Furlough / working backside off

[Mingkong]

Am I the only person who is hacked off seeing people frolicking about whilst on furlough, while my husband works 12 hour days ? Also we have stuck to the rules throughout. I appreciate that he is lucky to have a job but he is worn out , not a break from the screen, has had shingles and eczema over the lockdown months, but still carries on without complaint. Meanwhile others ( some through no fault of their own ) are furloughed and having a jolly old time . And who will have to pay the furlough money ??? Us !! Makes me bloody angry.

What are you doing?

I agree there seems to be either one extreme or the other - people slogging their guts out or people not working. But furlough is hardly a walk in the park. Most people on furlough didn’t ask for their work to be shut by the government.

Your husband also sounds like a bit of a mug. No job is worth making yourself ill for especially as they’d sack him in a heartbeat if he was no longer any use to them. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way!

I consider myself to be very lucky to be working and not furloughed. I don't have any financial worries and I have daily interaction with my colleagues.

It's utterly miserable for those on furlough.

I worked 60 hour weeks during lockdown 1 and 2. This time round I am furloughed and I can tell you now I am not swanning around having a jolly old fucking time. I am bored out of my mind already ugh thankful to still be employed.

Jealously really isn't attractive.

I am. I try not to feel resentful but I can't help it. It's only directed at those that complain or are ungrateful.
Worked like a dog for the last year. Whilst people have been at home furloughed on 80%, for a whole YEAR?
And they are complaining?

There’s unfairness everywhere. I get what you’re saying. Like all the pressure falls to a small amount of the workforce whilst everyone else is furloughed. Not through choice of course, but it’s causing reall stress for those who are at the coal face.

I was furloughed last year. I probably looked like I was having a fabulous time in the sun taking my dc out everyday for bike rides even -shock horror- for a picnic in the garden at least once a week.

I was actually internally panicking about wtf we were going to do without my bloody job as I'd been told the company was on its last legs hence my furlough, I don't think I got a full nights sleep the whole furlough period and I had to scale back on anything I could. I could not show my worry to my dc so in public I'd probably look pretty ok,

I'm now working again and I thank my lucky stars I even have a job, I don't think looking at people having a good time necessarily means they actually are having a good time but even so, should that not be allowed when it's not their fault?!

3 colleagues having taken 2nd jobs, so on double incomes, for a whole year, whilst I'm doing their furlough calculations, is starting to piss other colleagues off. I'm finding that hard.

I've been on both sides of this.

I have to say, the easiest way to deal with it is to stop thinking about what other people are doing. It's an absolute waste of your energy.

So did or didn't you want lock down? If yes, then what is the other solution to people who can't work from home? Do you want more suicides? Do you want more people with depression? Do you want to pay for all those people in other ways, which won't cost less?

You might not like the replies, but the only way to get over ypur resentment is to critically think this through.

Perhaps consider yourself lucky that you can wfh. Two of my children are essential workers, who've had increased hours, under a lot of stress, in at risk circumstances, like many others. My youngest, who is an essential worker had Covid last year via work and has had bad health since, but has to keep working her minimum wage job. Her career plans on hold until at least next year, but by that time her vocational qualifications, which she is in debt for, mean less. People are losing their homes and sanity, yet you're bitter towards those making the best of it.

Similar work pattern here, but so relieved not to be having to manage on 20 percent less and also relieved that if job cuts are made, to it's less likely to involve those not on furlough.

It hadn't occurred to me that other people are frolicking about, those I know on furlough are lonely and bored and would welcome the stimulation of work.

I’ve been working as an A&E nurse throughout this, and after a really rubbish day, I have sometimes felt a bit resentful of people on furlough. However when I’m having a better day, I remember that I can still get out the house, still see some friends (great colleagues!), have a stable and secure job, and I have some structure to my life.

People who were earning more than most nurses, and many other key workers, whilst on furlough stung a little, but then people’s outgoings were probably higher and they still needed that 80% of their salary.

It’s an odd one. People who have been furloughed and have struggled because of it will obviously think you’re being unreasonable. Everybody will look at other people and only see what they want to see from the situation - you looking at people ‘frolicking’. I think it’s allowed to sting, you can feel frustrated, but then you need to get over it.

A lot of people on furlough aren't happy about being on furlough, they'd of course want to work but can't because their businesses are closed. A lot of people that are on furlough know that once furlough is over, they may not have a job to go to as well. Furlough is just buying time for the inevitable. Your DH is one of the lucky ones and I would do anything to be in his position right now. I'm on furlough as well btw.

@Mingkong

Yes I do work , I have an online business . Also homeschooling two kids. Thanks for your responses. I can see that I am now perceived as a horrible person . Going to leave this thread as not good for my mental health. Should never have posted !!

