March 12, 2020
 

It was five years ago today that our company told us that we were to start working from home tomorrow. We were told that it was to “flatten the curve” and that we would be back in the office in two weeks.

I did not realize it at the time but I would never return to the office. I moved to the Villages in 2021 (we were still working remotely when I moved) and I retired later that year. I have been back to the office a few times since I retired but the office still works remotely 2 days a week so there are some colleagues that I have not seen since Covid.

I had an AA flight scheduled that day and wanted to cancel it. At the last moment AA offered full reimbursement due to the virus and I took it. A very scary time. I knew several who died from the virus.

I had a cousin who died from COVID after he got the disease while in a hospital near Captiva Island. He had gone into the hospital because of a broken leg.

My spouse and 9 colleagues retired two weeks earlier. I was in TV, facility was up north. They all returned to give as many moms with young kids time off to keep them safe. While they took their chances reusing PPOs for weeks.
It’s harder to miss a spouse than office friends, it was the right thing to do

I judge horse shows all over the country. In Massachusetts, where we lived in early 2020, horse shows were banned due to Covid (remember, the riders and judges are a good 20 ft minimum apart and are outside mostly) but you could go into a casino. Inside. Tell me that money was not a factor.

And for several years later the debate on working remote and how often we needed to go into the office began. I just read an article last night that said the older more established companies will have people come back into work more often while the newer companies with younger employees will embrace more remote work. I know there are a ton more job postings now in my profession that are remote. Go figure.

It was like being in the Twilight Zone. I had to protect my 2 elderly parents. Thankfully they were with me and not in a nursing home.

Among other things I did not get a haircut for nine months as I tried to keep myself isolated from people as much as possible. When I finally went to the barbershop it turned out every one of the barbers had contracted Covid (and were over it). The oldest one had lost a kidney and a half from it but was still cutting hair. He still does even today.

Had to go food shopping by myself as my wife unconsciously touches everything for reasons that defy my understanding.

We were at Disney when the parks shut down, at the hotel when they shut down, ordered a meal at WoB before the kitchen shut down, and hightailed it back to MD in fear that the state borders would shut down. We were fortunate to be able to retire in late 2020 and got back in time for the pools and the squares to reopen.

Interesting times.

My last 10 years in the high tech industry, I worked at home in my pajamas, no driving, no trains/subways. I could have gone into the office a few miles away if I wanted to which I never did. My boss was 1500 miles away, we would meet at computer shows or would have department get together meetings a couple times a year. It was Fortune 500 company and they didn’t care where I lived as long as I had good internet and was fairly close to an airport.

What’s important is to find a company that doesn’t micro manage their people so you have the flexibility of working at home. The employee also has to produce work so they don’t have to be micro managed. I was upfront with my bosses and they were upfront with me in this arrangement: they knew I waterskied for 2.5 hours everyday during my lunch hour and I knew they could call me at all hours with questions or they could tell me I would have to jump on a plane next week to Germany/China/NYC to talk to customers or give a presentation at a high tech show. Give and take on both sides and it worked out.

I'm not sure if the focus of this is Covid or working from home. If it is Covid I personally will take any shot, they will give me, with the possibility of death I believe it's a no brainer.

If it is working from home, if there is a good monitoring system that the employee is putting the time required and is producing what is requested of them, I believe it is a win, win. A company can reduce it workspace and employee can reduce or eliminates unnecessary travel time. Money saved for both sides.

I'm SO GRATEFUL I was freshly retired when that all went down.

We were on a cruise, which eventually got extended by 2 days when San Juan, Puerto Rico refused to let us disembark there as planned. We went on to Miami where we arrived 2 days later and flew home from there. I have to say that Royal Caribbean was a rock star in how everything was handled.

When I got home it was back to work as usual as I was employed in a retail pharmacy. Not one day off.

We were also on a cruise. We left March 9th and everything was normal and returned March 16th and the world changed. EU passengers had to disembark in Mexico as the USA was closed to EU travelers but the English passengers were ok. Tampa traffic which is usually a nightmare was a ghost town. It was like the Twilight Zone!