How has CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) affected YOUR life?

[Gray Lensman]

Not sure what NV law says but some states have partial unemployment.

NV law only kicks in once your gross wages fall under $469, sadly. Which is fine under normal circumstances, except when you normally make much more than that and get reduced to just slightly above the cutoff. And that's the update from the 11th. Thankfully I have some vacation to burn and some savings for emergency repairs held back.

[Jim Kelly]

Getting ready to go out, I need to pick something up. Starting to get a little agoraphobic, plus, I don't really like wearing masks.

Same. Get antsy when I go outside, and especially inside stores. My mask is just a bandanna, but I usually just have it down around my neck, because when I put it over my nose and mouth, my glasses steam up and I can't see a thing. If I had any foresight, I would have brought home a box of masks when I was a hospital worker, some 15 years ago.

[TriggerWarning]

Was talking to my cousin today who works for the state and her job is processing unemployment claims. Its been utterly unreal for her how swamped they are as they can't even remotely begin to catch up and they can't hire more people because that requires training and all training is currently cancelled in the name of social distancing. Plus the crisis may be over by the time they could get them up and running as well.

The real kick in the pants though is that over half the people she is filing claims for will end up making more per week than she makes. On top of that the state has announced that everyones pay is frozen and they will not be getting the normal performance based raises they would have gotten in May. She and her co-workers actually asked to be laid off so they could have a raise since they would make more on unemployment and just got laughed at.

So if you get frustrated with how your unemployment claims are being processed just consider how badly the workers processing them are getting kicked in the teeth.

[Gray Lensman]

Was talking to my cousin today who works for the state and her job is processing unemployment claims. Its been utterly unreal for her how swamped they are as they can't even remotely begin to catch up and they can't hire more people because that requires training and all training is currently cancelled in the name of social distancing. Plus the crisis may be over by the time they could get them up and running as well.

The real kick in the pants though is that over half the people she is filing claims for will end up making more per week than she makes. On top of that the state has announced that everyones pay is frozen and they will not be getting the normal performance based raises they would have gotten in May. She and her co-workers actually asked to be laid off so they could have a raise since they would make more on unemployment and just got laughed at.

So if you get frustrated with how your unemployment claims are being processed just consider how badly the workers processing them are getting kicked in the teeth.

Exacerbating the issue is also how antiquated many state computer systems are. I've heard many still run on COBOL (a programming language from when computers still ran on tubes).

[Jim Kelly]

I studied COBOL in university--also FORTRAN. In high school we used BASIC for programming. But I don't remember the computers running on tubes, I think that was before my time.

[Tami]

Same. Get antsy when I go outside, and especially inside stores. My mask is just a bandanna, but I usually just have it down around my neck, because when I put it over my nose and mouth, my glasses steam up and I can't see a thing. If I had any foresight, I would have brought home a box of masks when I was a hospital worker, some 15 years ago.

I found two boxes of clear medical type gloves. They were leftovers from when I was a caretaker for my mother, before she passed away. I kept the open box for myself and use them when I go out. The unopen box, I placed in a donation box collecting supplies for the local hospital. I use a cloth mask since I don't have access to the regular kind.

[skyvolt2000]

Same. Get antsy when I go outside, and especially inside stores. My mask is just a bandanna, but I usually just have it down around my neck, because when I put it over my nose and mouth, my glasses steam up and I can't see a thing. If I had any foresight, I would have brought home a box of masks when I was a hospital worker, some 15 years ago.

Since we in Dallas are being required to wear mask as of tonight. I tried it today at Wal-Mart. It was a battle and my glasses fogged up. I ordered a new one from Ebay but it will not be here until Thursday.

So I am really staying home.

I also found out school is out for the rest of the year. I am going to have to beg to go back to get the rest of my stuff and records from my computer (which will take an HOUR by itself).
My job can be done at home however if certain folks put egos aside I would have all the programs that I need to really do my job. Who knew having to BEG for a school labtop (the GOOD ONES) actually served a purpose.

[Moon Ronin]

Got a message from HR to contact them. Got a feeling that they want me to lay off some employees. I hate doing this... I really hated doing this!

