Monday B*tchfest 7.20

keikilove

_orchid_

I have one of these today!!

**TW LC**

BIL stopped by yesterday to drop something off, and came in our house. He's the first person we've had in our house since March and this is only the second time we've seen him since then. We're in NJ and still very isolated bc covid, but BIL and his family have not been and other than wearing masks to grocery shop have been living life like normal. Well, he came in the house while we were eating dinner and DS2 (3y.o.) held out his fork to him and BIL ATE OFF DS'S FORK AND THEN FED DS SOMETHING ELSE WITH IT!! I was like "NO DS I will get you another fork" but it was too late. I am so pissed- over 50 people in our town have died from covid, it's still here, and WTF BIL. DH and I are already telling family we're not doing Thanksgiving/Christmas with them this year and they're upset, but this is exactly why. He was literally in my house for 10 minutes and in that time shared a utensil with my toddler. WTF??

inthewoods23

@_orchid_ oh noooo! And I thought our hugging family was not the best idea. Sharing utensils?? ABSOLUTELY NOT

_orchid_

@inthewoods23 my jaw hit the floor. Now I feel like I'm going to be hovering over him for the next two weeks for every cough and sniffle

mvt2003

My b*tchfest is our internet service provider. We changed providers a couple of years ago to a lower tier name who had a better price tag, but now that we're both working from home full time that was 1000% a mistake. We want very badly to back to Verizon, but having a technician in our house right now is absolutely NOT happening. Today my internet got spotty during my weekly check-in with my team at the exact moment when my boss was asking me to update everyone on something. So annoying! 

emeraldduchess

@_orchid_ OMG that's awful! It makes me so angry how many people still aren't taking this pandemic seriously and are refusing to follow guidelines. I would be pissed about sharing utensils to begin with, let alone right now. 

My BF for today: *TW COVID discussion*

My BF is the way some people are vilifying teachers for hesitating to return to school. We are NOT being lazy, selfish, or making excuses. We WANT to be in the classroom, but not if it's putting us, our families, our students, and their families at risk. Also, are teachers going to have their pay docked if they are exposed to COVID and need to quarantine for 2 weeks? What if they are infected and have to take an extended leave of absence to recover? In my old school, we were allowed 5 (yes, ONLY 5) sick days a year and they didn't roll over. Who is going to pay for more cleaning supplies when the amount supplied by the school district runs out? I just have SO many questions and fears. 

_orchid_

@emeraldduchess +1 for your BF. I don't think people realize how many moving parts there are in a single school day, plus the condition of a lot of the buildings too. Plus it seems like a lot of people think kids are going back to how it was last September (I wish!) when we know it's not going to be anything close to that.

optimisticoctopus

@_orchid_ NO!! I would’ve freaked out! Ughhhhh. 

@emeraldduchess agreed!! Like how is it fair that other professions (who are able to follow social distancing guidelines easily) are able to stay home, but teachers are “lazy” for being anxious about how school is possibly going to work. I would give anything to be back at work in a normal capacity! But there are way way way too many tricky pieces to make it work for most districts. 

My BF today is that I can into work to test a student today (I know the family well - I’ve worked with the child for years). And they flaked on our appointment!! This happens regularly to me even after confirming with families. Like. Come on. If it was a doctors appointment you would remember, how is this any less important?? And I rushed here because a meeting I had this morning went late. So instead of rushing and eating my lunch in the car, I could’ve been doing something productive at home right now!

emeraldduchess

@_orchid_ it will absolutely NOT be the same. DH is also a teacher and he had a team meeting two weeks ago about what September might look like. The things we don't usually think twice about, like having baskets of crayons that everyone shares, or giving a student a pencil when they lose theirs...nope. None of that. No group work, no games at recess, no lunch in the cafeteria. I have been on a few video-conference interviews and one of the first questions they asked me was how am I going to teach remotely and build a relationship with my students if they aren't meeting me in person. It's going to be a completely different world and it makes me SO sad that my first day of school (wherever that may be) may be on Google Classroom and not in person. 

ashaislurking

@_orchid_ No joke, if one of my family members did that they would be cut off indefinitely. Risking the health and safety of someone else like that is baffling.
@emeraldduchess I honestly think teachers should be allowed to sue their districts for putting the health and safety of the students and staff at risk. Things will absolutely not look the same this year and I do not envy any educators who are needing to make these decisions for their classrooms.
@runningoncookies Missing appointments is so frustrating. I had parents of kiddos call and flake on me last minute when I would already be WELL into my drive to their homes (usually 40-50 miles away) to provide services.

