Page 1 of 2 [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

chris1989
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Aug 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,071
Location: Kent, UK

22 May 2020, 12:10 pm

I do feel anxious about returning to retail work in a shopping centre in weeks following 1st June depending on how circumstances go and cases continue to drop. I have been at home since lockdown was in force on 23rd March and have only been outside for a drive in my car each week to keep it going. My company that sells books, toys, arts and crafts etc has recently reopened 6 stores and have said they will open in phases at the moment only in garden centres and said they'll reopen in other garden centres in the coming weeks. I get a bit confused by what they mean by ''phases'' and dreading that my store will be next and that all retail will open its doors when obviously that won't happen which would possibly increase the cases again. My mum and partner won't return to their place of work until 27th June at the latest and feel slightly jealous because of that and I feel like 1st June is too soon. I know I shouldn't be jealous really because I have a sister who has had to work for a grocery in London on her own throughout the crisis and she and other people in essential retailers have had to work and have been scared and anxious and London has had the highest number of cases whereas Medway has had 747 cases out of over 270,000 people who live here.



I love belko61
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Feb 2020
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,781
Location: Ontario

22 May 2020, 7:47 pm

I'm a bit anxious about returning to work as well, even though my county of 37,000 people has only 10 active cases right now. And hearing that your company is opening in phases is a good thing - I assume it's to give them time to implement a plan to keep you all as safe as possible. Good luck



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,147

24 May 2020, 4:12 am

Theoretically the law requires your employer to keep you safe in the workplace, though it's rather a blurred law because they only have to do that as far as is "reasonably practicable," and it's not always clear what that may mean if it came to a lawsuit. I'd definitely consider withdrawing from any workplace that didn't look safe. Hopefully there would be colleagues around who would agree it was unsafe and you could make collective decisions on taking your concerns to the boss and / or any union. Certainly find out your union's advice if you have a union. I think a lot of people are going to be concerned about their workplace safety, and that there's going to be a lot of unrest and rebellion. There's safety in number. Also, if your working conditions cause you undue stress, you might be able to successfully throw a sickie on those grounds. If you're officially on the Spectrum then that might make them a little more reluctant to challenge you if you do that. Obviously if you can get your GP to bolster your case, you could be off sick with impunity for longer.

I agree it does look rather too soon to open up the lockdown, especially for goods and services that aren't very important. A lot depends on the individual employer, some places will be rendered safer than others.

How you travel to and from work is also important. Public transport doesn't seem to be enforcing ideal social distancing in all cases, and personally I'd try to avoid it if at all possible until it's safer, or at least minimise the time I was using it.

I used to work in laboratories where the safety rules weren't always respected completely, and I used to protect myself by using my own common sense to keep away from dangerous stuff as much as possible. I was often fairly quiet about the measures I was taking, to avoid any confrontations.

Mostly, try to stay objective, stay alert to whatever relevent information you can get, listen to health professionals rather than politicians and those with a vested interest in profit, and think carefully to assess the risks as best you can. It's never been a more important time to be able to tell the difference between the truth and propaganda. Though it's almost impossible to calculate the risks accurately in some scenarios and you may find yourself having to take an educated guess.

Hope you manage to make the right decisions.



ImagineDragons
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 29 Mar 2020
Age: 1963
Gender: Male
Posts: 150
Location: England

24 May 2020, 4:22 am

I return to the work in a secondary school on the 1st June working alongside vulnerable pupils and also sections of our year 10 cohort .

This means I’ll be in a classroom / corridors situation alongside about 50 staff (reduced number) and around a hundred year 10 pupils. ! !

I’m actually terrified ! !



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

24 May 2020, 4:41 am

You're back, I've been wondering where you've been! I was actually worried. So glad you're OK.

I know it's hard but just try to feel lucky that you have a job to go back to. But I know you're worrying about catching coronavirus off customers or other workers. But there should be restrictions in place, allowing only a certain number of people in at a time and making employees keep distanced from each other. Also you won't really catch anything just by briefly being near somebody who isn't coughing, sneezing or talking.
I'm a key worker so I've been working all through the lockdown. Me and my colleagues haven't actually been 2 metres apart but we work outside mostly and I can safely say that nobody in my whole workplace has been off sick or tested positive for coronavirus. We're all still alive, as are our families.


