Covid19 Seclusion Thread

JohnC

Well-known member
Dec 8, 2005
896
13
Tappan, NY
Is there an employer outside of the government that still let's you bank sick/vacation time at the end of the year?

I've never worked at a place with carryover of more than 5 days.
My wife, daughter and me work for a Non-profit and we get to carryover our vac/sick days.
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
How do non-profits afford that?

By paying salaries that are lower than equivalents in the consulting/government sectors, having low(ish) overhead, and not being beholden to shareholders. It's not so much that they can afford it, it's that they have to offer these kinds of benefits to attract and retain talent. Granted, I've been there 12 years so not everyone is racking up the kind of paid time off that I get. But that helps keep me there.

I could go work for the City of Seattle, King County, regional government, or consulting firms and earn 50% more, but I wouldn't be able to routinely fuck off to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, France, or Greenland for 3 weeks at a time or take a 3-month sabbatical every few years. I'm at a place along my personal indifference curve where I place a higher value on time than on money. In five years I'm not going to look back and wish I'd spent more time in the office. I'm going to look back and be grateful I got to drive the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route in my Discovery, camp on the beach with my wife and dog, explore the Cascades, and go on all the other trips I wanted to.
 

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
There's certainly truth to what you're saying. However, wages have not kept up with costs of living for a long, long time. This is acutely true, for varying reasons, with housing, education, and insurance. Could hourly / low wage workers in retail and service industries exercise more discipline? Sure. But the result won't have much impact when the average American spends 37% of their income* on housing (and that's average, mind you, not median).

Again, I completely get your point and I'm certainly not arguing against it. Just highlighting that at a certain level of income, it's extremely difficult to save money when you combine the cost of living increases with the occasional minor emergency like car problems, medical co-pays, etc.


*source:

I don't disagree. At the same time I say JOIN THE MILITARY!! I worked a ton of retail jobs between the ages of 16 and 21. It was obvious to my dumb 19yo self that retail sucks and pays squat. The managers aren't much better off and they are constantly effing with their employees hours in an effort to get bonuses and whatnot. Not to mention the hours blow. If I hadn't gotten a job in the public sector shortly after I did I would have joined the military.

My employer requires the first 40hrs of unused sick time be banked. So when I see guys that have been there 20yrs and have 2 days of sick time it kind of pisses me off.
 

terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
I have worked a government job for 25 years. I have been at the 4 month max accrual for “sick leave” and been “losing” days for 15 years. I do stay home when I am sick, but typically that is at most a few days a year. I can work sick, but don’t want to make others sick. No “sunny day“ sick days for me. It takes 10 years to reach max accrual. No payout for them when I retire either. Some of my newer coworkers rarely allow anything to be accrued. We recently switched to PTO in lieu of sick and vacation accrual. The new folks simply use the PTO till it’s gone and have nothing for a “rainy day.” We can accrue about 6 months of PTO and that is payable at retirement. To be fair, some of our older staff have next to no sick leave left either, but that is due mostly to major illness or injury in their later years. It’s going to be a mess when our newer folks get to the age where they need 6 weeks sick / injury leave. Our job is physical. A torn ligament can mean months of not working. I hope they buy some short term disability coverage.

I also worked retail before my career started. It made me appreciate my career job and not abuse its benefits. I am one of those essential employees and not a part of the COVID -19 shut down.

I remember when I went to the FD orientation being told I will never be wealthy in this job but I will never be hungry. That has held true for 25 years. There have been years of no pay raises but I have never been laid off or lost my job due to my company closing its doors. And, due to a good defined benefit pension, I will retire relatively young.
 
Last edited:

DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
Today was the first day of our "shelter-in-place" and I saw no difference than the day before. About the same amount of traffic, about the same amount of businesses open. The one thing I did notice, The governor has left the state parks, golf course, etc stay open to give people something to do. Well, I work for the DNR and holy shit what a clusterfuck. A manager that works alongside me had a difficult time dealing with it. We had a couple of minor complaints and he didn't take it very well. He was like "my wife got laid off today, my sisters business was shut down, and to these people it's like a fucking vacation". Got to say I can't disagree. Doesn't seem like anyone is taking this very seriously.

On another note. I go run at a park not far from me. I went there after work and like my work site it was fucking packed. It's really sad just how clueless people have become. You drive down the right side of the road, but fuck that on a walking trail. Left side, right side, right down the middle, four wide, who fucking cares. Can't figure out how to keep your dog under control on a retractable lease, fuck it, just let them run wild. And don't get me started on the young kids on bikes. It's never been hard for me to figure out traffic flow, or to concede right of way, or to control my pet/child, or just to understand there are other people in this world and they don't want to be inconvenienced by my bullshit. Why is that so fucking hard for others too understand.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: stu454

SCSL

Well-known member
Apr 27, 2005
4,144
152
I am a bartender in St Louis City. I don’t have a job at the moment. So I’m in a cabin in E TN, building hiking trails, and riding my bike. I’ll go broke soon, but have fun on the way.
Will the assistance checks and increased unemployment benefits keep you going?
 

lunchbox

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
2,133
165
50
St Louis, MO
Will the assistance checks and increased unemployment benefits keep you going?
I wouldn’t say they will keep me going on their own. They will be welcome and helpful though. I have enough saved up and few enough bills to keep me out of trouble. But the majority of the people I work with do not. Some of them are really in trouble.
 

brian4d

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2007
6,499
67
High Point, NC
I wouldn’t say they will keep me going on their own. They will be welcome and helpful though. I have enough saved up and few enough bills to keep me out of trouble. But the majority of the people I work with do not. Some of them are really in trouble.

