To think some people are ‘enjoying’ the pandemic

[Flynnqwer]

I’ve noticed an attitude amongst some people where they’re nothing short of praying for a new, more lethal, variant.

I’ve noticed it amongst people I work with and people I do a hobby with. Any discussion about going back to our workplace (we can work from home but not easily or particularly effectively) once the Government ends the restrictions on waiting from home, or back to our hobby in real life instead of on Zoom (the hobby is controlled by a central board who are following the WFH advice until it is lifted) are met with cries of ‘No! We can’t do that! It’s dangerous!’ and it anyone points out that, thankfully, it looks like the vaccination programme is working and Omicron is less severe, they come back with ‘but what if there’s a more lethal strain that appears and kills millions?’

My workplace has one element which has legally got to be done in person. I have had emails today from managers begging us to cancel said work thing and do it online. We cannot do it on line lawfully (it’s along the lines of witnessing signatures). We have told them no, we must go into the building for an hour to fulfil this function. They are saying that that is breaking the working from home directive, that it’s unsafe, and what if a deadly variant is discovered? Then we’d have to find a way around the law.

AIBU that some people are actively hoping that the situation worsens and we are locked back down? Why would anyone want this to happen?

[quote AllThePogs]@BillGigolo I am so sorry to hear that.
I was furloughed for 3 months and hated it. I am a low earner and I only got 80% of my salary. I was scared of losing my job and worried about the future.[/quote]
@AllThePogs thank you and same - I was very worried that my manager would come to the conclusion they didn’t need me as I was the only one on furlough (due to no childcare).

Also to op, if someone genuinely dies t enjoy socialising, why would they care about nodding out? Socialising-wise, things are pretty back to normal, are they not? Apart from mask wearing, which I’ll continue to do even if the government drops it again.

They don’t want to drop the hobby but they also don’t want to leave the house so they want everyone to continue on Zoom.

All the research shows wfh is more popular than working in the office. Why would people not fight for what they prefer? And frankly, what does it have to do with you?

Because they can’t work from home full time. It doesn’t work great and aspects of the job legally need to be carried out face to face.

The hobby held a survey where 70% wanted to return to real life. We did, then stopped again when the central organisation aligned itself to the Government’s WFH message. We intend to go back to f2f when this ends, but three or four people are adamant they don’t want to leave the house so no one else should and we should stay online.

It affects me because neither are hybrid. The few people who want to stay at home to do the job (badly) and hobby intend to force everyone, including me, to stay at home to do them.

I think there is a mix of some people that have a genuine anxiety disorder and are struggling to understand and accept its ok now, it’s pretty much over , and some others have lived their best life during this, no commute, staying at home , no socialising, and they don’t want normality back for selfish reasons. But the overwhelming majority of people do want and are actually back to normality.

The pandemic has shown me just how many people do not want freedom. And it has been a surprise just how far-reaching that is. I am not sure we have a very robust nation, psychologically.

Freedom is too much of a responsibility for them to bear, and they prefer being mollycoddled by the government and their new saviours, the scientists. Anything but to take responsibility for themselves and have to make their own decisions (and take the consequences for themselves).

I think it was Freud who pointed this out

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

The pandemic gave the perfect demonstration of this. People still wanting lockdowns just before Xmas is just.....this. We are risk averse to a frightening level and I don't think it is healthy at all

Haven't RTFT but I've quite enjoyed things. DC are old enough to do school work themselves, wfh has been great, no major money worries, and I enjoyed no visits as I'm the family host so no big dinners to cook for 15+ people. I realize that I'm in a very privileged position though.

My friends are like this. They LOVE lockdown and at the first scent of it, get all excited and happy.

Annoys the heck of out me! Not everyone enjoys being cooped up with the entire bloody family all the time!

@seekinglondonlife

Haven't RTFT but I've quite enjoyed things. DC are old enough to do school work themselves, wfh has been great, no major money worries, and I enjoyed no visits as I'm the family host so no big dinners to cook for 15+ people. I realize that I'm in a very privileged position though.

Yeah, the homeschooling is a BIG thing for a lot. My kids hate it and one won't engage ...the other hates technology and would rather be in school. Not a good mix!

@Hollyhead

Yep - non vulnerable people who wear mask outdoors in non crowded areas almost to show off how seriously they take it even though outdoor transmission has been shown to be highly unlikely.

Not vulnerable but having broken a new pair of £300 glasses and really struggling with the logistics of misting up and the sheer bloody faff of getting it on and off I leave it on when I’m out of the house- on bus off & into office and often in shops, I leave it on. But judge away 😀

then you have to manage them. I don't understand why you are whining about this when legally you can make someone come into the office to do tasks that can not be done from home.

I am not a manager. I told them we would be going into the building and that is that.