Yet you don't give a fuck about the mental health of people you're bashing on here? Presumably people who are worried about having no job to go back to at all?

Who's 'frolicking' where exactly? It's freezing and there's nothing to do.

Off you pop.

This is why we have such massive inequality in this country that will never be tackled properly. Because tiny minded thickos can’t look beyond their own personal sphere.

It is to the benefit of the whole of society to mitigate the disaster that covid is wreaking on the economy and jobs market. It is to the benefit of the whole of society to keep as many people as possible from becoming destitute. Keeping people housed and fed and their children out of poverty benefits every single one of us. It is a mark of civilisation.

But whenever any kind of necessary measure to keep society as a whole safer is implemented, there is always always push back from people who go BUT WHAT ABOUT MEEEEEEEEEEE WHY SHOULD THEY GET GIVEN XYZ, there’s always someone who knows someone who knows someone who has ‘freely admitted’ to ‘taking the piss’ and is sitting at home in front of their massive plasma telly laughing their arse off and it seems to be getting worse. Imagine trying to establish the NHS nowadays. It would never fly. ‘What, MY TAXES should pay for chemo for SMOKERS, I don’t think so, i know a woman down the road who says she’s going to get a free boob job, she’s never worked a day in her life, she was laughing about it, it’s disgusting’

People need to pull their heads out pf their arses and look at the bigger picture.

I'm on furlough. My job will also soon be out at risk. I may be out of work and unable to put a roof over my DD head. I wish I was working and not on furlough

I wouldn’t want to loose 20% of my monthly
Salary which is capped. Also way less job security if you’re able to be furloughed

So I would count your blessings

OP I get what you're saying, my DH is in the same situation, and I've still been going to work in this lockdown ( not the first one and I'm only part time)
But Im grateful we both still have jobs to go to, a lot of DH's furloughed work mates got made redundant

@Mingkong

Yes I do work , I have an online business . Also homeschooling two kids. Thanks for your responses. I can see that I am now perceived as a horrible person . Going to leave this thread as not good for my mental health. Should never have posted !!

Yanbu at all.

Personally, I cannot believe that we're still continuing with this furlough crap that is going to be a noose around our necks for decades. This frolicking will cost us dearly. And no doubt these will be the same people who will bemoan about the repercussions in the decades to come, yet will be the only people who benefitted.
We have a benefits system and that should have been used if an employer couldn't afford to keep their staff on.

A year of pissing around at 80 or 100 %of their full pay!

Personally, I cannot believe that we're still continuing with this furlough crap that is going to be a noose around our necks for decades. This frolicking will cost us dearly. And no doubt these will be the same people who will bemoan about the repercussions in the decades to come, yet will be the only people who benefitted.
We have a benefits system and that should have been used if an employer couldn't afford to keep their staff on.

It is astonishing that people go around loudly being this thick with no trace of embarrassment.

@MotherExtraordinaire here's hoping that what you hope happens to a lot of people,happens to you and yours.

Frolicking my arse!
Worrying about job security and money!

This frolicking will cost us dearly.

Whereas large scale joblessness, homelessness, and abject poverty would be nothing but beneficial to our economic recovery. Look at countries that have had that in the past, that worked out great. (Mind you i do think that bojo and his cabinet of clowns would have been rounded up by an angry mob and executed romanov style by now if we’d gone down this route and I can’t get too mad about such a scenario try as i may)

One of my best friends is furloughed, no chance of her losing her job and she has has had a whale of a time. Every lovely family walk and activity documented on SM. DH and I both FT WFH homeschooling plus a toddler. It nearly killed us and her SM posts made me cry on more than one occasion.

I resent her and her lack of empathy and our relationship will never be what it was. It’s no ones fault but it’s crap.

Mother
We have a benefits system and that should have been used if an employer couldn't afford to keep their staff on.
Benefits are wholly inadequate in most cases. A lot of SMEs were forced to close (cafes and the like) and would not have been able to afford to pay staff for the duration. Making all staff redundant would be a massive barrier to them being able to re-open their businesses at short notice.

Also, like furlough, benefits are paid by taxpayers, so not much logic in that argument either, unless you're saying people should be forced to survive on inadequate benefits rather than 80% of pay. Do you know what that would mean for people with mortgages etc? Widespread repossessions etc - more burden on housing system. People being made homeless during pandemic, while trying to home educate children etc...

I've worked from home since last March. Everything takes longer and feels more stressful, but would I rather be furloughed? Hell, no. Particularly as furlough has been a pre-redundancy hiatus for so many people.

Try to look at the bigger picture.

Sick of the folk making out like furlough is a holiday. Being on furlough for months, earning less money, struggling to make ends meet and not knowing if we will have jobs to go back to, yes great fun. Be thankful you have the security of a job you can continue to do thru all this, some of us are not so fortunate