[C_Miller]

I found two boxes of clear medical type gloves. They were leftovers from when I was a caretaker for my mother, before she passed away. I kept the open box for myself and use them when I go out. The unopen box, I placed in a donation box collecting supplies for the local hospital. I use a cloth mask since I don't have access to the regular kind.

Just remember with gloves, there's a big issue with false sense of security. Masks are useful because they protect something that is hard to protect (though even there, you're likely doing more for other people than yourself). Gloves on the other hand, don't really do that much unless you're changing them every time you touch something new. Washing your hands regularly and use of hand sanitizer between hand washing will do just as much as gloves. I'm sure you're properly using the gloves, so this is more for people who think gloves = safe.

As for masks, today was my first day at the store since our mask order was given about a week ago. I really struggled with it. I found I don't like my face covered and found myself getting really agitated doing what was a grocery trip for two weeks. Glad I don't have to do it again for a while, but it is what it is. I was using a super makeshift mask out of my wife's headband, so maybe a mask that's meant to be a mask will be better.

[Kyer]

An 'essential worker' in the American Southwest. I found this out because shoppers kept walking by thanking me for my service. For two days I was like wtf? because while I had been reading about the virus since early February I have never considered my job 'necessary' to anyone but myself, those I live with, and an assorted of animal in the yard.

Area I live in has closed most businesses and 'asks' people to stay as isolated as possible. I'm glad of this because been reading on how other places are outright arresting people (dad with daughter alone in park, board swimmer alone at beach, citing religious people attending parking lot church while never leaving their cars...) and find this behavior by governments abhorrent in the extreme. We have a thing over here called The Constitution and it is supposed to override any state or local laws if those laws conflict with it. I consider freedom far more important than my age being at risk. You do what you can to stay as safe as you are going to be. Government should only be advising and helping with things like the Small Business relief that actually goes to small business and not corporations. Police should only be arresting those who purposefully try to contaminate people and food like those mental morons going around licking market food.

Not wearing any PPE. I did try looking masks up on Amazon but the prices were crazy when they were available at all. Learned that the things can aggravate your facial skin. Also wondered and still wonder just what these things are made of that a person would be breathing in strange fibers. (There were some people making masks from HEPA filters. Yikes!) For this reason I turned down employer's medical masks as they are from China. Nope, nope, nope. Communist China is behaving reprehensibly and they control their society with an iron fist. I remember that dog food scare, plastic sold as rice to their own people, now this. omg. Will wash my hands often and sneeze/cough into elbow then wash that area.

[PaulBullion]

One of my parents' oldest friends has tested positive. He has a high fever. He is over 90, but he was a yoga teacher for decades and he always appeared much younger than he was. It's not looking good.

[DrNewGod]

Got a message from HR to contact them. Got a feeling that they want me to lay off some employees. I hate doing this... I really hated doing this!

I've been where you are. It was headquarters downsizing our branch, but I've been there. I wish I could offer you something more than saying "I get it. Hang in there."

[Enigma]

One of my parents' oldest friends has tested positive. He has a high fever. He is over 90, but he was a yoga teacher for decades and he always appeared much younger than he was. It's not looking good.

I'm really sorry to hear that, best wishes for him. Risk factors of course have those that buck the trend, so here's hoping that he is one of those.




Regarding laying people off. I've never been in that position and don't envy, but try to remember that it isn't your fault that it's happening.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

As far as the stimulus payment from the IRS is concerned, have you all already received yours? I know some of you are out of work, so it's important you get stimulated.

I'm not really keeping up with how the rollout was supposed to go and when the target date was for 100% rollout. As far as the IRS is concerned, do they think they've already completed this?

[Gray Lensman]

I was just informed that my workplace is changing things up based on the slowdown. While the plastics company I work for does do some medical packaging, we also do a lot of plastic for discretionary items, so we are working at less than 50% capacity right now. Rather than contract to 2 workdays per week, they decided to go to 1/2 shifts 5 days per week again, with the other half having the full week off, then changing who works and has the week off the next week. This will let us qualify for unemployment during the off weeks instead of being right at the cutoff point every week, and the company if eating the insurance copays on our weeks off. It may hurt a little in the short run, since unemployment insurance takes several weeks to reach new applicants, but will be better in the long run. Thankfully Nevada has hired a few hundred extra people for the unemployment office to help push through all the newly unemployed.