What I cannot abide is the ‘but what if there’s a new variant and we die? We’ll have to never go back to work just in case.’ Particularly grating from one who was on holiday abroad in November and August 2020 (which I fully support). She isn’t scared of the virus. She just wants to stop having to commute to work to do the job. She can work from home some of the time, but must come in for certain things. She doesn’t want to, so is hiding behind Covid. She is always pleased when numbers begin to rise and the exciting prospect of more restrictions is back on the table.

Yup. Mostly bullies and sneaks and curtain-twitchers who have enough resources even now to suffer little real hardship (pleasant, comfortable home, undemanding job that can be done remotely, plenty of food storage space etc). They can feel really important if they are monitoring how many people visit a neighbour's house: it's much more rewarding to denounce other people for being SELFISH MURDERERS than just whining about them putting their bins out on the wrong day, or playing a bit of music after half-past nine.

My Granny enjoyed WW2, it was the most exciting time of her life. It's similar to that I guess, people with mundane lives relishing the excitement and uncertainty of the pandemic.

YANBU

I mean from a personal POV I enjoyed lockdown. I don’t like crowds of people and the peace from dealing with them every day was great for my MH.

I know some people like this. I think for people who have no friends and don’t do anything anyway, it gives them a licence to be as they are. They lock themselves away and talk about Covid all the time as if it’s a religion. They aren’t missing much because they don’t like socialising or being with people anyway.

This thread has appeared on here in various iterations 1,157 times. It is boring, YABU to post it again.

I don’t think there are many people who wouldn’t like to see the back of the pandemic.

Even if there are some, so what? A bunch of people enjoying the pandemic and social restrictions will not prolong it (if anything, it’d be the opposite).

I suspect people who accuse others of enjoying the pandemic are just trying to find someone to lash out at, and (in some way) blame for it, to try to ease their own anxieties.

When I see posters accusing others of “frothing at the prospect of a new variant” or “revelling in being in the shielding category”, I just think they’re having a bit of a breakdown.

I absolutely agree. It's mainly a mumsnet phenomenon. IRL around here at least people want to get back to normal, still WFH if that suits but not all these restrictions. We are badly in need of a sense of perspective on Omicron.

Yes I agree, and the majority of those enjoying the pandemic are the ones that benefitted from furlough and spent lock down relaxing in the garden while the rest of us worked liked dogs.

Yep @FrasierCraneDay I was thinking it and you wrote it.

So ridiculous. If they're comfortable doing their 'hobby', socialising or going shopping, and if they're happy with school and public facing staff taking risks on their behalf, they should STFU. Personally I can't wait to be able to get hold of the service providers I need to speak to without waiting days on end for a response because they're protecting themselves and their loved ones. I can't do that.

One good thing has come out of COVID - my employer has introduced hybrid working and I only need to go into the office twice a week. Game changer. But I don’t enjoy seeing 100k+ people per day getting infected

@Flynnqwer

then you have to manage them. I don't understand why you are whining about this when legally you can make someone come into the office to do tasks that can not be done from home.

I am not a manager. I told them we would be going into the building and that is that.

What I cannot abide is the ‘but what if there’s a new variant and we die? We’ll have to never go back to work just in case.’ Particularly grating from one who was on holiday abroad in November and August 2020 (which I fully support). She isn’t scared of the virus. She just wants to stop having to commute to work to do the job. She can work from home some of the time, but must come in for certain things. She doesn’t want to, so is hiding behind Covid. She is always pleased when numbers begin to rise and the exciting prospect of more restrictions is back on the table.

You said you own the business. So as a business owner it is your job to manage your most senior staff. It sounds like you are pretty disparaging of your staff and not happy to put in the time talking to them about their issues.

Worrying about things getting worse is hardly "enjoying" the pandemic, quite the opposite I would have thought. What an idiotic post!

@BitterTits

So ridiculous. If they're comfortable doing their 'hobby', socialising or going shopping, and if they're happy with school and public facing staff taking risks on their behalf, they should STFU. Personally I can't wait to be able to get hold of the service providers I need to speak to without waiting days on end for a response because they're protecting themselves and their loved ones. I can't do that.

You are not waiting days on end because staff are wfh. That is an excuse used by some companies for not having enough staff to give good customer service. The company I work for has had more customer enquiries than usual. It also deals with them very quickly and has very high rates of customer satisfaction because they have enough staff. Oh and nearly all our staff wfh.

@CharlotteGoldenblattYork

Yep! I've noticed on here some people seem to absolutely delight in being in the 'shielding category'

That's cruel and offensive. I've hated every minute of not being able to see my family and friends, run my business the way I used to, socialise. I've also hated having to wait longer for my surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy .

You said you own the business. So as a business owner it is your job to manage your most senior staff.

I never said anything of the sort.

Worrying about things getting worse is hardly "enjoying" the pandemic, quite the opposite I would have thought. What an idiotic post!

I don’t believe that they are worried. You can see how excited they get when cases are rising, and the disappointment as they realise things are heading towards more normal territory again, hence the ‘no we can’t go back to normal! There might be a worse strain one day!’

They just want to keep restrictions.