How's work been?

DSGamer wrote:

God willing. I love working from home.

Imagine working from home but being able to go to a coffee shop or go get a sandwich from a store where you interact with people.

I miss working remotely not during a pandemic.

I'm very much struggling, trying to teach my historically struggling class of 11th graders via Zoom and sometimes MS Teams when that doesn't work.

All but one of my students was a seriously under-performing student, their entire lives. I was getting through to them, although it was day to day struggle. Sometimes six steps forward, and five back. But trying to reach them through Zoom...

I've had to be very honest with them. Which is that I'm not spending my emotional energy on checking if they're on a phone to the side of their screen or whatever. If they want to learn, they have to decide that for themselves. I have to put my energy into what I can do.

So far, no matter how much Zoom helps in terms of seeing all of their faces...I freaking hate teaching remotely. It's like the different between a live concert (performing in one) and trying to record in a studio. There is nothing coming back at me. Even when I have them all unmute and can see them all, and am ready for a free for all. It takes a huge amount of time to gain any momentum, and then by that time...they're ready to stop, and we have an hour left....

Argh, is all I got to say. Argh.

boogle wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

God willing. I love working from home.

Imagine working from home but being able to go to a coffee shop or go get a sandwich from a store where you interact with people.

I miss working remotely not during a pandemic.

I meant the part about companies wondering why we had offices. I can do without the pandemic.

boogle wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

God willing. I love working from home.

Imagine working from home but being able to go to a coffee shop or go get a sandwich from a store where you interact with people.

I miss working remotely not during a pandemic.

Yeah, I can do my job remotely, and I'd love it........ if not for the pandemic.

I looked at my PTO balance today, on a lark, and just started laughing. Lord knows when I'll ever be able to take a day off again.

Prederick wrote:
boogle wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

God willing. I love working from home.

Imagine working from home but being able to go to a coffee shop or go get a sandwich from a store where you interact with people.

I miss working remotely not during a pandemic.

Yeah, I can do my job remotely, and I'd love it........ if not for the pandemic.

I looked at my PTO balance today, on a lark, and just started laughing. Lord knows when I'll ever be able to take a day off again.

Yah, I have 224 hours left to use of PTO. If I don't use it I lose it since they changed our pto plan from being able to carry it over. I fall into the same boat of, when will I get to use it? Since we have been work from home since early March, even when I have tried taking days off, my boss needs something my lower level analysts can't do so I have to login and then he has me back out my pto so it makes it more challenging. I have a week scheduled in May, we'll see what happens since I'm not going anywhwhere, was just going to work on my house and lawn.

Take PTO and f*ck your boss.
Its in the contract if he don't like it he can renegotiate (after you take your PTO)

boogle wrote:

Take PTO and f*ck your boss.
Its in the contract if he don't like it he can renegotiate (after you take your PTO)

THIS!

At worst, book off several weeks right before the "lose it" date of the use it or lose it, and offer your boss the option of paying you the value of the PTO if he insists you work instead.

How is your boss asking you to login when you don’t answer your phone when he calls?

Here's hoping that your boss Rains is not like some monsters I've worked with. Good luck.

He's a great boss, always stuck his neck out for me in the almost 21 years I have worked for him. In fact there has been a couple times he has saved me from getting let go when they did some layoffs. Its the global corporation that bought us 8 years ago that is making things difficult. Had to take a 10% paycut during the pandemic so doing same if not more work for less money. Thankful to have a job right now.

I worked half a day out of 2 days, but got the remaining 1.5 days off no charge. However, yes 248 hours sounds like a first world problem, but with the pandemic going on, most of my plans for the year are cancelled. So any time I do take off, won't change much what I'm doing at this point. Oh I take a day off, can't leave house, tired of constantly being on the computer, so then what.

Sorry for rambling, just frustrated with a lot of stuff, and I'm sure everyone understands with being in the same boat or worse for quarantine.

I've been WFH since last July. The difference now is that there are 2 extra people here while I'm working. I don't have much to complain about with the company, which I really like. I go back and forth on how I feel about the interlopers in my space, but I haven't decided to boot them out at this point. They've gotten better at not causing distractions during conference calls, so that's a plus. Also hubby is also really good when it comes to responding to "Please take care of X." requests.

Y'know, all the jobs I worked before, people would come in some level of sick quite regularly. Like, you had to be sick-sick to call out sick.