My BF is that I'm still WFAF. Last dose of provera was last Wednesday and I KNOW it can take up to two weeks for AF to show after that but I just want this cycle to be over.

the_most_happy

@_orchid_ omg... that is unreal. Are your ILs normally bad with boundaries? I can't get over that, so crazy!

@mvt2003 I've heard of some instances where employers are starting to pay for their WFH staffs' internet service, wouldn't that be nice? Won't happen for me anytime soon, but honestly it seems more and more reasonable the longer the timeline gets for so many people to continue WFH.

@emeraldduchess absolutely, it's totally maddening! My mom is a high school teacher and has raised so many of the same points you've made here... there's just no way to get around all of the obstacles to safe in-person instruction. I really, really hope that her district and the others in our area opt to go all virtual for at least the beginning of the year. I feel for all of the people who that would put in a tough situation with respect to childcare and work schedules, but the alternative is just too scary for me to contemplate.

@runningoncookies ugh, how annoying! It's even more frustrating that this is a family you know well... shouldn't they feel just a little bit of pressure to not stand up someone they have a relationship with?

@ashaislurking boo, crossing my fingers that AF shows ASAP for you! I hate the part of the cycle where I'm just waiting to be on to the next one, so boring and demoralizing.

kvh22

@the_most_happy @mvt2003 my company is giving us $25/mo towards internet but they took away 401k matching for the second half of the year. They also gave us a stipend to buy some office furniture which I really need to make sure I don't waste and some RSUs (restricted stock units - so they vest over a 4 year period). If I stay the full 4 years it comes close to evening out but the $25 towards internet isn't much in the way of compensation. Although I know that I'm lucky neither DH nor I has had any impact in salary/benefits otherwise and we're saving money overall but it's still frustrating.

@_orchid_ I'm stunned into silence

@ashaislurking hopefully AF comes soon. We might just be on opposite parts of our cycle but I haven't seen your update in a while...what CD are you on?

_orchid_

@ashaislurking I can't believe AF hasn't come. That is a major BF. 

@runningoncookies that's so annoying esp since you confirmed and they know you!! What a way to start the week. Hope you got home earlier than you expected and didn't have to stay at school! 

@mvt2003 that's one of the hardest part of WFH for us- we had some days in the spring that our internet was so slow and I had to text my supervisors to let them know I wasn't just being rude. 

@the_most_happy they're usually very good with boundaries as long as we are verbal about them... I honestly don't think I've ever seen any of them share utensils with my kids (not a common thing by far) so didn't think I needed to verbally say don't share a utensil with him!! I really just don't think he was thinking at all and was a reflex - I know the members of his family do share utensils/cups. This is why I don't want to be around people!!

inthewoods23

@mvt2003 on the topic of ISPs, I had been asking DH for a while to call ours to see if there are any deals because we're not longer in that "2 year promo" period when we switched. Our bill nearly doubled without it. Plus we keep getting mail about adding TV (for only $44.99!) to our services. DH tells me their website shows nothing and pointed out that if you actually read the promo from the mail correctly, that $44.99 is the additional cost to your bill. Not that the promo is $44.99 for both internet and TV. For the longest time I have been reading it as both being the $44.99 price - cuz of course that's the thing that stands out most on the page. That it's $44.99 for TV and internet, aka, for each. So lame.

I can't complain too much though, we were originally getting only 6mbps download with AT&T (their fiber network wasn't in our area at the time), but get around 200 with our current provider.

@emeraldduchess UGH. So many valid questions

@ashaislurking I thought AF did come for you???

Kenneylynn3

@inthewoods23 sounds like our old internet provider. I dropped them when they went to double the cost after the promo rate. I keep seeing the same ad and had to show dw the fine print. Do you mind if I ask where you are?

ashaislurking

@kvh22 I'm now on CD 58 still no AF. I haven't updated on the dailies in a while.
@inthewoods23 There was one weekend a couple weeks back that I --THOUGHT-- AF had started but it ended up just being 5 days of SUPER SUPER SUPER light spotting. I called my ObGyn the next Monday and she had me come in for some labs and started me on Provera.