_________________
Female


MaxE
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,224
Location: Mid-Atlantic US

24 May 2020, 7:15 am

I'm astounded that in the UK shops are re-opening so quickly. In my county in the Eastern US, only certain shops are allowed to serve customers inside e.g. stores that sell food, medical items, home improvement, etc. Some of the others will bring merchandise outside to you after you've ordered it on line or by phone. Some other parts of my state are a bit farther along in that regard, but overall our state has had 355 deaths per million (if my calculation is correct) vs. 552 deaths per million in the UK, so it's not as though we are worse (although of course if you look at the US as a whole it's a bit different) — I'd say we were comparable. It seems that in France they've also more or less ended quarantine although they're also on a par with other Western countries. I wish everybody well.

EDIT: some shops have put merchandise out on the pavement in front, which rather makes sense although it could also create congestion if they don't also close the street off to vehicles.


_________________
My WP story


chris1989
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Aug 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,071
Location: Kent, UK

24 May 2020, 10:47 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
Theoretically the law requires your employer to keep you safe in the workplace, though it's rather a blurred law because they only have to do that as far as is "reasonably practicable," and it's not always clear what that may mean if it came to a lawsuit. I'd definitely consider withdrawing from any workplace that didn't look safe. Hopefully there would be colleagues around who would agree it was unsafe and you could make collective decisions on taking your concerns to the boss and / or any union.
Certainly find out your union's advice if you have a union. I think a lot of people are going to be concerned about their workplace safety, and that there's going to be a lot of unrest and rebellion. There's safety in number. Also, if your working conditions cause you undue
stress, you might be able to successfully throw a sickie on those grounds. If you're officially on the Spectrum then that might make them a little more reluctant to challenge you if you do that. Obviously if you can get your GP to bolster your case, you could be off sick with impunity for longer.

I agree it does look rather too soon to open up the lockdown, especially for goods and services that aren't very important. A lot depends on the individual employer, some places will be rendered safer than others.

How you travel to and from work is also important. Public transport doesn't seem to be enforcing ideal social distancing in all cases, and personally I'd try to avoid it if at all possible until it's safer, or at least minimise the time I was using it.

I used to work in laboratories where the safety rules weren't always respected completely, and I used to protect myself by using my own common sense to keep away from dangerous stuff as much as possible. I was often fairly quiet about the measures I was taking, to avoid any confrontations.

Mostly, try to stay objective, stay alert to whatever relevent information you can get, listen to health professionals rather than politicians and those with a vested interest in profit, and think carefully to assess the risks as best you can. It's never been a more important time to be able to tell the difference between the truth and propaganda. Though it's almost impossible to calculate the risks accurately in some scenarios and you may find yourself having to take an educated guess.

Hope you manage to make the right decisions.


I remember in March being tearful and nervous nearly every time coming back from work and even feeling on edge and anxious at work almost to the point where I considered not coming if we continued to stay open until the lockdown was enforced on 23rd, I felt calmer and less anxious throughout this lockdown until I had heard my company was slowly coming out of hibernation on 20th May and opened 6 stores this week out of over 530 stores the company has. And now dreading my store in a shopping will be next and the centre already has 5 or 6 essential stores open in there. And thinking my anxiety will get worse again the same as it was before the lockdown. My parents don't go back to their retail job until 27th June and I maybe back at work before they are haven't had no notifications yet as to when I will next month which doesn't reassure me. I'd rather be back when the transmission rate is not so high and more under control.



MaxE
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,224
Location: Mid-Atlantic US

24 May 2020, 11:51 am

chris1989 wrote:
And thinking my anxiety will get worse again the same as it was before the lockdown.

At least you should try to find a hotline to allow you to talk to somebody. If it's possible to get medical help i.e. meds then I'd do that as well. I'll assume quitting is not an option so I won't suggest it.

Looking after your mental health and wellbeing


_________________
My WP story


ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,147

25 May 2020, 12:15 pm

MaxE wrote:
I'm astounded that in the UK shops are re-opening so quickly. In my county in the Eastern US, only certain shops are allowed to serve customers inside e.g. stores that sell food, medical items, home improvement, etc. Some of the others will bring merchandise outside to you after you've ordered it on line or by phone. Some other parts of my state are a bit farther along in that regard, but overall our state has had 355 deaths per million (if my calculation is correct) vs. 552 deaths per million in the UK, so it's not as though we are worse (although of course if you look at the US as a whole it's a bit different) — I'd say we were comparable. It seems that in France they've also more or less ended quarantine although they're also on a par with other Western countries. I wish everybody well.

EDIT: some shops have put merchandise out on the pavement in front, which rather makes sense although it could also create congestion if they don't also close the street off to vehicles.

