Guitar Gear Forum

...I started working form home due to the pandemic. I have only been in the office three times since then and it was for just a few hours each time. Weird anniversary...

The company I work for is anticipating that the "new normal" will be 50% back in the office and 50% remote workers, tentatively by the end of September based on current trends. I can choose (I'm "highly productive" ), so I'm 90% certain I'll keep working remotely and drive to the office only when needed. I wasn't a big fan at first, but I've gotten use to it. The downside is that I actually work more hours, but the trade-offs are nice.

Anyone else's employers actively planning the return to normal. I'm sure most have been doing it behind the scenes all along, but the topic seems to be moving out of the shadows now that the vaccines are available...

Yeah mine’s a similar situation. In our case it will most likely be a hybrid model of a couple days in office, a couple days out weekly. Which I’m good with.

I was already working from home for over a year when the coronapocalypse began. So other than the ability to go onsite to my local clients, not much will chnage for me this year. I am looking forward to when my wife's office opens back up though.

I've been doing it since '08, way before any pandemic, so nothing changed/will change for me. I like working from home but it also can be isolating at times. It's important to plan to get outside of the house often, preferably every day.

I actually stopped going to campus at the February so it has been over a year for me. Even before Covid I was 2/3 online. I still had to go to campus every day for one class but that was usually at 10:30.

My school has been SUPER cautious and we are almost fully online at least through summer quarter. Working from home has been a great way for me to work with my kids' schedules so I will likely be requesting a full online schedule from here on out.

I did work from home 3 days a week, then in summer, I was 2 days work from home. My kids started in person full time school in the fall, so once that happened, I was in the office every day. I didn't really enjoy work from home.
I did start a youtube page though where I'd learn a new song daily on the acoustic and would practice it a few times and just record it and upload. I recorded a lot of cover songs over that time, just used my iphone to record it. Then I got all fancy and started using the movie app so I could add additional vocals.

Nothing changed for me. Been going to work everyday right through.

TurboPablo wrote:Nothing changed for me. Been going to work everyday right through.

Same here.

I've been caring for my 87 year old parents on a 24/7 basis for about 3 years now. Its been difficult for a long time but the past year has been especially hard, being pretty much locked up with the two oldies every day. The ol' mental health is a bit shaky.
I can't wait until we get back to normal, or even something that vaguely resembles normal.

Fuck, this, anniversary.

I'm grouchy af, but mostly about the schools not reopening yet in CA while they opened in other states for months with no links to any significant rise in cases or super spreader events in those areas.

The work from home for my wife wouldn't be bad at all if our state and the teachers unions would let the kids come back to school.

Have I mentioned yet that I hate everyone?

Ostinato Rubato wrote:Fuck, this, anniversary.

I'm grouchy af, but mostly about the schools not reopening yet in CA while they opened in other states for months with no links to any significant rise in cases or super spreader events in those areas.

The work from home for my wife wouldn't be bad at all if our state and the teachers unions would let the kids come back to school.

Have I mentioned yet that I hate everyone?

GuitarBilly wrote:I've been doing it since '08, way before any pandemic, so nothing changed/will change for me. I like working from home but it also can be isolating at times. It's important to plan to get outside of the house often, preferably every day.

I'm REALLY feeling that part right now.
I knew it was present but didn't realize how badly until this week being back in the office getting to BS with my coworkers in person.
I've also practiced with my band and gone to my old BJJ gym and man if it hasn't put a serious dent in my depression.

skybluegary wrote:

TurboPablo wrote:Nothing changed for me. Been going to work everyday right through.

Same here.

Me three.

I'm a high school teacher and I miss being in the classroom with students. I have a hard time getting any sense of who my students are in this online format. I feel like a radio DJ talking to a tiny green light next to the laptop camera.

It's been a year of being "alone together," if even that. It's been more like a year of just being alone.

I don't foresee schools going back to what they were here for a while, if at all. I feel there's been a paradigm shift. The experiences of this last year afforded the opportunity to rethink everything over. And at this point, I don't mind. More changes? Yeah, why not.

