Post Covid-World work life; changes for you, or back to the same?

A

addyguy

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So, Covid is basically ‘over’. It did massive disruptions to our way of life - the economy shut down, some lost jobs, lots started to work from home. Covid-related disruptions caused massive inflation and some scarcity.
Now that it is ‘over’, we have gone back to ‘normal’; but it is not normal. Some had to go back to work places and their commute, some stayed working from home, some had to commute more to a new job.
Some who didn’t have to drive were able to sell vehicles, some with a new commute had to get a newer more expensive vehicle for their commute.

Where did you land after all the dust settles? I’m posting this bc my situation stayed amazingly boring. Height of the pandemic I got a management job 37 miles from where I live, and started to commute every day in an old car I wasn’t sure would last 2 years. I just got promoted in that job, so I am continuing to do this commute for the foreseeable future.
My financial situation in this time has gotten worse, so the (hopefully) higher pay will help, but I am still using that same car, now at 190k miles to do the commute, and will have to wring every last mile I can out of it. Thankfully it gets great mileage and gas has gotten cheaper recently.
How about you? Hope the New Year starts off great for everyone!!
 
I personally believe people need to get over the pan-scamdemic stuff. I worked through the entire situation got screwed out of hazardous pay and still surviving. Had a kid, sold a home, bought a home and moved 800 miles all during it. And had a job lined up for me when I made the move. Really it depends on how people want to make it some ride the train of pain some take the trip to fame. Happy new year stay safe
 
Not seeing this being a ‘lock’ topic - is was just a long winded way of asking has your work commute changed a lot?
 
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I'm still working from home, even though the building that I used to work out of is a 10 minute drive away. I don't have anything there anymore, no office... nothing.

My employer mandated the vaccine, I made a decision that went against that... so my boss just told me to stay at home, and I'm still here, LOL.
 
I retired during the height of COVID........not because of the pandemic, but because of the political climate involving the death of a subject in custody. That being said, I didn't have the option to "not" work during the pandemic and went in every day till my retirement. Most people in the private industry I knew were working (?) from home and they have all since returned to going into their place of employment. Some of them complaining that they should still be able to work (?) from home :)
So, to answer your question, yes, my work commute has changed a lot.

(IBTL)
 
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Healthcare has changed. Many left the field and did not come back. The healthcare travel market took off, and while it has cooled a bit, is still a thing. Many are doing travel jobs vs working in a hospital. Many hospitals struggle to maintain core staffing.
 
spasm3 said:
Healthcare has changed. Many left the field and did not come back. The healthcare travel market took off, and while it has cooled a bit, is still a thing. Many are doing travel jobs vs working in a hospital. Many hospitals struggle to maintain core staffing.
Click to expand...
I feel ya on this spasm3.
It'll never be the same.
 
At the time I worked and went to school. Finished high school in May of 2020 then went to college and graduated there in May 2021 with my certificate in automotive service. The shop I was at then was so slow that they often sent the hourly people home. We averaged maybe 10-15 cars a week. I was struggling bad to pay for tools and things I needed. Then they let everyone go basically for a reason I won’t mention it directly here but we were outside playing corn hole and a customer called and complained we weren’t wearing something so basically we were all told to pack our things for violating policy. So then found a job doing road service that was slow and didn’t make any money. Tried a mom and pops shop it was ok but also very slow. Then had an opportunity to go to my current dealership so I did and still work there almost 3 years later. It’s 30 miles from my house but right next to my grandmas house which is a good thing. Things in my area were extremely slow. I asked all my friends too at the time how they were doing and they were all struggling as well. People weren’t going places and we weren’t turning wrenches. Glad things have picked back up but they certainly will never go back to the way they were for any industry at least I feel anyway.
 
My employer "mandated" 3 days a week in the office - regardless, barely anyone comes in.

I mostly work from home and roll up to the office whenever I feel like it. I have no "team" so there isn't much need for me to come in; and it doesn't make much sense when no one is there anyway.

I earn a good salary, but it has not increased in-line with inflation. All bills have increased, incl property taxes and insurance. I have had several opportunities to change employers for higher pay, but do not want to sacrifice flexibility - So have looked to other means of improving my financial position (small business in an unrelated industry)
 
I never stopped going into the office, and it was a glorious three years of zero traffic and a quiet near-empty building.

Conversely, my wife's local office closed so she's been working from home since it started.
 
Not sure. I could see an erosion of our WFH privileges in the near future--let's be clear, my workday is often 8-10 hours behind a computer doing CAD work, designing stuff or otherwise typing away, I don't need to be in-office (and actually can be more productive at home)--but I think I see how less is getting done at work. I think as other companies push to have more people in the office more of the time, I'll be stuck going in. Not awful, did it for many years, it's just that I will be less productive as a result. And after a 2 year break from commuting, I really question just how much I like to drive, and the waste of time that it is.

One of the "joys" of the pandemic is that my wife now has early onset arthritis, and it appears to be triggered by catching a cold. So she could mask up over the winter, and.... still catch something if I bring it home. When it flares up on her, she'll spend a week or two hobbling around, barely able to walk (feet), and perhaps a week or two of not having use of one or both hands. Often it moves from one place to the other. So do I refuse to wear a mask because it's not needed for me? not a hard choice to make, just a hard one to live with the consequences.

Will say, I look forward to retirement more than ever. It was fun, but... now it's depressing to contemplate that retirement is another 20 years away. I may have to start job hopping, that's the new thing it seems.
 
Rogueman2016s said:
I personally believe people need to get over the pan-scamdemic stuff. I worked through the entire situation got screwed out of hazardous pay and still surviving. Had a kid, sold a home, bought a home and moved 800 miles all during it. And had a job lined up for me when I made the move. Really it depends on how people want to make it some ride the train of pain some take the trip to fame. Happy new year stay safe
Click to expand...
People were really disturbed by the brainwashing done to them by their Tvs. Way back when two of my dearest friend were schooling to become doctor and I took the some of the pre med classes they took just because and the stuff the media spewed was rather to put it politely not factual. But the great reset comes to mind.
 
80% work from home….. 20% traveling pre illness.
70% , 30% currently.


spasm3,

Yes it was crazy during the waves of illness and people walking off job to immediately start as a traveler. I was helping repair vents and some hospitals were in bad shape with staffing.
 
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incognito_2u said:
I retired during the height of COVID........not because of the pandemic, but because of the political climate involving the death of a subject in custody. That being said, I didn't have the option to "not" work during the pandemic and went in every day till my retirement. Most people in the private industry I knew were working (?) from home and they have all since returned to going into their place of employment. Some of them complaining that they should still be able to work (?) from home :)
So, to answer your question, yes, my work commute has changed a lot.

(IBTL)
Click to expand...
Thank you for doing a job where you served and protected the community. Just like the military most folks take LE for granted until they need someone/help.
 
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