Those of us who were ‘cannon fodder’- how do you feel?

[Onandoff]

I went to a gathering the other day with people who were privileged enough to still be working from home in highly paid city jobs. Their experiences were a stark contrast with mine. It was interesting to hear how protected they’d been, many still getting shopping delivered and only just resuming socialising. They hadn’t been on public transport at all. There was a general air of resentment at being asked to go back to offices and commute. They’d all saved money and were very worried about covid exposure despite being vaccinated. Apparently many workers have completely refused to return.

DH and I were the only key workers there and it brought home how exposed we’d been. Literally all of our family and colleagues caught it and some died or were left disabled. My mum died. In the hospital where I work 80% caught it in the first wave alone.

It’s been interesting to see through this that the jobs essential to society are (generally, appreciate some exceptions like medics) the worst paid. If we’d refused to go in or been redeployed we’d have been sacked. While the privileged middle class are still being pandered to despite vaccination.

I feel that those who went out to work should be financially compensated for the risk we took. At the very least we should be given tax breaks and not be expected to cough up for furlough costs.

This was going around at the start of April 2020.
Op I feel the same as you. I've been redeployed onto the COVID ward with a surgical face mask . Yes I'm double jabbed , but so are my patients
I would of loved to of been at home for 18month. Got so many jobs round the house to do. And no I didn't get any freebies or perks. We got some tea and coffee from the captain Tom fund .

I am very sorry about your loss OP but I do think you underestimate how difficult it was to be locked down trying to wfh as well as home schooling children, many of such people also lost family to covid.

Lockdown was no fun for a lot of people. My husband was happy he got to go out to work because he found it so hard being stuck inside all day with the children.

I’m a nurse who worked in ICU throughout, albeit it in a green hospital we still wore full PPE etc and it was brutal. I’ve left ICU and gone back to work in theatre where I worked before but I too am thinking of retraining or looking for nurse WFH jobs.

I agree it’s frustrating to read posts from others who’ve WFH who now moan about it being too risky to be back. I don’t think WFH was the easy route at all, my husband does it and it’s a real struggle.

I’m not frustrated that people stayed at home, it was what the NHS needed, it helped. It’s the moans about GOING BACK to work in the office that irk me.

Point proven.

@SproutMuncher

I agree completely about people moaning about going back to the office from the point of view of not wanting to take the individual risk. DH is a doctor who was redeployed to the covid ICU, and caught covid at hospital and brought it home to all of us.

I don’t begrudge anyone that worked from home or got furloughed. As PP have mentioned, keeping at home those who could be at home was necessary for society. Many of those people would have happily kept going out to work rather than being trapped inside for 3 months. It wasn’t anything to do with indivisible risk at that point.

The issue now is different, it’s not about people needing to stay wfh for the benefit of society, it’s about those who say it’s not “safe” to go back to the office so they want to stay at home. That sticks in the craw somewhat as so many didn’t have that privilege.

The “financial compensation” point is embarrassing though.

Why is it embarrassing? My poor colleague who died, her family got £60k ‘compensation’ with the Trust arguing with me (as her manager) back and forth about whether she really did catch it at work. She has 2 children without a parent and who now probably have to be sent back to Zimbabwe to state with relatives they don’t really know- or adopted. 60 grand is bullshit. I have another who is going onto half pay now, she still is on oxygen from lung damage but apparently doesn’t meet criteria for medical retirement yet.

What do you do for a living?

OP you haven't died of Covid so what do you need compensation for? Of course families with relatives that die need compensation. Has Covid left you personally unable to work? If not, you don't need compensation.

@Onandoff

I went to a gathering the other day with people who were privileged enough to still be working from home in highly paid city jobs. Their experiences were a stark contrast with mine. It was interesting to hear how protected they’d been, many still getting shopping delivered and only just resuming socialising. They hadn’t been on public transport at all. There was a general air of resentment at being asked to go back to offices and commute. They’d all saved money and were very worried about covid exposure despite being vaccinated. Apparently many workers have completely refused to return.

DH and I were the only key workers there and it brought home how exposed we’d been. Literally all of our family and colleagues caught it and some died or were left disabled. My mum died. In the hospital where I work 80% caught it in the first wave alone.

It’s been interesting to see through this that the jobs essential to society are (generally, appreciate some exceptions like medics) the worst paid. If we’d refused to go in or been redeployed we’d have been sacked. While the privileged middle class are still being pandered to despite vaccination.

I feel that those who went out to work should be financially compensated for the risk we took. At the very least we should be given tax breaks and not be expected to cough up for furlough costs.

