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?

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

The working from home directive is and always has been tempered with the phrase “if you can”

They do realise that most of the U.K. has returned to work and has been working throughout.
I am not a key worker and after losing all our income during the first lockdown down we have as a family worked throughout.

Dh is one of the shielded who stayed in for the first lockdown down but it did him more harm than good and he refused to stay in when we went into the subsequent lockdowns.

@Aimeehedge the people who frequent sorryanitvaxxer.com seem gleeful about deaths

Haven't rtht, but what I can see is the complete opposite of the OP. I went in to the town centre shopping today. So many otherwise rule abiding people, not wearing masks, wearing masks on their chin, no mask whatsoever! I'm wearing my mask, because that's the rules, but I have to admit I've found that pulling it away from my face by a few centimetres, while walking around and wearing it, means that I'm following all of 'the rules', but I'm still able to sort of not really wear a mask! Me going into shops, and shop assistant wearily putting their mask on because a customer has arrived. And as soon as I'm not looking they pull the mask down. Everyone is sick and tired of covid. I do not know one person who would be happy or excited by a new variant.

Probably a mix of things. There’s people who’ve found a sense of validation and community with people who share their pandemic fears and they’re not willing to give up on it.

Some people have spiralled so the only way they feel in control is by trying to freeze what’s happening and insist everyone stay home. If they hear things are getting better they panic and insist it’s getting worse so they can keep living how they are.

I don’t think it’s so much enjoyment than not being able to cope. They try to find as much negative information as they can to validate their view and insist everything is hopeless so they don’t have to accept risk and things don’t change.

@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?

Only on MN have I seen claims that people enjoy the pandemic and lockdowns.

I don’t know anyone doing this. At all

I wish I didn’t.

Only on MN have I seen claims that people enjoy the pandemic and lockdowns.

I’m genuinely surprised that people haven’t met anyone who is desperately trying to insist that things are getting worse and that we must all remain frozen in a state of voluntary lockdown.

echt

I know a couple of people in rl who I think have put their life on hold for 2 years and now I can’t see how they are going to ever rejoin society without some professional help.

I’m genuinely surprised that people haven’t met anyone who is desperately trying to insist that things are getting worse and that we must all remain frozen in a state of voluntary lockdown

If you'd endured the Melbourne lockdowns, you'd never ever want one again.

@echt

I’m genuinely surprised that people haven’t met anyone who is desperately trying to insist that things are getting worse and that we must all remain frozen in a state of voluntary lockdown

If you'd endured the Melbourne lockdowns, you'd never ever want one again.

The British one was bad enough and I don’t want to endure one ever again. I want to return to real life and am beyond fed up with those insisting they don’t want to so no one can/should.

@CharlotteGoldenblattYork

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

This is a really unkind thing to say.

I've not had to shield and have just felt so lucky, this period has been horrendously stressful for my friends and colleagues who do have extra reason to worry about catching covid.

I was talking about this a few weeks ago with a friend and she was saying she enjoyed the first two, using them to do some decoration jobs on her house and chill out. I was thinking about it and if I was her (paid furlough from job, one teenage child who is easygoing and gets on with online lessons) then I probably would have enjoyed the lockdowns. I could have used it as a sort of ‘break’ from the hustle and bustle and busy busy of the adult world.

However my work didn’t close as we were seen as ‘essential’ so work was even more stressful than normal with Covid measures etc. DH also still working. Four kids to try and homeschool with to be honest quite minimal help/input from the school outside of occasional zoom lessons and worksheets and tasks that often I struggled to explain to my kids. I obviously know how to do basic maths but there’s a reason teachers have to go to uni etc! It’s easy to say the answer is x but it’s hard to explain the process. SEN support often cancelled as ‘too dangerous’ and ‘not essential.’

So yeah I think many people probably did enjoy it in one way or another. Some others like me probably didn’t. Unfortunately (this is just my opinion) I think it’s often the less privileged and more vulnerable who have struggled the most during this time. Often in low paid jobs that aren’t furloughed eg caring, supermarket work etc. People with sen children who needed that support it then became impossible to access. Children from chaotic homes who needed the support of the outside world.

It’s so difficult, and I still hold hope that things will go back to how they were before very soon.

@Flynnqwer The British one was bad enough and I don’t want to endure one ever again. I want to return to real life and am beyond fed up with those insisting they don’t want to so no one can/should.

I get it, I suppose the problem is actually the lockdown had a bigger and more negative effect on you and others than it did on some, your needs are different (and certainly you aren't alone) and usually out differences don't matter everyone rubs along together fine, but that element of choice is gone and it's frustrating.

An introvert can be a introvert on their own no problem but a extrovert needs people to be happy.

We have been going into office and it's funny because they people desperate to go back are now complaining it doesn't have the same vibe. I suspect it's the lack of audience and social connection they need where as others don't need it as much.

I haven't met one person who wants a new variant and I suspect that your frustration in general over lack of social connection is colouring your view. When you feel trapped by a situation its easy to blame the scapegoat or beat the dog just to get the anger out.

Simply put some people are genuinely frightened and risk adverse and should get the chance to live their lives at their own risk level.

Some people aren't frightened and should get to live their lives at their own risk level.

You get a problem when one group tries to dictate to the other. Unfortunately for things to "go back to normal" people are trying to up peoples risk tolerance by force and people are doubling down in reaction. Empathy and less shaming on both sides would help everyone just simmer down.

I suspect anyway you hate WFH and always have done ? That's fine as a preference but it seems the lot of people don't agree and you can't force them to do it just because your suffering. Such as vulnerable people can't force the extreme on the other side to give a dam.