That sh*t is GONE for the foreseeable future. If you have as much as a sniffle, I don't think there's a job in the country that'd force you to come in.

They weren't 'forcing' you before, it was just the silent (or not so silent) expectation built up by company culture and policies toward sick time. I do hope this pandemic is causing things like this to change. I doubt it will change much though, we have already seen even with this virus raging companies saying things like 'no fever no problem you should work'.

We have plastic barriers up at the tills now. Have also been cracking down on customers who kept popping in 6 or 7 times a day for the odd item. I guess some people were lonely and bored and had it as part of their routine but come on guys this is not worth risking health over.

Yeah last year I took off 12 days of sick(before our company switched to away from an 'unlimited sick leave' and my boss told me that was unacceptable. I had just started looking for new jobs then the pandemic hit.

I work as a Home Health Physical Therapy Assistant. Was off for 4 months due to surgery and due to come back the week things went into lockdown. My status is up to 20 visits a week which is considered prn. The FT/PT people get their caseloads filled up before I get patient visits. Because of Covid-19, patients, ALFs are asking us not to come for a few weeks. I have no work. Both good ( more time to heal) and bad for my budget. A few of my coworkers have been on quarantine, fortunately, no one has gotten sick. We have PPE and cloth masks to use when seeing people who are not sick. There is a set Covid-19 team. I'm happy my company is on top of this with a firm cohesive plan. My state also has a plan and must clear people released from the hospital before HH can come in to see them.

So, work's been so busy that we actually had to outsource a part of my job that I've taken over in the past year. It wasn't assigned to me or anything, they just found that I enjoy doing these builds, I'm good at cable management, very good at documentation, and I've been taking steps to organize these big builds. However, with the world getting shut down, and everything going remote, demand for these kits greatly exceeded my ability to build them in the timeframe the clients wanted... so our VP of tech made a deal with this other company pretty fast, and we had to move forward in a way that basically broke all the protocols we have in place to ensure build quality.

Most of it was going OK, until we had to add a second router for a second ISP connection. These are very easy to shoehorn into the build, as generally we only needed them to secure the router in the case, secure it's power so it boots up, and connect two ethernet cables to two ports on our cisco switch. The ports matter, if you reverse them it doesn't work. Admittedly it's easy to reverse them, I do it occasionally then have to go back and fix 'em. Yesterday they found that one of the kits that already shipped to a client was reversed, so the second router didn't work. Cue a whole lot of slack messages about it, meetings being scheduled, etc. I had to shoot out an email to them last night, then hop on a call with them this morning. Everything seemed ironed out, they checked the ones they hadn't shipped out yet and they were all good, so I ended the call hoping it was a one-off mistake. I was just on a conference call with our NOC when one of the guys says he's testing the last one they built for today (they started this one after I talked to them) and he couldn't get into the second router. I VPN in to the appliance, SSH over to the switch, and double check the MAC addresses against our Racktables records. Yup, reversed.

/facepalm.

At least they caught this one in the testing phase. I asked the NOC to start testing connectivity and thankfully they're doing it, as it's a 5 second fix for these guys but no one trusts the end users to switch the two cables in the field.

Got an e-mail from my manager, about him hearing rumours that I work in shifts for 2 hours and then switch with my wife (during which I take care of the kids). I did in fact tell colleagues that I work like this, but apparently that came across as me taking paid vacation or something.

That's uh not the case. I do work while taking care of the kids, only less productively obviously. And I do log into work after the kids go to bed, and work during the weekends, and did a part-time during my pre-planned week off because a tender needed to be finished.

I very wrongly assumed that after working together for 12 years, my colleagues would not assume the worst when we were discussing our coping mechanisms during lockdown. I very correctly assumed that my direct manager does not have my back, and has little trust in my sense of responsibility.

I've been stressing so much about doing enough for work, about finding that balance, and still taking care of the family and maybe finding some off-time for gaming here and there. Weirdly enough I feel more relaxed now, as I'm more convinced we're doing it right - through defending the current process my wife and I ended up with after a lot of pondering and worries. I hope the feeling lasts, but I doubt it.

None of us are working from home. We are all trying to get something resembling work done in the middle of a crisis.

Sounds like you have worked out a completely reasonable system that will allow for maximum productivity under the circumstances.

I’m fantasizing about “Dave Chappellin’ kicking over the trash can and hollering about how I got Oprah pregnant” for you right now.

Seriously. Your colleagues and manager can go F themselves.

