My job, as a rule, involves talking to people. Physically leaving the office and walking uptown (or driving )and spending time with my advertising customers. Granted, I do a lot by email and text but I also am out and about a fair bit. I talk on the phone a lot. Basically, I spend (spent) a good part of my day talking/consulting and listening – to people.
A lot of stuff gets emailed to me. Which is great. Over the years I have developed e-relationships with people in many businesses and organizations – people I’ve never met but who I’ve known for years through our emails.
COVID-19 has forced everyone to re-think how they work, me included.
So . . . when I had to bite the bullet and lug my computer home, things changed. Like really changed. No more phone calls, no more office conversations, no more chatting with one of my accounts uptown or even the girls at work. No Justin to tease. Nothing. Just about everyone is closed anyway so there’s no-one to talk to. Even the emails have dried up because every non-essential organization or business has shut down.
For three weeks now it’s been me, my husband and the grand dog Crosby. I have conversations with the dog. “That’s a good boy, yes, you’re a good dog.” He doesn’t talk back to me but he does respond with a gratifying wiggle and a lick. It’s a little social interaction even if it is with the dog.
My husband is taciturn by nature, a man of few words. Pretty much the opposite of me. So our conversations tend to be a little one sided. Although I can tell that he is getting cabin fever. He paces. He goes for more than his usual number of car rides, just to get out of the house. And even though he doesn’t talk a lot, I know he misses the morning coffee banter at Tim’s.
So . . . my husband, the dog, and a weekly outing for supplies. All my interaction with others is on my computer or facetime on my iPad.
Our computer guy “King Justin” loaded an app called Discord onto my computer so I can text/talk to co-workers. He did some other magic so I can connect to the Times servers.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s work to do. I handle advertising so just about everything I’ve been dealing with has been related to COVID-19. I’m gonna have to quit reading stuff about it on FB because there is no good news anymore.
We’re all scared, well at least I’m scared. That’s probably a good thing because it keeps me from doing Something Stupid.
I can’t help but compare my quiet three living beings existence to the jobs of those people at Safeway, trying to keep the shelves stocked, checking out our groceries and desperately trying to stay safe themselves. Or the pharmacists and the people working at the drug store.
And I can’t begin to imagine what our medical community is going through right now trying to prepare for the worst case scenario. Trying to find time to read the latest studies and reports on treatments. The stress! They know it’s going to get worse before it gets better and they’re on the front line. I hate to compare it to war but let’s face it, it is war.
So I’m not going to complain about my situation. I’ll just say that when I talked to a friend on the phone the other day, she could hardly get me off the phone. I just kept talking and talking and talking . . . I haven’t talked to many people lately so once I got started I just wanted to talk. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is not prone to chit chat. She’s an efficient type of person and she calls for a reason. Once that is dealt with, along with a few niceties, she’s ready to end the phone call. I’m sure she hung up the phone thinking “next time I’ll just text her”.
This work setup is working really well. I’ve even had a couple of Zoom meetings. I think those were more for morale than anything else. We could easily text back and forth on Discord but it’s good to hear other voices, see other faces.
There is a skeleton staff at the Times. Everyone who can work from home has been sent home. The front door is locked. The doors to the press room have been closed and declared off limits to everyone but staff who work back there. If we lose our pressmen, we really cannot get papers printed.
I can do my job quite efficiently with my computer, VPN, Discord and Zoom. The computer is sitting on my dining room table, sharing space with my rug hooking. Work/life balance I call it.
Two months ago I might have said that having unlimited time at home was a good thing. I’d get a lot done. That has proven to be wrong. I’m really not getting a lot done besides work and meals. I still put off wiping up the kitchen floor until it shames me. My rug hooking sits mostly untouched, although I did rally to dye some wool the other day. There is a bit of a mess in the craft room that should be dealt with but what’s the rush. I feel like I’m in a “waiting” mode.
Waiting for this to be over. Let’s all do our part to help end this thing that has so drastically changed all our lives
