When will this shit end?

[efcfanwirral]

9 minutes ago, waltere said:

It's a funding thing.

TfL lost a shitload of money last year, due to, you know, being a public transport system reliant on fares for its money suddenly having a 90+% drop off in passengers. This meant they had to go to national government for funding and the Tories imposed a bunch of budget cuts/measures which they made integral to the deal, and yet for which they are currently trying to blame Sadiq Khan...

Makes sense- am I right in thinking it was relatively new anyway? I don't go often but I don't remember it being too long ago where it was buses only after a certain time! 

[waltere]

9 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Makes sense- am I right in thinking it was relatively new anyway? I don't go often but I don't remember it being too long ago where it was buses only after a certain time! 

You are right 

I can't remember exactly when it started, but it was only something like four years ago.

EDIT

I looked it up, it started in August 2016

Edited April 15, 2021 by waltere

[jannybruck]

8 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Makes sense- am I right in thinking it was relatively new anyway? I don't go often but I don't remember it being too long ago where it was buses only after a certain time! 

It opened in 2016, and was/is brilliant – excellent for lower-paid workers like cleaners who could finally get into work from the outskirts early in the morning without taking eight buses, opened up bits of nightlife (clubs, music venues, bars) in certain bits of the city that had struggled before, meant there wasn't a huge rush to get the last tube so there were few bottlenecks, finally made London feel comparable to somewhere like New York in terms of having a nightlife culture etc etc.

[waltere]

1 minute ago, jannybruck said:

It opened in 2016, and was/is brilliant – excellent for lower-paid workers like cleaners who could finally get into work from the outskirts early in the morning without taking eight buses, opened up bits of nightlife (clubs, music venues, bars) in certain bits of the city that had struggled before, meant there wasn't a huge rush to get the last tube so there were few bottlenecks, finally made London feel comparable to somewhere like New York in terms of having a nightlife culture etc etc.

100% agree with every word of this.

[JoeyT]

 

[Ozanne]

Vaccination update:

[TheSheriff]

4 hours ago, eFestivals said:

Who thinks lockdown has been a walk in the park?

Wouldn’t say that it’s been a walk in the park but it’s been manageable. I work in the nhs so have been going to work day in day out, which is most probably a godsend as if was furloughed or working from home isolation would likely have been problematic as I live on my own. I look back at my mood diary in the early days and think I was stressing a bit much with the unknowns going into A&E departments etc daily but that lifted quite quickly with sensible infection control which I was doing before anyway. The positives have been is that I’ve walked more, saved money and done my garden up with the saved money. I’ve earned more by doing more overtime when people have needed to isolate etc and not having nowhere else to go so May as well work so that’s a positive. And most importantly my family and myself have our health. Negatives I miss spontaneity of meeting friends for a quick drink, but WhatsApp groups etc was a lifeline in keeping friendships together and most probably in hindsight have made us closer. Gigs are my happy/soothing space so until they are back have got to make the most of nature to keep sane which is easier now the weather has improved 

[northernringo]

7 hours ago, northernringo said:

Well this is crap, Northern Ireland's expected roadmap dates (to be announced later today).

England and Wales can go to the gym, eat/drink outdoors already yet we have to wait another month. What a joke.

I assume it has something to do with ROI's slow rollout in comparison.

Thankfully it looks like this will all be sped up and outdoor hospitality/gyms, etc will be open at the end of April.

There was quite a backlash to the original plans.

[Crazyfool01]

Good to see both first doses and second doses increasing over the past few days 

 

[eFestivals]

The risk of a blood clot is ten times higher from covid than from any of the jabs.

[northernringo]

7 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

The risk of a blood clot is ten times higher from covid than from any of the jabs.

I'd say the figures are very different for under 30s though. Their risk of blood clot from covid is also tiny.

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, northernringo said:

 Their risk of blood clot from covid is also tiny.

From what I posted it must be about one in one hundred thousand

[shoptildrop]

Found out today I've got to go into the office next week for a 4 hour meeting with 3 other people, this is not filling me with joy as not been to the office since 20th March 2020 😞

I'm not even sure how I'm going to cope with this tbh as I'm so used to controlling my environment and now I'm going to have all these variables to deal with eerrrghhh

Yes I know everyone else is in these situations but I didn't expect to be having to do this until at least June "sigh"

Edited April 15, 2021 by shoptildrop

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, shoptildrop said:

Found out today I've got to go into the office next week for a 4 hour meeting with 3 other people, this is not filling me with joy as not been to the office since 20th March 2020 😞

I'm not even sure how I'm going to cope with this tbh as I'm so used to controlling my environment and now I'm going to have all these variables to deal with eerrrghhh

Yes I know everyone else is in these situations but I didn't expect to be having to do this until at least June "sigh"

Ohhh that’s horrid, I’d feel exactly the same as you. Can you argue that it’s not essential and join via Zoom?

[steviewevie]

10 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

Found out today I've got to go into the office next week for a 4 hour meeting with 3 other people, this is not filling me with joy as not been to the office since 20th March 2020 😞

I'm not even sure how I'm going to cope with this tbh as I'm so used to controlling my environment and now I'm going to have all these variables to deal with eerrrghhh

Yes I know everyone else is in these situations but I didn't expect to be having to do this until at least June "sigh"

maybe you should tell them your concerns...in the circumstances I think that would be very much fair enough.

[shoptildrop]

14 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Ohhh that’s horrid, I’d feel exactly the same as you. Can you argue that it’s not essential and join via Zoom?