Completely agree with Zoso. None of us work straight time at home. I think most of us are trying to make it work by forgoing the normal hours of operation and working earlier or later than normal, because that's the normal adult response to this crisis.

I go into the office every other day because, well, my job is to physically stand up servers and ship them out. I can't exactly do that remotely. We have 4 people in the company that can do installs, and we're split into two teams to split the time we're there. It's great for social distancing as we are, normally, the only two people in the building most of the time, but obviously this does nothing to prevent cross contamination between groups. The days I go in are generally 10AM to 6PM, though lately I've worked later and later to get things wrapped up. And on the days I'm at home I'm on Slack from about 9AM to 10PM off and on.

On top of all the other craziness we bought a house. We put in our offer right before the lockdown, so navigating all this has been... interesting. We officially close tomorrow but my wife was able to talk the sellers into letting us start moving in early (it's a vacant home, it was bought by an investor and they poured a ton of money renovating it). So I've been doing more moving than working on my WFH days, but I'm only marginally useful anyway, so no one has really noticed. Unfortunately tomorrow is my office day and I'm having to hop out for 2 hours, but we can't really reschedule.

Thanks guys.

I replied to my manager, telling him the above but in a more diplomatic fashion, and he replied with a thank you and that he totes trusts me (I'm not getting that vibe, boss). And that I should take a half day off if I can't cope.

He had one good point though: everybody's a bit on edge, so I get that some might interpret my communication in the wrong way. That happens, I'm not going to fret over it too much and just keep on truckin' - and updating my communication firmware

dejanzie wrote:

Thanks guys.

I replied to my manager, telling him the above but in a more diplomatic fashion, and he replied with a thank you and that he totes trusts me (I'm not getting that vibe, boss). And that I should take a half day off if I can't cope.

He had one good point though: everybody's a bit on edge, so I get that some might interpret my communication in the wrong way. That happens, I'm not going to fret over it too much and just keep on truckin' - and updating my communication firmware :-)

Hope it goes well. A year or so ago I had a boss who was uber supportive but then turn on me at the drop of a hat. It was weird. Jekyll/Hyde kind of supportive and equally not supportive if there were rumors or she didn't like the smell of something. Glad I got off that train.

I'm a contract worker who works in logistics. Hired about 18 months ago with 3 others. Two of us four are no longer working at the company come Monday. I made the cut so I'm happy that I'm still working. I've also gotten a new important assignment and I don't think they would be training me up if they were planning on letting me go, but that assignment will probably be done in two months or so, so after that is over with I'm feeling insecure about my prospects.

My online class with my 10th graders has devolved into me looking at a Zoom room of black boxes and red mute icons. I can call on them one at a time to answer questions, but then they immediately go back in stealth mode. I freaking hate it.
One of them has missed all classes except for the first online class, has never responded to emails, has done no homework, and we have exams next week. I called his home, nothing. So I told my class to contact him because he might like to know he's about to fail the class, and repeat the class next year (which for English, would like "you need to repeat 10th grade" here). Suddenly his mom is available. Suddenly he is available.

He tells me that he expected to pass the class because of corona virus, and don't I remember him attending class in February (when he was still doing nothing)? Isn't that enough? Oh and he felt humiliated to hear from his classmates that he might fail, so don't do that ever again.

I held it together, calmly explained that I was desperate to find him because if he doesn't show up for the few remaining lessons, and the exam, and does at least one practice test, I would definitely fail him, and he would definitely not be getting a free ride of any kind (because this is a private school).

He showed up today. He answered questions.

For super extra bonus points, what would be the greatest irony? Turns out, that I did not know he has a twin sister, and that said twin sister is being taught the same stuff by my colleague, and that she has shown up for all classes and done all homework. So when he started with, "but i can't access my school email account to get to class" I could easily mention that "well, you did manage the first day." and "um, you have a twin sister at every single class...ever think to ask her how she does it?"

I hate this online class sh*t. I really do.

Roo, that sounds very frustrating. Does your school allow you to set rules? Like you must have video enabled? I have attended remote classes that required it, and required participation like it was a part of your grade (and no, only responding when directly called on does not count as participation).

Are other teachers having more success and if so what are they doing for their classes?