They are keeping local ABC stores open in NC, go figure. My guess is they will be busy. You may consider this as a temp job given your background and knowledge of spirits if they are hiring in your area.
 

SGaynor

Well-known member
Dec 6, 2006
7,148
162
52
Bristol, TN
My employer decided that there are non-essential employees (mostly the business types) that should just work from home, period. Then there are the operations folks who run the plants - they are working 7 days on, 7 days off, 12-hour shifts.

Then there's us...the semi-needed (mostly R&D). They broke us up into two "teams;" one team is working for 2 weeks, while the other works from home. Then we switch. I was a week in to working at work, when my daughter decided to come home from DC (she had just moved there three weeks ago and knew no one). My company considers that area a "hot zone," so I have to stay home a week...which means I'm working from home for the next three weeks. We'll see how long this alternating time goes.

The company now also wants us to call medical to get clearance to come to the plant if we, or anyone in our family, travel outside of a 100 -mile radius. Also, if anyone comes to our house from outside the same radius.

People are still out and about - there's no flat shelter in place orders for SW VA/TN. But not nearly as many as would normally be. Had to go to Target yesterday - saw maybe 20 people in the whole store, including employees.

The ER is quiet, as is EMS. Seems people don't want to go for fear of catching COVID. They are apparently calling our stations directly trying to get medical advice from us (we can't do that).

But the crazies are still out and about.

Last night a patient who was in the ER for a psych evaluation escaped, ran out side and then jumped in the front of my ambulance while I was in the ER. He was naked....

Needless to say, we spent a half hour decontaminating.
 

terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
When the national emergency declaration was made we were at our cabin in the woods at 8000 feet, 1100 miles away. Regretfully, I do get cell service there. My stand in at work was a regular phone call from the time the declaration was made. I knew I couldn’t stay much longer. After a few days of email and phone calls I may as well have been at work anyway. Shortly after we arrived (spring break) we got notice my 9 year old son’s school would be closed for a month. My wife, who has mostly controlled asthma thanks to a $3000 a month medication she self injects every 2 weeks, is exactly the definition of someone at high risk for CoronaVirus complications. And with my job in a densely populated metro area, I am around paramedics every day, making it likely I could bring the virus home. We decided she would stay there with my son until it was time for her next asthma injection. Yesterday, I packaged the injection in a cooler with ice packs and sent it to her next day air via FedEx. I am impressed how FedEx and UPS will literally deliver just about anywhere. That bought her a couple more weeks. We are a tight family and I expect she and my son won’t be able to hold out much longer. I hope they stay at least the two weeks. Aside from being lonely, having to use paper towels as toilet paper, and settling for canned fruit and veggies, they have it pretty good there. If they decide to stay a bit longer, I will send another next day air med package.

I am still trying to understand the hoarding of toilet paper... weird.
 

rovercanus

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2004
9,643
244
When the national emergency declaration was made we were at our cabin in the woods at 8000 feet, 1100 miles away. Regretfully, I do get cell service there. My stand in at work was a regular phone call from the time the declaration was made. I knew I couldn’t stay much longer. After a few days of email and phone calls I may as well have been at work anyway. Shortly after we arrived (spring break) we got notice my 9 year old son’s school would be closed for a month. My wife, who has mostly controlled asthma thanks to a $3000 a month medication she self injects every 2 weeks, is exactly the definition of someone at high risk for CoronaVirus complications. And with my job in a densely populated metro area, I am around paramedics every day, making it likely I could bring the virus home. We decided she would stay there with my son until it was time for her next asthma injection. Yesterday, I packaged the injection in a cooler with ice packs and sent it to her next day air via FedEx. I am impressed how FedEx and UPS will literally deliver just about anywhere. That bought her a couple more weeks. We are a tight family and I expect she and my son won’t be able to hold out much longer. I hope they stay at least the two weeks. Aside from being lonely, having to use paper towels as toilet paper, and settling for canned fruit and veggies, they have it pretty good there. If they decide to stay a bit longer, I will send another next day air med package.

I am still trying to understand the hoarding of toilet paper... weird.
How can we help?
 

mgreenspan

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2005
4,723
130
Briggs's Back Yard
It’s just nice to read what others are doing. I actually feel very fortunate. I may be a little sad, lonely, and frustrated but am very thankful overall.
Yeah man. Where can I take anything? My wife and kids are in the U.K. My plans to visit in between work stuff are out for obvious reasons. I’d say I’m homeless but living at my parents house in northern VA in the mean time while I see how all this pans out for airlines. Still employed though so that’s cool. Bought the wife a new iPad so I’ve been reading stories to the kids over that to replace in person things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: terryjm1