We had teams meeting today and sound keep cutting out and others couldn't see share screen as on phone rather than laptop... so big boss is like right we need a face to face for 4 hours next week to thrash out - god knows why 4 hrs

I said I wasn't comfortable but it was you'll be fine as office quiet, we'll wear masks etc. basically you could not say no 😞 

I suppose I've got to dip toe in eventually but I just wasn't mentally ready for it now that's all

 

the other throw away comment was well I didn't want to hear you don't want to come in just cos you like WFH mmmmh so that's interesting on what his take is on WFH v being in office, I've said before they are very bum on seat mentality and I'm not sure that stance will actually change

Edited April 15, 2021 by shoptildrop

[zahidf]

p

[crocodiles]

15 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

We had teams meeting today and sound keep cutting out and others couldn't see share screen as on phone rather than laptop... so big boss is like right we need a face to face for 4 hours next week to thrash out - god knows why 4 hrs

I said I wasn't comfortable but it was you'll be fine as office quiet, we'll wear masks etc. basically you could not say no 😞 

I suppose I've got to dip toe in eventually but I just wasn't mentally ready for it now that's all

 

the other throw away comment was well I didn't want to hear you don't want to come in just cos you like WFH mmmmh so that's interesting on what his take is on WFH v being in office, I've said before they are very bum on seat mentality and I'm not sure that stance will actually change

I think it's tougher for those who haven't been in I've been in 2 or 3 days for whole time and have always felt safe as numbers in from each team r minimal and measures in place have been very effective. 

I have team members who r gradually dipping their toe in coming back in odd day and they have all been fine once they get in.

I can't see anything other than a hybrid of office and home going forward for us . With the majority of time spent at home as its worked effectively 

[Ozanne]

18 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

We had teams meeting today and sound keep cutting out and others couldn't see share screen as on phone rather than laptop... so big boss is like right we need a face to face for 4 hours next week to thrash out - god knows why 4 hrs

I said I wasn't comfortable but it was you'll be fine as office quiet, we'll wear masks etc. basically you could not say no 😞 

I suppose I've got to dip toe in eventually but I just wasn't mentally ready for it now that's all

 

the other throw away comment was well I didn't want to hear you don't want to come in just cos you like WFH mmmmh so that's interesting on what his take is on WFH v being in office, I've said before they are very bum on seat mentality and I'm not sure that stance will actually change

That doesn’t sound great, that would be my ideal worst case scenario for work in regards to the office. There’s no reason for an employer to insist staff has to return to the office. They should give people the choice and in return staff will be happier/more productive. 

[Suprefan]

 

[shoptildrop]

2 minutes ago, crocodiles said:

I think it's tougher for those who haven't been in I've been in 2 or 3 days for whole time and have always felt safe as numbers in from each team r minimal and measures in place have been very effective. 

I have team members who r gradually dipping their toe in coming back in odd day and they have all been fine once they get in.

I can't see anything other than a hybrid of office and home going forward for us . With the majority of time spent at home as its worked effectively 

I'm just going to have to deal with it unfortunately 😞 

The bit in bold - It's going to be interesting to see what happens as some roles can work remotely but others can't (DC, store workers)... so I think our company will leave it to the decision of the line managers on whether role can be done from home and this is what will be the issue...

Both my line manager and her manager are bums on seats to be effective, with my line manager being a bit of a tech phobe as well!!

Most of my day is basically read/approve reports all day, sending comments or asking the question on teams. I'm now getting more involved in projects which means talking to more folk and whilst face to face meetings are okay sometimes they are not 100% necessary to get the job done if you have the right tech - my last job was working with loads of people who were not in my office so whilst I did go into the office, the people I mainly worked with I spoke over Skype and whatnot

Where I am now feels like I've stepped back 10 years, christ I'm using remote desktop with my own laptop ffs - not even been issued work laptop 😞 

[Crazyfool01]

32 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

We had teams meeting today and sound keep cutting out and others couldn't see share screen as on phone rather than laptop... so big boss is like right we need a face to face for 4 hours next week to thrash out - god knows why 4 hrs

I said I wasn't comfortable but it was you'll be fine as office quiet, we'll wear masks etc. basically you could not say no 😞 

I suppose I've got to dip toe in eventually but I just wasn't mentally ready for it now that's all

 

the other throw away comment was well I didn't want to hear you don't want to come in just cos you like WFH mmmmh so that's interesting on what his take is on WFH v being in office, I've said before they are very bum on seat mentality and I'm not sure that stance will actually change

Any chance of getting participants to sign up and get lateral flow tests before hand ? They are available to everyone now ... as for other things ask for the windows to be open and ensure that the room has more than adequate space ... those first steps aren’t easy ... best of luck 

[sisco]

16 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

That doesn’t sound great, that would be my ideal worst case scenario for work in regards to the office. There’s no reason for an employer to insist staff has to return to the office. They should give people the choice and in return staff will be happier/more productive. 

That’s not quite the case.  I’m a manager who has to start asking/notifying staff they need to start returning back to the office.  They need to spend a certain amount of time there in order to do their jobs.  I’ve no doubt there’ll be concerns but I suppose it’s my job to try and make them feel comfortable.  A choice isn’t always possible.

[sisco]

Can I add I really do hope @shoptildrop manager can help with their worries/concerns

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, sisco said:

That’s not quite the case.  I’m a manager who has to start asking/notifying staff they need to start returning back to the office.  They need to spend a certain amount of time there in order to do their jobs.  I’ve no doubt there’ll be concerns but I suppose it’s my job to try and make them feel comfortable.  A choice isn’t always possible.

I presume they’ve been working fine for the past year? Which shows that it’s not imperative that staff come back to the office. If an individual isn’t performing then that’s for that individual and their line manager but for the majority they should be given the choice.

To some the office environment is great but to some it’s the opposite for many different reasons so to try to force staff to come back after everything that’s happened is a real missed opportunity in my view.