Day 7 - California Reopening Plan- Phase 2.5 for LA County
Empty…
Monday
6:00 - …and I’m up. I can’t sleep so I might as well get ready. I take my braids out, wash my face, and get dressed. I put on some light make-up but will do a full face in the car. I listen to The Daily.
7:15 - 8:00 - downstairs and the dog is out of it. I have to wake her up to take her outside. Cheese. I heat up my coffee, grab all of my gear and packed lunch bag, and leave. I listen to a light podcast today - The Best of Both Worlds.
8:15 - 1:00 p.m. - I’m at work, but nobody is here. The parking lot is empty and it’s eerie. I have a subject interview that I scheduled 2 months in advance so turning around and heading home is not an option. The office is dark and it appears that the alarm wasn’t set from Friday. Did something happen? Were staff forced to evacuate due to the riots? I enter the office.
I check email and it appears that, at 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, my “umbrella” agency authorized the closure of all state offices, effective Monday, 6/1/20. My boss followed suit, sending an email blast at 1:15 a.m. Of course, I didn’t get the memo(s) until I arrive at the office, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 8:15 a.m., for my interview.
For whatever reason, our Medical Consultant - an older female who is very nice - also arrives at 9:00 a.m. It is so dangerous outside that she (gasp) walked to work. We conduct the interview, as scheduled, via conference call without incident. Nobody is in the office but her and I both mask. I can’t tell you how nice this is! Because my boss refuses to implement a “staggered workforce”, these idiots (my co-workers) - you’ve heard me discuss them before - show up every day, for a full “8 and hit the gate” shift, refusing to mask, social distancing at 2 to 3 feet, and “talking” in everyone’s faces. But today - there is nobody here and it is WONDERFUL! Do I miss the socialization? No. What socialization?
I get a ton of work done, without feeling exposed to a life-threatening virus, and can finally focus. I eat the overnight oats that I packed - very good. I call it at 1:00 p.m. and leave. I won’t be back until 6/15/20, for my next subject interview. I have a few tasks I can do from home, but I’m working down my caseload in preparation for my retirement in August.
2:15 - 4:00 p.m. - Home and I ‘m absolutely exhausted, having only had around 3 hours sleep from the night before. I take in my work bags and bring in the trash cans, then do a few of the dishes that I left soaking last night. The dog has to go out and I need to water my plants. A small succulent falls out of a pot while I’m watering, so I re-plant it in another pot with potting soil. I try to remember what I used to do on Mondays.
Here it is:
The months before Covid-19, I telecommuted on Mondays, usually getting up around 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and checking emails at my state job so my boss would THINK I was working at 7:00 in the morning. At around 12:00, I would get ready - shower, business attire, and full face of make-up - then leave at 1:00 p.m., to drive 1 hour and 20 minutes to my college, where I would teach my International Relations class from 2:30-5:30. I had a 30-minute lunch break in between classes, so would retreat to my car and eat the lunch I packed, complete with frozen inserts to make sure the food items kept. Then, I would report to my next class at 6:00 p.m. and teach until 9:00 p.m., do light paperwork, like attendance and updating the grade book, and return home by around 10:15 p.m., at which point I would prepare for my Tuesday schedule - packing a lunch and laying my clothes and school supplies out - which necessitated me waking up at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesdays AND Thursdays - again, shower, business attire, and full face - so I could be on the road by 6:00 a.m., in order to reach my Inglewood high school class by 8:00 a.m., where I would teach until 10:00. While en route to Inglewood, I would log into my state job and respond to emails so my boss would THINK I was working at 7:00 a.m. in the morning.
The fact of the matter is I WAS working at my state job, but it was outside of a standard 8:00-5:00 p.m. shift. Recall that I was top producer last year so you know I was working. HOWEVER, pre-Covid-19, the state was fanatical about employees ONLY working within 8 to 5:00 parameters - it truly is a mystery as to why any sort of deviation was a problem - so I had to pretend that I was working within those rigid guidelines. When feasible, if employers would just let their employees work at times conducive to them, they would see so much productivity…this might change as a result of the pandemic.
Anyway, back to reality. After unpacking my bags and cleaning the kitchen, I eat the lunch that I packed and read The Couple Next Door. I don’t read novels very much, but the book is quite good so far.
4:00-6:30 - I take a nap. This is now usual for me. Maybe it’s because I’m 50 now… Today the curfew is at 5:00, NOT 6:00, but I end up sleeping through it.
7:00-9:30 - I read The Couple Next Door
9:30-10:30 - I’m behind on my blog so update everything. I have champagne.
11:30 - L and I watch Married.