Learning to adjust is all I got from this.

K-Bizzle wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:I've been doing it since '08, way before any pandemic, so nothing changed/will change for me. I like working from home but it also can be isolating at times. It's important to plan to get outside of the house often, preferably every day.

I'm REALLY feeling that part right now.
I knew it was present but didn't realize how badly until this week being back in the office getting to BS with my coworkers in person.
I've also practiced with my band and gone to my old BJJ gym and man if it hasn't put a serious dent in my depression.

It's a bigger issue after you move to a new area. Getting out of the house and going to work is a great way to meet people and make friends in a new city etc. Especially if you're married.
In LA I had 20 years worth of friends so working from home was not an issue since I could always see my friends after work.
In Vegas, I was single for the most part so I'd just go out after work and meet people that way.
But PA was hard, since I did not know anyone, stayed in the house all day and most of my off work and band hours were just Kimmi and I. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my wife but this arrangement made it extremely hard and isolating to live there.

Now here in DC, Kimmi and I know a lot of people and are well connected in the local music scene so I'm sure it will be better. But still, I make a point to get out of the house as soon as I'm done with work and go do something every day. Cabin fever is real lol

Me 4. No work change. Same ol same old for me. In fact, turned out I made more money 2020 than The last.

I had to take a 5% pay cut for about 3 months, but considering the alternatives, I wasn't upset by it. On the bright side, even though we missed our bonus targets for 2020 (significantly in some areas), the company I work for still paid bonuses in February at the level we would have received if the targets were met. Solid move on their part. They could have easily - and legitimately - used the pandemic downturn to justify not paying them...

GuitarBilly wrote:

K-Bizzle wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:I've been doing it since '08, way before any pandemic, so nothing changed/will change for me. I like working from home but it also can be isolating at times. It's important to plan to get outside of the house often, preferably every day.

I'm REALLY feeling that part right now.
I knew it was present but didn't realize how badly until this week being back in the office getting to BS with my coworkers in person.
I've also practiced with my band and gone to my old BJJ gym and man if it hasn't put a serious dent in my depression.

It's a bigger issue after you move to a new area. Getting out of the house and going to work is a great way to meet people and make friends in a new city etc. Especially if you're married.
In LA I had 20 years worth of friends so working from home was not an issue since I could always see my friends after work.
In Vegas, I was single for the most part so I'd just go out after work and meet people that way.
But PA was hard, since I did not know anyone, stayed in the house all day and most of my off work and band hours were just Kimmi and I. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my wife but this arrangement made it extremely hard and isolating to live there.

Now here in DC, Kimmi and I know a lot of people and are well connected in the local music scene so I'm sure it will be better. But still, I make a point to get out of the house as soon as I'm done with work and go do something every day. Cabin fever is real lol

Yeah thats part of it however I moved to the new area with my closest friends to be around the rest of our closest friends so I'm not completely alone. I've been getting out of the house as much as possible but its not been enough for me so far. Have definitely realized that while I like my time alone I'm much more extroverted than I thought I was and being around people gives me life. I've got some plans on how to improve this for myself but yeah its certainly tougher than I realized. Just happy I realized this before hoping on meds.

I seem to have a little different take on it than most.
I was always against people 'working from home' - and always went in to the office.
Now that I have been 'forced' to work from home - I don't want to go back.
Especially since I am only at 80% pay since last May - taking off every Wednesday.
At this level of pay - I don't care to spend the money on gas and tolls to drive for almost 2 hours every day to go to the office,
when it has been proved I can do my job fully from home.

I also pretty family centered, and don't have many 'friends' I interact with personally on a regular basis -
I really only miss going out with my wife for dinner, just to mix things up a bit.
We have been out to eat probably 6 or 8 times since this started - and a couple overnight getaways to Jim Thorpe, PA as well.

I work weekends at Pep Boys - and we have been open straight through the whole pandemic - so that outside human interaction has probably minimized the overall affect for me quite a bit too.