How's everyone doing?!

[Jesse James]

Hope you don’t need TP for that reactor leak.😬

I am sitting on a stockpile....

Oh wait, that doesn't sound good

Rereading your reactor leak comment is now kinda with a different context to it. 🤔 If ya did need something I can always look for it and ship it if I find it so don’t hesitate to ask.

[Nicklab]

Hope you don’t need TP for that reactor leak.😬

I am sitting on a stockpile....

Oh wait, that doesn't sound good

Rereading your reactor leak comment is now kinda with a different context to it. 🤔 If ya did need something I can always look for it and ship it if I find it so don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks man.  I really appreciate it!  I'm good.

[Jesse James]

👍

[Rob]

My wife just got a vague email from the museum she works for that has us thinking she's getting furloughed.  Waiting on the follow up contact from her direct report.   

[Rob]

Oh hey, since I posted that, the good news is that she's not furloughed.  Plugging along with jobs intact, so far...

[Matt_Fury]

Glad to hear, Rob.

I worry about a lot of the small businesses not just in our local area that we frequent, but all across the country.  I am concerned about the farmers who are entering planting season and don't have the help they need because everyone is being forced to stay at home.  We are setting ourselves up for more problems than this virus down the road.

[Jesse James]

Locally the farms seem to be operating as usual since they’re essential.

[Rob]

Got hit with a 27% temporary pay cut this morning.  The company says they have a plan and think that with this reduction they can weather the storm without any layoffs - which is my preference anyway.

It stings, but since we didn't buy that condo this month, we can get by.  The pay reduction is similar to the increased amount I was going to be spending on the new place. 

This next check will be my last full one until things get back to normal, my goal now is still just to stay employed and hopefully not dip into our downpayment money.   

[EdSolo]

Got hit with a 27% temporary pay cut this morning.  The company says they have a plan and think that with this reduction they can weather the storm without any layoffs - which is my preference anyway.

It stings, but since we didn't buy that condo this month, we can get by.  The pay reduction is similar to the increased amount I was going to be spending on the new place. 

This next check will be my last full one until things get back to normal, my goal now is still just to stay employed and hopefully not dip into our downpayment money.   

I feel your pain.  My company has done something similar for all of Q2 with a "we will re-evaluate in June to see if it needs to continue".  At this point, I am toying with a mortgage refinance with a cash out to build up some emergency funds.  I just want to make to the end of May at this point when hopefully things might look better.  I'm just glad my internet connection has been stable over the past four weeks.

[Nicklab]

I think everyone’s experiences with this situation run the gamut.  During the first couple of weeks of the stay at home orders I was forced by circumstances into doing just that, despite the fact that my industry is regarded as essential by the Federal government.  But working in midtown Manhattan is the next best thing to living in a Petrie dish, and the risk of exposure was way higher than average.  This led to me taking more time off than I would have planned. 

In the meantime my coworkers were in the middle of the outbreak.  And our engineers worked tirelessly to find a way for people to do their jobs safely.  That meant finding a way to make it feasible for us to work remotely and communicate in a productive way, because we’re a 24/7 communications operation.  None of us thought that it was feasible, but our technology team made it happen.  Pretty much everyone wound up getting several thousand dollars worth of equipment to get their own home workstations up and running.  I wound up catching up about a week or so into the process, and I’ve been working from home ever since.  I consider myself very fortunate that I can keep doing my job and the company has had our backs.  And I think the fact that it’s a major corporation helps. 

The separation from close family has been the most difficult part.  Especially the ones who are older or live alone.  But I also know that some of them are the most vulnerable, and keeping away is actually an act of protecting them.  I can only imagine how people are coping that have been laid off.  I’m hoping to do my part between the public service aspect of my job and donating blood for people to use for antibody treatments.  I feel like I have to, since at least one of my coworkers has died, and so did the doc that tested me. 

[Darby]

Sorry to hear everyone's struggles. Hopefully, things improve as quickly as they can.

My pay has been reduced as well, but thankfully I'm still working regularly. Knock on wood that continues.

Stay safe.

