stegzy | Entries tagged with covid19

In February, with tensions high in the sales office (heightened by a distinct lack of sales calls, the removal of temps, a visible drop in sales attributed to Brexit, the falling pound and poor high street sales), I was called to a meeting to be told that my and five other employee's role was at risk of redundancy.

Now, I've been made redundant four times previously so, as you get more experienced, you start to notice the signs; Whispered meetings, lack of work, telling glances between senior managers whenever future plans are discussed. So it was no surprise that Az (my manager) laid out the company's situation and plans in front of me. A month later, after playing all the silly redundancy games where they offer you a role clearly not suitable for you, meetings to discuss what you do and the passing over of duties to others, I was put on garden leave with a fairly nice redundancy package. 

This was fine until a few days into my break from work, it became frighteningly clear that globally, something more worrying was brewing. Covid 19. 

I'm now on the fourth week of my non-work period. I'm bored, feeling isolated and unwanted while still trying to stay positive, focussed and constructive. Sadly, with the whole virus thing going down, it seems that the jobs market is already starting to show signs of trouble. 

The business man in me says "Why would a company hire an employee now when the likelihood is that that employee could be forced to self-isolate and stay at home?". Furthermore, why would an employer put themselves and their employees at risk by conducting interviews with complete strangers? (Which, if you think about it, is perfectly reasonable: An office full of people already immune to each other's coughs and sneezes probably doesn't want an unknown token carrying untold maladies being added to the mix).

I console myself in the fact that those people I left at my former place of work will no doubt face further challenges themselves: further drops in sales, lack of product being shipped from China, inter-office infections and associated absences and had I not been released when I was, I would be undergoing the same concerns I had then now. 

But now the big smelly kipper. As long term readers will know, I have suffered from coronary heart disease for nearly 20 years now. I say suffer, that's the medical term,  I feel fitter than a whole Irish pub of fiddles. But by "suffering", this allows me the grace of a free NHS provided annual flu jab. This, in turn, means that I fall into the "at risk" category which means that I need to engage with "social distancing" and potentially self-isolation.

Practically, I have been in self-isolation for nearly 4 weeks now. Apart from my Monday night Dungeons and Dragons session, the occasional trip to the shops, library and interview, and a trip to Liverpool to see the family, my social contact has been virtually non-existent. Then Mr Johnson says "Don't go seeing people unnecessarily" which has put the kibosh on Dungeons and Dragons and with fewer interviews coming through I'm already doing a damn fine job of keeping away from the hordes of infected zombies out there. However, next week, it seems Mrs Gnomepants v2.0 is on leave so I will have someone else other than myself to drive up the wall at least.