the office once a fortnight or monthly for team meets...

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Spuds

There has definitely been less traffic on the Baltimore beltway, but other than that it's the same here except everyone is required to wear a mask here and all parking lots are pretty empty. We've lost 2 local restaurants so far, don't know whether it was to business or personal reasons.

Oh and grocery shelves are still missing and/or low on some stuff to include TP.

Some of our local restaurants focused on "take-outs" instead of serving on their premises. I'm worried for some our local bookshops..

[Wally86]

Originally Posted by Spuds

There has definitely been less traffic on the Baltimore beltway, but other than that it's the same here except everyone is required to wear a mask here and all parking lots are pretty empty. We've lost 2 local restaurants so far, don't know whether it was to business or personal reasons.

Oh and grocery shelves are still missing and/or low on some stuff to include TP.

It's funny. The DC beltway was almost empty a month and a half ago and it's slowly been ramping up to packed again (i live in MD but work in DC). I bought this 86 during the nonsense and noticed 695 to be particularly empty lol.

Also, check costco/sams for TP. They seem to have tons when I stop there.

[Wally86]

Originally Posted by JD001

Some of our local restaurants focused on "take-outs" instead of serving on their premises. I'm worried for some our local bookshops..

I think if I was a local book shop, i'd make my self known locally online first and then offer things in shop that aren't offered normally. Maybe even have small book related events there. That'd be pretty cool and a great way to maintain relevancy when lots of folks switched to digital books.
(I'm not old but I still love the feel of a book and the smell of old book pages)

[Opie]

"New Normal" lol, just a catch-phrase...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

Working from home has been a blessing for me! Being the sole caretaker of someone who tried to take their own life, it wouldn't be possible for me to do with a normal life at work. For me, this couldn't have happened at a better time. (Don't take this the wrong way)

Something I am worried about is that the general public is getting restless and the gov'mint in the US is trying to re-open quickly. I understand that everything everywhere is hurting, but as soon as they approve mass travel and huge public gatherings and shoe store openings, this thing will make a nasty return. People will use the re-opening as an exemption from needing to take precaution and Covid will have its resurgence.

Where I live, for the past month everyone has been masked, wearing jackets, rubber gloves, etc. This week they decided to allow small business to open in the are and allow small groups (8 people or less) to gather in public spaces. Already the amount of people I am seeing wearing ANY PPE has dropped significantly. This could just be because Vermont is its own unique demographic, but I'm worried none the less.

I will say, I am excited for normal life to resume though. I've been itching the browse the stereo section at Best Buy for a while.

Ohhhh - I hope that person is past that -