But isn't that down to individual employers to financially compensate their staff. Some of the supermarkets did just that and gave staff pay rises and cash bonuses. My daughter works in a care home and their wages went up quite significantly. I'm not middle class but am office more vunerable could have my slot. I used public transport throughout the pandemic. I and none of my colleagues can refuse to return to the office when requested to do so (and I doubt anyone else can either, I feel those saying that are just spouting meaningless words). As for saving money I didn't, my electric and gas use went up, I had to increase my broadband package to ensure I had a fast and stable connection. Food bills went up as we were eating more at home. Whilst your job was the type that meant you couldn't work from home, that doest mean those WFH jobs were any less important. Each job plays a role in society whether the person behind the job can be physically seen in person or not

@Branleuse

It was absolutely a middle class lockdown, facilitated entirely by a huge army of working class people keeping things running and bringing them things. Massive difference in experiences. Can you imagine a true lockdown with noone allowed to work. In the beginning noone even had PPE. Couldnt get masks, couldnt get hand gel. Terrifying.

Agree with this to some extent.

On an individual level though, it’s hard to see what people could or should have done differently.

I already W’ed FH before the pandemic, self-employed (not an especially high earner). Luckily, work continued to come in during the pandemic. However at the beginning it wasn’t clear at all if this would be the case (or if it would totally dry up) and one of the first things I did was look at other options – including supermarket work. I also registered for the responders app and continued PT work in a local (non-essential) shop (during the times they were open).

Given how many people lost jobs and the fact the whole hospitality industry shut down, demand and competition for supermarket, warehouse, delivery jobs rose massively. I put in an application for universal credit early on (luckily I was able to withdraw this as things picked up again) and they were so inundated with new applications that they were just fast-tracking people without any checks (unheard of).

My partner was out on furlough for three months, while his company tried to see if they could manage without his role – they were desperate to get rid of people.

A lot of those people at home did and would have gladly taken on supermarket / warehouse / delivery / cleaning jobs.

A lot of ‘middle class’ home workers (think it is less clear cut than that – a sizeable portion of key workers are -doctors-, and many working at home are admin, customer service, etc.) found that their jobs were no longer important or needed.

The people WFH were also asked to do so to help support the NHS and save lives. People exposing themselves to risk during that time would not have unburdened the key workers of some of their risk. They would have increased it.

Yet many people were asked to commute into offices and forego social distancing so that their bosses could ‘watch’ them, and for no better reason. For what?

Like you, people are worried about their families, their health, their jobs (eg long Covid).

I think the people who took on that greater risk during that time should be recognised financially and materially – not just with claps and platitudes.

It is the government and the employers of key workers who should and who have the power to do this. I believe many, if not most people, WFH workers included, would support this.

I’m so sorry to hear about your Mum.

@Justcurious93

I feel quite angry about it really; lots of talk on the media centred around middle class white collar jobs and people being at home for the last 18 months but the reality is for a lot of us that just hasn't been an option. And the thought that now I'll have to pay for furlough costs for the rest of my working life (probably) makes me feel quite resentful need to try and let it go...

But those people working from home are paying those furlough costs too. Do you think any worker wanted to be furloughed? Or made redundant?

@PurpleVerbena

I think you are wrong using expressions such as 'cannon fodder' as an excuse to have yet another go at the middle classes. You chose your job, presumably, you weren't forced to take it? That's the way the cookie crumbles!

No, we were COVID fodder. Nhs, carers, teachers, police, shop workers, bin men, factory workers . Most are forgotten We were left to it with no proper ppe. No clue what we were doing. No clue to what we were facing , we got a clue of what was ahead from watching the scenes in Italy. So no. Not the wrong expression.

@doadeer

Yes I can totally understand why you feel that way, I think you're very right. I live in an area with very high middle class population and the takeaway coffee business has boomed with everyone wfh and just wandering around on lunchbreak. No where near the risk that lower paid key workers have had. There's also a stark contrast in the ethnicity of key workers vs those wfh. Everyone who has had to work throughout not from home should be financially compensated or receive food vouchers etc

No they absolutely shouldn't, I work in a factory and I find that attitude so grabby and embarrassing.

I’m someone with long covid, caught from my husband working on the covid ICU so don’t bother with the “what do you do for a living” passive aggression.

Compensating the family of people who have died is a completely different kettle of fish to what you’re actually arguing for: “I feel that those who went out to work should be financially compensated for the risk we took. at the very least we should be given tax breaks and not be expected to cough up for furlough costs”. So people pay different levels of tax depending on a moral judgment as to how much effort the put into the pandemic?

However having read your recent posts I now see you’re just on an angry rant and not interested in sensible discussion at all.

@Justcurious93

I feel quite angry about it really; lots of talk on the media centred around middle class white collar jobs and people being at home for the last 18 months but the reality is for a lot of us that just hasn't been an option. And the thought that now I'll have to pay for furlough costs for the rest of my working life (probably) makes me feel quite resentful need to try and let it go...

