Working during COVID (WDC)
The Day I Found Out That I Am Working At Home
I can tell you when it happened. I was at work, getting things done in my office, typing away at the keyboard, and then the impossible happened. My boss walks in and says, “We are being instructed to work at home.”
I reply, “For how long?”
“For the foreseeable future.”
“What?”
It was at that moment that life changed for millions of people worldwide. We would have to leave the comfort of the office, water cooler chats, meetings in a conference room, and the basic constructs of office life.
Well, I thought to myself, as long as the kids go to school, I should be OK.
Well, let me tell you, that didn’t happen!
So, as I packed my car with items from the office, I started thinking that this could go one of two ways. The first is the harmonious joy of family life and work life, so good that I would never want to return to work again! The second, and more realistically, would be like the movie “The Shining” by the late, great, Stanley Kubrick.
In the movie, the main character takes his family to a remote hotel as a caretaker for the winter months. He is also a writer, who used a typewriter, to put his thoughts on paper, and put together his next book. But, spirits (yes, dead ghosts) visit him during the isolated months, then he’s running around with an ax, chopping up his family, and eventually freezing his ass off in a maze. Note: this is not a family-friendly movie, not meant for kids, and some adults. There is a sequel to this movie, which is a great movie, “Doctor Sleep”, also not meant for kids.
So, just like the beginning o this COVID story, I am entering my own house (not built on a Native American burial ground), which sits at a device with mechanical keys (one for each letter), and writes (on a computer screen), with my family all around me 24/7 (as no one can leave their houses due to mandates). I was thinking that the second option was going to come true more than the first. This will not end up well … because all work and no play makes …
So, I arrive at home, with the portable office in tow, and see my wife also unpacking her car.
I say, “Hey Honey, what’s going on?”
She turns around, the trunk is open and there is a box on the ground, and says, “They told everyone to leave the office as I will be working at home as you’re at work and the kids are at school. Also, they gave me one of these.”
She showed me a piece of cloth, with two elastic cords, one on each side. She continues, “They say it is a mask? It is supposed to keep you from getting sick.”
My response was, “So, let me get this right, there is a virus that is everywhere, globally, making everyone sick, and the only protection that we have from this thing is a small piece of cloth several millimeters thick that we strap on over our mouths?”
She replies, “Well, that and hand washing. Yes. that is exactly what I am telling you.”
Botton line: Well, there goes the neighborhood! When I say neighborhood, I mean the whole human race.
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