[Muftak]

Why not?

I work in an industry deemed "essential," so my job was not affected (yet.)

Ohio was pretty early to adopt the "Stay at Home" protocols, and my sons' last day of school was March 13th. The struggle we found ourselves in was the complete withdrawal of all the supports and therapies for my younger son, who is diagnosed with severe autism. In addition to the 30 hours of school a week, he is supposed to receive 24 hours of home aide service, and a few hours of home therapy as well. All of that disappeared overnight and his mother and I were left with no support in caring for him. Even our normal coping mechanisms--A trip to the zoo! Hanging out at the mall! Go visit Grandma!--were unavailable. And, as he is nonverbal, he could not understand what was happening, just that his routine and all the things he likes to do were gone.

After the first ten days of home restriction he was a complete wreck and in severe danger of needing to be hospitalized. I talked to his doctor and my company and decided to take a leave of absence at work just to be home for his support. I should be able to do this for a month or so before being financially forced back to work. It seems we will have in-home aid back by then, and I have seen signs he is adjusting ever so slowly to this new reality. His older brother, on the other hand, is adjusting well to online schooling and video calls with his school friends to stay connected. And lots of Fortnite!

My big fear now is, should one or all of us fall victim to the virus itself, there is going to be no way possible to care for my youngest, and then hospitalization (and quarantine?) loom large for him again...and I haven't been able to get a straight answer anywhere as to what that reality might even look like. It's a scary prospect.

Stay safe everybody!

[Matt_Fury]

We're chugging along here.  As part of the Military/Industrial complex, we're essential personnel, but since I mainly work in the restricted area od a military base, they have most of us working from home with entry to the restricted area even more restricted to protect the most vital weapon system...the operations crews.

I can do a lot of my job from home, but it's still a challenge.  I really hate doing meetings over Skype.  I've always liked being in the room with everyone.

[Jesse James]

Things are largely still the same for me.  Corporate sends “we care” memos, makes employees take tests about washing their hands and things, but none of the promised sanitation items have trickled down.  My personal area, we bought for ourselves largely.  We just got a single pack of disposable masks...  half the employees are afraid to use them even.

Topping it off as essential as we are, it seems the auto industry is largely being **** upon by the public.  Can’t take frustration out on the grocery workers?  Stop by for some unnecessary **** like car wax and yell at our poor employees!  I can’t believe some of what I’ve seen at the store level.  Glad I’m largely able to work away from that though I’ve been trying to help more with those folks because they need it.  Half the workforce is staying home voluntarily because they’re PT and many are older and at risk from health issues...  but work is there and I’ve just adjusted what my role is ultimately.

My gf is still working too and has seniority but I can see them cutting back before long if things were to get worse.

[Nicklab]

Oh, the corporate emails!  We were getting some of those on an almost daily basis.  Thankfully upper management has realized that they need to focus on doing their own jobs, making sure employees can work from home and work to keep things afloat rather than give the daily "rah-rah" update.  And if they DID want to communicate with us in a meaningful fashion?  Let employees know some concrete things:  about sick time (if you get sick), working with the company's medical plan providers on COVID coverage, making work from home possible, safety precautions, etc.

We just a notification that the public schools will be closed until at least the middle of May.  And with that having been announced, we're not sure if the schools are even going to open up at all before the end of the school year.

The atmosphere around town is kind of eerie.  There are barely any places open outside of grocery stores, home improvement stores and gas stations.  People are going to restaurants to get take out in droves.  And I think that's just to try to get out of the house or attempt to feel halfway normal.

I've been really fortunate with my work situation.  But I'm getting increasingly concerned for the people who can't make rent or pay bills because their employers had to lay them off. 

Something that I think I've been increasingly aware of is the people who work in the grocery store.  I see them in a very different light now.  They're our lifeline to basic necessities.  And the announcements in the stores have been really positive and reflect an incredibly resilient outlook.  And when I finally got out of the house following my quarantine and went to the grocery store I heard that old disco song "I will survive" on the in-store PA.  And it was oddly relevant, because I made it.  And I hope a lot more people will, too.