Change jobs, retrain for a job that can be done at home. We all make choices.

@AnyFucker

How do I feel ? Angry, exhausted, burned out. Not the same person I was. Very short of patience with folk affronted at the thought of going back into the office.

Ditto. Feels never ending at the moment. No sunshine after the bloody rainbow

I think it's a shame a lot of people are not fully appreciating the risks that key workers were taking on their behalf during a pandemic.

Re the WFH people though, the lockdowns showed us that there are many industries and companies that don't need to be based in major cities to be successful, and many jobs can be done without employees needing to commute for up to an hour each way every day.

Companies can base their offices in smaller towns - and have a tiny city hub if they really do need a city presence. That would enable people to move away from expensive commuter areas / cities.

Companies can have smaller main offices with employees coming in maybe 1-2 times a week.

It's frustrating for people employed in jobs where they can very successfully work from home to the benefit of their health, family and ultimately the company (happy, dedicated work force) to have some businesses just want to go back to the way things were before.

Before the pandemic a lot of companies claimed that it was impossible for their employees to work from home successfully - now we know in many cases that's simply not true.

some of the time since Gavin Williamson was in nappies - so at least two years ago and prior to that.

That is genuinely witty.

Everyone who has had to work throughout not from home should be financially compensated or receive food vouchers etc

I wasn’t even financially compensated with my actual salary… I had to work out of the house on 80% of my pay or lose my job. I still don’t think we should be financially compensated in the way you describe. Absolute lunacy.

@noblegiraffe

Middle the DfE have been consistently criticised for poorly written guidance, released at stupid times, which has needed instant updates and an overwhelming volume of it.

They have been objectively bad at their jobs. It is contemptuous of the workforce that they are writing the guidance for to be so shit at it and to think that's ok.

If they're happy writing guidance that they find morally reprehensible, then that's their lookout, we're not going to see eye-to-eye on that.

The drafting AND the timing of the release of policies both get decided politically and by politicians. I’m not defending the guidance (don’t know what the guidance is), I’m explaining why anger at what will be a very small team of civil servants for it is bizarre and misplaced. Especially with a tenuous link to them working at home, which isn’t even related to the pandemic.

I’m pretty sure we could ALL tell stories of shit teaching and shit behaviour from teachers. Most of us know that that isn’t representative.

And it’s actually a good thing that civil servants are happy to write guidance that they find morally reprehensible, if you’re in favour of democracy, which I am, even when I don’t like what elected officials get up to.

I'm not in the UK but here people just did as they were told. If they had been working in supermarkets prior to covid they continued, if they were working in 'non essential' retail they were off and given money from the government, if they could work from home they worked from home, if they worked in health care they continued to work in healthcare. There weren't many choices made by individual people, nobody I know said I want to work from home and have people bring me stuff so I feel safe, they were directed to work from home and things like getting shopping delivered were pretty much impossible.

Everybody just had to cope with the cards that they were dealt, not many people sat around having the time of their life most people had to face some kind of challenge be it worry about their health, coping with lonliness, coping with wfh while looking after children etc. I find the constant competition of who had it worse in really bad taste tbh.

I don't see why people wanting to continue working from home is any of your business either, them wanting to switch up their working life will have no effect on yours. They are obviously unhappy with how their lives were prior to having to work from home so are lobbying their employers for change or changing employment. If you are unhappy with your situation you can do the same.

@Piggywaspushed

some of the time since Gavin Williamson was in nappies - so at least two years ago and prior to that.

That is genuinely witty.

I smirked while typing it. It’s the little things.

Literally nothing would ever get done if civil servants had to agree with everything they were doing, and as has been said, democracy in action.

I have a friend who has worked for the DofE her entire working life, under multiple governments. Of course she has to draft policies she doesn’t agree with… we live in a democracy and it’s her job.

I feel bloody annoyed...I was left onsite to manage a caseload of 50 elderly people, all extremely anxious and needing day to day support. The VAST majority of staff were working from home...mooching in the garden, hanging out the washing and taking a few phone calls/sending some emails while I took up the flack. Last week I got a small box of chocolates from one of my caseload to say thank you and my boss straight away says "I hope you declared those"

@FrankGrillosFloof

So what alternative would you offer? Everybody just carrying on as normal and continuing to go into work, travel, shopping, etc? Locking down those that could be locked down was for the benefit of everybody.

But mostly for the benefit of those protecting themselves.

What you have to remember is that everyone was told to stay at home in part to protect essential workers from coming into contact with more people than necessary. All that goodwill is gone now, but that's how it was at the time.