Yes it's kind of strange to see every country arbitrarily imposing different rules to do the same job. Even the WHO are careful what they say about wearing masks, maintaining that there's no good evidence that they're helpful to the general public, but adding that people should do what their own leaders want them to do.
[CONTINUED BELOW]



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,147

25 May 2020, 12:18 pm

[CONTINUED]
I too am "surprised" (angry would be a better word) that the UK is opening up so soon and so extensively. Boris Johnson was against an early lockdown from the start, preferring us to catch it in droves and acquire "herd immunity," going rather against the way the rest of Europe responded to the pandemic, and saying he had a vision in which the UK would thereby acquire an economic advantage which it would then use to rescue a grateful and destitute Europe "like Superman." Then he went round shaking hands with people, caught the virus himself, and nearly died of it. Now he's back, apparently having learned nothing, and using the English people as guinea pigs in a dangerous experiment to find out whether they can open up businesses again without causing a second spike that becomes so obvious that things have to be shut down again. The social distancing rules are rather more strict for private life than they are when it's a business.
(sorry about splitting my post into two - Cloudflare was horsing me around again and split posting is the only way I know of getting round it)



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

25 May 2020, 1:56 pm

The economy does need to get running again. Many people are becoming so complacent with being at home, and the government ain't going to keep paying and paying and paying people furlough until they find a cure for COVID-19 (which could be next year, next decade or next century, who knows?)


_________________
Female


Caz72
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2013
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,394
Location: England

25 May 2020, 2:09 pm

Joe90 wrote:
The economy does need to get running again. Many people are becoming so complacent with being at home, and the government ain't going to keep paying and paying and paying people furlough until they find a cure for COVID-19 (which could be next year, next decade or next century, who knows?)


i agree.im classed as a vulnerable person but even i want to get back to work driving the buses
cos Iv been told the buses in my company have solid screens up now and free masks,gloves,hand sanitizers are being issued to all the employees and they give out little spades to take cash in so that you dont have to touch it
even my teenage son says he misses school and I never ever thought i would hear him say that!! 8O i know he keeps in touch with his social life using technology but he still says hes lonely and wants to go down to the park on his skateboard again and meet his mates


_________________
Have diagnosis of autism.
Have a neurotypical son.


shortfatbalduglyman
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Mar 2017
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,710

25 May 2020, 2:32 pm

Ask your boss if you can telecommute

Gloves

Mask

Hazmat suit



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,147

25 May 2020, 5:30 pm

Joe90 wrote:
The economy does need to get running again. Many people are becoming so complacent with being at home, and the government ain't going to keep paying and paying and paying people furlough until they find a cure for COVID-19 (which could be next year, next decade or next century, who knows?)

My view is that it's more the way they're putting the cart before the horse by sending people back before they've ensured their working environments are safe. Public transport managers are rightly concerned that people will crowd onto buses and trains, but they saw just before the lockdown that it happened like that, so why are they so surprised that it's happening again now? Why do they put on a single bus or train until they've got staff in place to enforce safety rules and to ensure those dangerous crowds can't form? Why didn't the government inspect workplaces for safety and have a permit system or something before they started telling people to go back to work?

Of course we can't stay at home forever, but we went for 6 years in the second world war running just essential services via a command economy. If we go into recession it's doggedly sticking to the free market that's to blame - a market that is free to go into recession and condemns people to unemployment for artificial reasons when they're no less able to do useful work than they ever were. It's not public health interventions that are harming the economy, it's the virus. Open up too quickly and there'll be a second peak. What happens then? Why should anybody be forced to risk their life to work in a non-essential job?



chris1989
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Aug 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,071
Location: Kent, UK

26 May 2020, 5:39 am

[quote="Joe90"]The economy does need to get running again. Many people are becoming so complacent with being at home, and the government ain't going to keep paying and paying and paying people furlough until they find a cure for COVID-19 (which could be next year, next decade or next century, who knows?)[/quote

I want to go back to work without having to be weary and anxious as I was before the lockdown and I feel it will happen again all the time I am there.
I think only 4 people where tested positive yesterday and between 29th February and 25th May, 758 people out of a population of 278,556 in Medway have had it.



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,147

27 May 2020, 11:05 pm

I wouldn't recommend this of course, but it just occurred to me that anybody in the UK who reports as having symptoms of the virus would be told to isolate. Same goes for anybody having had contact with somebody showing symptoms. Just saying.