Greece is at the low end of internet connection in Europe. Other teachers have reported worse. Several of my students have parents and siblings on Zoom/Skype/Teams at the same time. We have no set standards, and when most of my 11th graders were on video and i could *see* them reacting to other media/calls, I basically told them, "I have limited emotional energy to spend on you. Mine will be spent on teaching, not on policing if you're really with me. If you want to be in class, really be in class." And that actually improved things a lot.

Since the PM here announced we are reopening schools, we're on to a whole new set of...f*ckedupedness. I was on a Skype call with all teachers/no administrators last night for an hour. 40 minutes was all the stuff we need to ask for if we have to go in a packed school with small classroom spaces (and 1/2 of our rooms have no windows or one tiny porthole). 20 minutes was spent on when to send this to the administration.

Meanwhile, my 11th graders told me, "No f*cking way" as a response to going back to the physical school in three weeks. Their English is really college level, so I applaud the "No f*cking way" as the most connotatively-accurate way to express themselves fully. Not sure their parents will let them go to school, even for exams.

thanks for reading, Leaping.

So my patron for several years in my career is probably out due to some medical issues. I want the very best for this person because they are an excellent leader and the medical stuff appears very serious. They are also retirement age so I could very much see them being done with work for good.

This has me thinking about the concept of mentorship, what it has meant for me, where will my career go now, how do I pay it forward with folks behind me, and how much the concept of "individual success" is just not true.

For context, I have been extremely fortunate to have natural talents that have served me well as I approach mid-career. I have also received several jobs because of this individual patron seeking me out and putting me in positions that are uniquely suited to my talents and giving me the backup I need to be successful. Would I be as "successful" without their intervention and setting me up to win? I'm not sure I would be.

I am watching The Last Dance doc on ESPN, which, if you're not a sports fan, is about the 90's Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. In it, they are telling the story of Phil Jackson, the coach, who has won more coaching championships than anyone. He is seen as the Best Ever of coaches. Want to know how he got the Bulls job?

In 1985, he came in for an interview for an assistant position but, as a hippy, didn't dress very conservatively and didn't talk conservatively and (surprise!) didn't get hired by the strait-laced coach. The General Manager noted this and when another position came open in 1987, he reached out to Jackson again and coached him up on how to wear a suit/tie, talk in the right way and (key!) spoke w/the coach to make sure that Jackson aced the interview. Jackson got hired, eventually took over the Bulls and ended up winning 11 championships in 20 years.

No one gets anywhere in their career without support from others.

What has mentorship looked like in your careers? Have you benefitted? Are you mentoring others right now? If yes, what works/doesn't?

Man, that's a great topic of discussion. I feel like I have so much to say and ask and engage in here that it's a little too overwhelming. But, let me say this: "Mentorship" is something that everyone has been a part of, whether you have been aware of it or not. Sometimes it's a clear understanding and discussion, sometimes it simply becomes part of a working relationship, and sometimes it's really just leading by example. My opinion here is that it's really on the internal motivation and retrospection of the student to understand and accept the guidance given that leads to great success.

I had an employee working for me shortly after becoming a manager that was not meeting expectations. As a new manager, I was very sensitive to this, and I tried many things to help that person. Over months I tried everything I could think of to help, and I asked my mentors and peers for suggestions on what I could do. I asked his team to help him and guide him, and most importantly, I was clear, direct, and transparent with him on the fact that he had to make changes in order to meet expectations. At the end of the day, that person did not change. He simply couldn't adapt to the expectations that were laid out, despite all the efforts of everyone around him to help. I had to let that person go, and it is still one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But, I have no regrets, because we did everything we could to help him.

The point of this story is that person was surrounded by people trying to be mentors. He was surrounded by people offering help, and encouraging change. But he simply did not. Imagine if Jackson had heard the advice of the Bulls General Manager, Jerry Krause, but simply ignored it and not worn that suit and tie at the next interview? The key for us all is to be open minded and look for those mentors in our lives who are out there, and honestly work for change within ourselves in order to improve.

I think my office may have a few people ready to pop due to the stress of the pandemic/stay at home. We are able to work remote but people seem to be more touchy on silly little things. I don't think anyone is looking for a reason to get upset but people seem to be getting mad/hurt by what I would consider regular phrases I hear people at work say all the time.

Not swearing or any rude phrases just maybe more direct due to email not having a tone of voice?

I look forward to the next video meeting when we will undoubtedly have to discuss being nicer to each other.

The vending machines downstairs in our office? Gone. No notice. Just ... not there.

How the hell am I going to make deadline if I don't have snacks, huh? HUH?