Coronavirus & stuff

Businesses must now start contributing a little more towards staff on furlough. It's not a huge amount but so many SMEs must be nervously placing straws on backs right now...

I would be so utterly terrified if I lost my job and I don't even have any children/dependents. How on earth are people going to cope?

Edit - I should say 'will' instead of 'would'. Our CEO said a few weeks ago that he's not considering anything yet but if things don't improve as the year goes on he will have to start making difficult decisions.

Oblomov Boblomov wrote:Businesses must now start contributing a little more towards staff on furlough. It's not a huge amount but so many SMEs must be nervously placing straws on backs right now...

I would be so utterly terrified if I lost my job and I don't even have any children/dependents. How on earth are people going to cope?

Edit - I should say 'will' instead of 'would'. Our CEO said a few weeks ago that he's not considering anything yet but if things don't improve as the year goes on he will have to start making difficult decisions.

This is going to impact a lot of people. But at least they'll be able to become customs officers in the new year.

Seriously though, I'm putting money away.

I actually went to the cinema last night to see Empire Strikes Back with my nipper. Had masks on in the foyer right through to our seats and then took them off. We had a large popcorn and I got my boy a slush puppy. Have to say, if I had to wear a mask whilst watching the film, I wouldn't have bothered going as I'm pretty particular when watching a film and like to be comfortable without distraction. I always clean my glasses before I go for example, as I don't want any smears or dust on my lenses that will distract me.

The cinema was absolutely dead. I think there were only about 15 people in the screening, and it's all very well spaced out. I don't think there is any need to wear masks in the screening if you don't have to wear masks in offices.

Office - relatively small group of the same people meeting regularly, social distancing and other protections easier to implement as it's a place of work

Cinema - hundreds or possibly thousands of different people all from different locations coming and sharing a space where restrictions are much harder to enforce


Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

Jenuall wrote:Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

The rules are garbled, confusing, and quite frankly duller than an in-flight magazine produced by 'Air Belgium'!

Vermilion wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

The rules are garbled, confusing, and quite frankly duller than an in-flight magazine produced by 'Air Belgium'!

Someone clearly hasn't read the page turner that was their article "Salt, an epicures delight"

Jenuall wrote:

Vermilion wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

The rules are garbled, confusing, and quite frankly duller than an in-flight magazine produced by 'Air Belgium'!

Someone clearly hasn't read the page turner that was their article "Salt, and epicures delight"

I preferred the other article which informed me of the fact that when most people think of classic wines, they are unlikely to consider the Estonian reds, yet Estonian grapes are among the fruitiest and most subtle.

Jenuall wrote:Office - relatively small group of the same people meeting regularly, social distancing and other protections easier to implement as it's a place of work

Cinema - hundreds or possibly thousands of different people all from different locations coming and sharing a space where restrictions are much harder to enforce


Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

Err, there are 300 people in my office. A cinema screen with social distancing can probably only fit a max of about 50 people inside.

Vermilion wrote:

Jenuall wrote:

Vermilion wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

The rules are garbled, confusing, and quite frankly duller than an in-flight magazine produced by 'Air Belgium'!

Someone clearly hasn't read the page turner that was their article "Salt, and epicures delight"

I preferred the other article which informed me of the fact that when most people think of classic wines, they are unlikely to consider the Estonian reds, yet Estonian grapes are among the fruitiest and most subtle.

Another classic, and don't get me started on their piece about Flemish basket weaving!

captain red dog wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Office - relatively small group of the same people meeting regularly, social distancing and other protections easier to implement as it's a place of work

Cinema - hundreds or possibly thousands of different people all from different locations coming and sharing a space where restrictions are much harder to enforce


Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

Err, there are 300 people in my office. A cinema screen with social distancing can probably only fit a max of about 50 people inside.

An office will have the same 300 people every day (give or take) whereas a cinema has multiple showings that will bring huge numbers of different people into the same shared space over the course of days and weeks, it's a contamination nightmare by comparison

captain red dog wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Office - relatively small group of the same people meeting regularly, social distancing and other protections easier to implement as it's a place of work

Cinema - hundreds or possibly thousands of different people all from different locations coming and sharing a space where restrictions are much harder to enforce


Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

Err, there are 300 people in my office. A cinema screen with social distancing can probably only fit a max of about 50 people inside.

That’s the same 300 people a day, a cinema would have thousands of different people every day. It only takes one person to not clean something properly for thousands of people to be infected.

See, eggman Chris gets it.

Happy Shielding Ending Guys! We did it! It's safe for the most vulnerable to go back to work uh spend money in shops!...I mean "enjoy their freedom"

Brb going down the cinema to see a film I've got at home and seen hundreds of times already, hopefully to have a bucket of popcorn I'll not finish and contract a cheeky 'rona

Oh m8, wot r u liek!! C u down the boozer l8r oi oi!

twitter.com/JoshHalliday/status/1289109060797726721

The people are to blame for not following the very simple clear rules!

Christopher wrote:

captain red dog wrote:

Jenuall wrote:Office - relatively small group of the same people meeting regularly, social distancing and other protections easier to implement as it's a place of work

Cinema - hundreds or possibly thousands of different people all from different locations coming and sharing a space where restrictions are much harder to enforce


Yeah I can't understand why people might want to try and suggest different rules are necessary in these two situations

Err, there are 300 people in my office. A cinema screen with social distancing can probably only fit a max of about 50 people inside.

That’s the same 300 people a day, a cinema would have thousands of different people every day. It only takes one person to not clean something properly for thousands of people to be infected.

Thanks but I'll be wearing a mask if I return to my office and have to share kitchen and toilet space with 300 people!

Noticed this morning that the main gov.uk page no longer mentions anything about WFH or staying at home as much as possible.

But if you fill out the "should I work from home" questionnaire, the answer is still very clearly "yes, you should work from home wherever possible".

This government make me strawberry floating sick to my stomach. Spineless little banana splits, the lot of them. I'm strawberry floating seething with disgust.

I feel the only thing keeping WFH practices in place at a lot of companies is the risk of an outbreak. It would cause major disruption, bad press, potential legal claims etc.

My company don't seem to be rushing us back fortunately. I heard on the grapevine that productivity is largely the same, and they are looking at making cost savings though getting rid of a load of office space and having us work from home much more in future.

There's been a fundamental, probably irreversible, shift towards having WFH as an option at the worker's discretion in the universities sector, at least at the (different) universities I and my partner work for. There's now been a lot of investment in WFH infrastructure that I can't see them "wasting" by rolling back in the future.

It's not the case everywhere though - I guess some sectors are primed to just accept more WFH, in others it will be more of a fight to keep it.