“We never discussed numbers, and I never told them the dorms would be closed,” Mr. Falwell said on Sunday. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on what was said.”
Mr. Falwell runs Liberty his own way, and his word is law. Professors are not tenured and can be fired at will. The administration controls the student newspaper.
Gee, it’s almost as if there’s some terrible communicable disease going around.
I’m not sure what the old folks think that will gain them. It doesn’t take long before testing becomes meaningless. Here we have stopped even counting the infected. The numbers now are the hospitalized and the dead, and the bit of good news: the increasing numbers that are being released and sent home.
Keep in mind that we’re the size and population of Ohio, and as far as anybody can really tell, we’re a week ahead of you.
Fuck trumps. He’s made the crisis so much worse.
hope I don’t need food on tuesday.
In my area, normally if I were to drive home from work at any time between 4:30pm - 7:30pm, it’d take 1.5 to 2 (or more) hours.
Today, Google estimates 38 minutes. Boy, do I ever hope people (including me) keep working from home for a while.
whole foods is marked off in 6x6 foot squares.
wegman’s has 6 foot zones marked off in front of counters-- and the checkout aisle is one person at a time, with a cleansing ritual between each and every customer. Wegman’s is also based in New York, which might explain the paranoia.
safeway has none of this. The aisles are also crowded, so yoiu can’t social distance, even if you were inclined to do so-- which the locals aren’t prepared to do, even though the county has 224 known cases.
From Rob Newhart, a FB friend (yes, he’s Bob’s son):
Heard a Dr. on TV saying in this time of Coronavirus staying at home we should focus on inner peace. To achieve this we should always finish things we start and we all could use more calm in our lives. I looked through my house to find things I’d started and hadn’t finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiumun srciptuns, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how feckin fablus I feel rite no tow. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum. And two hash yer wands, stafe day avrybobby!!!
Journal of the Corona Year
3/30
This is long, but a lot has happened.
Today the pinch became more acute. There is more than one way for a virus to destroy lives.
Today started off like any normal day working from home. I was working on projects that were started last Friday. Emails were sent around. Everything seemed dull and normal.
Late in the morning I sent an email separately to two of the younger brokers with whom I regularly work. They had started with the company about the same time I did. I asked them how the market was looking and what they were doing. Their general opinion is that financial markets are on hold for the time being. I encouraged them to send anything small that they might need help with. We certainly have the time now. I added, somewhat humorously but also hopeful, that a small deal might save the company.
Soon after that a call came in from my manager. I asked him how he was. He sounded normal but said he had a bad morning. He then told me that they would be letting go of the temp we brought in late last year. In spite of our efforts to keep her busy for the past week, this was sad but not unexpected. This was the first step that I new would be coming eventually.
My manager finished the phone call by saying I shouldn’t worry, as there would be no more bad news coming for me that afternoon. This reassurance troubled me.
Early in the afternoon I sent a text message to my friend who works at Macy’s. Almost the entire staff coast-to-coast is being furloughed and will be brought back as needed. He works at the main store on 34th Street which has a union. The union there never achieves anything, they just add another level of complication.
As you may recall, he had been trying to find an apartment he could afford because his landlord is pushing him out. This is not going to help him.
I remember when I was hired at Macy’s in 2003. The woman leading the orientation at the time said the 34th Street store was the largest store in the world, and if the company was ever in trouble this store would the last one to close. She never imagined a future where all the stores would close simultaneously.
As I was trying to get back to working, two text messages arrived. The marketing department had been using text messages to communicate urgent alerts. The first said “I was fired!” The second said “Me too.”
I called them both in turn. Both told a similar story: they were working, they were told they were being let go and then their computers were deactivated.
Our manager organized a group call for the surviving members of marketing. Half of us were gone.
We lost four people. They were:
I never fooled myself that I was improving the world, but it was a good place to work because I felt the company believed in everyone there. The marketing department was made up of smart, talented, dedicated people. And I was one of them. Now this just feels like a job.
Later still, I saw an Instagram post from a former coworker. Also a graphic designer. She had left the company in January to take a job in Boston to be nearer her sister. Her Instagram feed is usually filled with pictures of how she in decorating her new apartment. Apparently she had been fired by her new company too.
Through company email I wrote back to the two junior brokers I had emailed at the start of the day. I wanted to see how they were. One responded, the other did not.
Me as a teenager listening to heavy metal at max volume: Oh man, the apocalypse is going to be so awesome! I’ll be ready for it, it’ll be totally bad-ass!
Me when the apocalypse comes: Guess I’ll just make a peanut butter sandwich and go to bed early. (Later:) Crap, I went to bed early and didn’t take my medication. Oh well, at least that’s one more day until I need to get a refill.
This apocalypse is so lame. Three thumbs down.
Give it time till people start rioting. You know that spring’s the slow season for that, right?
I’m sorry for a lot of things that happen to people here, and rarely comment because I’m bad at coming up with anything to say. But this one I can personally sympathize with. Our company has – admittedly more openly, but just as abruptly – let go half all of everyone. I’m not convinced they picked right in the people too keep, either, myself included. Though I know I’m lucky not to have that extra uncertainty. It still feels awful to have happened, and working in a place made of holes does not help the sense of death of normalcy. I’m hoping something that does is knowing you’re not alone dealing with things.
The holes flow too, right?
So I just lost my temper and earned a timeout at the other place…
Yay.
You just reminded me. I got a timeout a few weeks ago, and I totally forgot about them.
Welcome to the club.
It’s my first in what, four years?
Meh…