fortnightly update

[domarzione]

The good: I wrote this for The Old Guard. Which I enjoyed a lot and went on about a bit here. 


The bad: I went from Thursday afternoon "nobody is going back to the office unless they ask to" to Friday morning "you are starting back at the office in ten days" and I have whiplash because I sure as shit did not ask. I am in a High Risk Group and do not want to take the subway to work in a space that Facilities hasn't even done the walk-though yet to determine safety protocols, let alone replaced the air handlers or figured out what to do with the bathrooms that were a disaster before all this. And the ugly is that my boss is basically offering us all up as sacrificial lambs because if he actually dared to tell his bosses "not everyone's ready" they would have said "fine," but he won't because he's got his eyes on the prize and that includes never even offering a modification to their requests, no matter what kind of dumbass results may come. This isn't dumbass, this is something else. I won't be going in every day, but that does not make this better. 


The good: baseball and hockey are back and returning. My Mets rocked today's opener like it was a 2019 AU where Yoenis Cespedes didn't lose a fight with a wild boar and Edwin Diaz didn't get the yips at being in NYC. (And if you think I'm making up the part with the boar, you don't know my baseball team.) I suspect the NY Rangers will have a brief adventure in the Toronto Bubble, but I'll take it. 



Three things make a post, so I'll stop griping now. 

Comments

[domarzione]

Oh, I told Boss that I'm in a high risk group and his accommodation is that I am scheduled to appear in-office at a rate 2/3 of everyone else. I am not going in daily. I'm not in every week. But I'm pissed that I'm going in at all when this is ultimately not necessary.

(I already start later than everyone else because I hate mornings and want to miss the worst of the rush hour and so I work later than almost everyone else and I enjoyed the quiet. But I can't skew my hours too much because of Building Rules.)

[ravurian]

Gah, this is infuriating, and I'm vicariously furious about it. It seems crazy to me that you should be in a position where advocating for your own safety on the basis of health during a global pandemic might be seen as trouble-making or place your employment in jeopardy. I do recognise that you will have assessed the cost/benefit in pushing back further and reached your conclusions based on that analysis, but might there not be value in just saying: can you confirm in writing that it is corporate policy to require a member of a high-risk vulnerable group to put themselves at increased and unnecessary risk under threat of sanction? And can you also confirm the details of the death-in-service policy, and to whom my estate should address a wrongful-death suit? (I am only being slightly tongue in cheek with this).

Not to rub it in, but the university for which I am presently contracting has made it very clear that no one will be expected back in the office this year. It boggles me that there are institutions who are pretending that this is All Over.

[domarzione]

I've asked my supervisor whether she can verify that my institution retains liability if/when I get sick or whether I have to ask the Ombudsman. (Answer: ask the Ombudsman.) But the general attitude is "it is what it is" and DGAF.

[ravurian]

<applause, applause> but also it is so wearying to have to continually advocate for oneself like this. You have my complete support, for what that's worth, and if there's anything I may do to assist, I insist you recruit and deputise me immediately, even if that's only as a cheering section while you tear them to bits.

ION, I am thoroughly enjoying your The Old Guard stories thus far. You know of old that I love the way that your brain works, and how it manifests on the page, and I find no evidence that this is waning - you're a marvel with story, and with detail, and with character, and I love the way you word. I am not at all eyeing you for signs that a significant word count is approaching given your other commitments, but let's say that I won't be at all surprised if one appears.