Both sides are part of the same coin.

I certainly wish that Covid would go away but I do admit that apart from fear of the outside world I had a blissful first lockdown.
I had my mother staying with me, the kids online school was superb - full curriculum
8-4 every day with live lessons, mum and I baked, talked, did jigsaws, Netflix binged, lazed in the garden and just relaxed for 6 months over that long long hot summer.
I actually cherish that time so much.
She’s got cancer now, stage 4, and I’m so happy that we had that blissful 6 months to enjoy together. Mind you, without Covid she probably would have been diagnosed earlier.

It’s the ‘but what if a new, more dangerous variant is discovered and kills millions in the UK in a week?’ attitude. Life cannot be based around what ifs.

Life can't be based around very remote what ifs.

But life can and should be based on quite likely what ifs, and in that category I would put new variants of covid, since it is the nature of highly contagious viruses to spread and in spreading, mutate.

I think it's about being lazy and not being arsed to leave the house

Lock down was subjective......I was stuck with a 3 year old with prebirth trauma and attachment disorder. No garden and when school started, zero interest in online learning. It was shit so never again.

I suspect anyway you hate WFH and always have done ? That's fine as a preference but it seems the lot of people don't agree and you can't force them to do it just because your suffering. Such as vulnerable people can't force the extreme on the other side to give a dam.

I don’t particularly like working from home, no. When we were able to get back to offices I started going in relatively regularly. Those who don’t want to are still WFH. That’s fine with me, each to their own.

But some functions simply have to be legally carried out face to face. It’s not forcing them, they have to fulfil a duty in person. No amount of screaming ‘but what about a new variant?!’ changes that. They (and there aren’t many to be fair, they are just incessant about it) want all responsibility delegated to the CX (as it was for the first weeks of the first lockdown before we got to grips with the situation) so that no one needs to go into the office at all.

But life can and should be based on quite likely what ifs, and in that category I would put new variants of covid, since it is the nature of highly contagious viruses to spread and in spreading, mutate.

It’s really not quite likely that it will mutate to be immune to the vaccinations and kill millions in the UK.

I think it's about being lazy and not being arsed to leave the house

So do I.

It’s really not quite likely that it will mutate to be immune to the vaccinations and kill millions in the UK.

What makes you think that was what I had in mind?

It really wasn't likely at all that a virus would spring up in China and be brought all over the world, causing the deaths of millions, but look at what happened.

The problem with the virus is that as long as it spreads, mutations can and will happen, and their level of transmissibility and effects on people can't be predicted. We do know from observation that health systems all over the world struggle with ICU provision for covid patients, that people suffering from other diseases have seen their treatment significantly affected by reduced availability of medical professionals and medical treatment centres. This makes us realise that prevention is a really good idea, and we look into ways of preventing spread or keeping it to a minimum.

So we get vaccinated to reduce the risk both to ourselves personally and to create something of a firewall on a population level. We wear masks to reduce our risk of spreading it to others. We identify venues which could become the Grand Central Stations of the virus and we try to mitigate risk there - in churches, planes, cinemas, pubs, clubs, anywhere people gather for extended periods. We identify groups within society likely to pass it on easily, such as schools, and we take measures like mandatory masks and hand sanitising and isolation (yes, there are countries in the world where children wear masks in schools). We also require work to be done at home if possible, because public transport is one of those places where people gather, sometimes for extended periods, and so are offices and factories and other workplaces.

It's a discussion for another day perhaps, but we should have gradually moved to remote working as soon as the internet was invented, but old habits die hard and possession of a business degree is not a guarantee that anyone in charge of making important strategic decisions about expenditure on office space, office equipment, staff, filing, etc has much of a brain.

It's a discussion for another day perhaps, but we should have gradually moved to remote working as soon as the internet was invented, but old habits die hard and possession of a business degree is not a guarantee that anyone in charge of making important strategic decisions about expenditure on office space, office equipment, staff, filing, etc has much of a brain.

Why? I’m not asking that to be goady but genuinely why ‘should’ we have started working remotely as soon as the internet was invented?

There are lots of reasons businesses might want to keep their business in person, not to mention the affect it would have on how people socialised with their colleagues.

There seems to be more people revelling in the thought of a minority who seem to enjoy the pandemic restrictions from what I can see.

I secretly want thins to get worse so I never have to go back to the office. However I realise this is a very selfish desire and probably not particularly sustainable. So working from home with no pandemic is probably a better solution! Sadly we are not allowed to do that.

My children openly reminisce about lockdown and are always eagerly asking for another 😂

Both are gentle Home loving introverts so I do understand it but it
Makes me so 🙄

It sounds like some of your staff are saying to you they're anxious and don't want to do X. They're even coming up with new reasons they say they're anxious.

You're rolling your eyes and thinking they're faking it and things need to go back to normal anyway, the lazy slackers.

Isn't there a midway point here? Why do they have to spend a whole hour in an office right now when rates are so high? Can the activity be shortened somehow, or some of it done outdoors?

I can't help wondering, if there was a brutal lockdown today, would the business collapse or would you find some way to do this stuff remotely?

You're trying to kick people back into "normal", which is understandable, many business owners are. But if there are simple workarounds in this instance then why not use them, while working on a longer term plan to try and get people comfortable coming in?

This love of WFH is selfish.

Ultimately, it suits the middle aged middle classes, but few others. It kills the social life that goes with work, prevents meaningful mentoring of young staff and destroys all the local businesses that depend on office staff.

I think that maybe the future is a more flexible working environment with some WFH, but we must not forget that many have no choice.

I am middle aged and middle class but YANBU.