COVID-19 COVID Fatigue, Coping, Support, Venting, etc.

[HardlinesGuy]

*TLDR at the bottom.*

I know I speak for more than a few of us when I say that COVID has been a nasty bitch, mentally, physically, and everything in between. 2020 has been a year that has caused suffering of varying degrees to countless people. Be it financially from income/job loss, physically from health complications, or mentally from depression, anxiety, stress, etc.

With the pandemic having no end in sight, the topic of COVID fatigue has become fairly interesting to me. Partially because I know I have felt it, and am continuing to feel it in increasing amounts. First off, I’m no wordsmith, so please excuse me if this is a bit of a ramble. Second, I am well aware that I am very lucky to be in the position I am in right now with a steady income in spite of the global situation.

With those two things being said, I wanted to create a dedicated place here on TBR for us to discuss things relating to the stress and coping with everything going on around us. We all experience things in our own ways and have our own struggles. I encourage everyone to share, if comfortable, how the pandemic and general chaos has impacted you. I’ll post some of my personal experiences and thoughts at some point soon as a bit of an ice breaker.

How are you doing? How are you coping? What are you feeling? What’s on your mind that you just want to let out? What advice can you give to others that might be in a similar situation?

Please. Be safe, wash your hands, wear your mask, and keep going. Let’s get through this.

TLDR: Use this thread to discuss COVID fatigue, share what you are doing to cope, vent, and support others.

 

[Far from newbie]

We are very busy AND short staffed. We are fried and hanging by a thread. The worst part : no end in sight and no time off approved til next year.

 

[Bosch]

I so enjoy the management saying we need to take care of ourselves then denying all my time off requests.. I am not talking taking weeks, just random days off.. I guess they don't want to know when they need someone extra. It's cool with me.. I am out of fucks to give. All of our vacation plans for the year cancelled, friends have been sick. Fires on the west coast wrecked any back up plans we had. We have been running at pretty much the max for our shop for most of the year without much help. We are burned out.

 

[BurgerBob]

I've been using my sick time. But yea I'm pretty much hanging by a thread . Today,? 12 hour shift cause our closer called out.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Spot has been good on the convid thing at my store. We need to understand the virus & prevention.
We will survive.
Our stock is 170.00 a share. Omg!

 

[redeye58]

Working at my SB counter I'm OK with the extra cleaning, wearing a mask, grab-n-go orders only & the like.
I am NOT OK with passive-aggressive guests who take every opportunity to be a asshat because they DON'T like wearing a mask & are pissed because our dining area is closed (they're the ones who trashed it anyway).
So you have to wear a mask while you're in the store? BFD! I wear one all thru my shift.
Don't like wearing one? Wear it correctly & as often as necessary so we can shut this plague down.
Otherwise, STFU.

 

[seasonaldude]

I'm pretty sure I have PTSD at this point and it's not even in the past yet. Any mildly bad local news (and there's been a lot recently) and I get a huge surge in OPU orders. My feet are shot. My knee aches. Today, my left quad feels like hot rubber. And, any day that I don't pick 400+ OPU units I get asked what's wrong? Gee...I don't know? Everyone else on the team rarely hits 300 units in a day, that's what's wrong. I'm fucking tired.

 

[happygoth]

I missed another family party yesterday. I thought it was too cold to have it outside so I just assumed they would have it inside, and there were people in attendance who are not part of my bubble. Turns out they had it outside and it was fine. I should've asked.

I am so, so tired of being afraid, and yet I am so very afraid. I am close to another meltdown. Everywhere I go there are people with no masks or masks pulled down, including TLs and ETLs in my own store. And now the weather has turned, and New England is facing months of closed up houses and no outdoor options. And we are spiking. Our numbers were so good during the summer, and I feel like I didn't take advantage of it.

My husband can't see his friends because they are not taking this seriously, no masks unless absolutely necessary, no social distancing, no bubbles. And now we are facing the prospect of having Thanksgiving and Christmas alone.

I am so fucking over it.

 

[SigningLady]

Overall, life feels normal again. Not normal like it was before March, but there is a consistency everyday. We've kept our Covid bubble pretty small- immediate family and one neighbor family. Keep our distance if there is any possibility of exposure. I haven't seen my best friend in person since NYE but we text almost daily and are each other's support on the harder days (especially early on in the spring).

When my store made the switch to overnights in April, I used music for coping. Made a great playlist I listened to every night I worked. Lots of King Princess, SHAED, Halsey, Bishop Briggs. It's still my go-to now before the store opens since we stopped overnights at the end of May.

Cases are surging up in MN. The one I am concerned about is my daughter. She struggled last spring with full distance learning and it has been a huge blessing to have her in school part time this school year. She does exceedingly well academically no matter what, but she enjoys the in person interaction with her teacher so much. We're going to end up full distance again in a few weeks though. She freaks out at just the thought of it. She's only 6.

 

[vendordontmesswithme]

Another staycation this year, my third one. I did't travel before covid but at least I could run to the casino spend a day or two. Visiting with friends and especially family I have to consider location and how many may be there. There's no end in sight. I don't want to have essential biz only open again. My state wouldn't order it anyway it was only my county officials that did. Under Trump it will only be the same head in the sand approach. Under Biden mass protest and avoidance.
Heavenly Father may we act and speak towards each other as brothers and sisters in Jesus name. Amen

 

[HardlinesGuy]

A relevant article I found on the topic.

The Wall Street Journal: Severe Covid-19 Cases Leave Lasting Effects, Including on Mental State

 

[essie]

I do pretty much strictly OPUs (which I absolutely LOVE), but I am seriously concerned about the next two months. We have to go through the checklanes or front entrance to get to our coolers/freezers, then through them again to get to the dry hold locations. There are no other options. It's not bad now, but when we can't cut through the checklanes, and the entrance/exit is crammed with people ... then what? Especially since there will be anywhere from two to 10 or more of us at a time doing OPUs? GS will have to do the same to grab the orders.

I have managed my anxiety very well for years, and I'm training our seasonals like everything is normal, but trying to prepare mentally for what's to come is really testing me.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Wear a mask & gloves

 

[BurgerBob]

Woo hoo. 2nd case in the store

 

[BurgerBob]

23rd... which means if I just got the text today... interesting

 

[rd123]

Ever since I came back from my LOA, today I got first msg that there is a positive case in my store . Also, my kid returned to 4days/week school today . I never imagined that the call from store was anything regarding covid . I’m getting anxious and all sort of bad thoughts now . I hope I have never came into contact with that person. I guess I’m gonna have a sleepless night tonight ! 😕

 

[rd123]

Are everyone at the store notified of a positive case or only the ones who might have worked in the same department?

 

[BoxCutter]

I believe it is store wide.

 

[happygoth]

My store was sending it to everyone.

 

[spytfyre7]

Having the Overnights available is a BIG help in the current situation. Being able to work your own area and hardly see another human for up to an hour at a time mitigates the strain of not being able to properly socially distance during store hours. I sympathize with Team Members who still have to be in the store between 1 pm and 6 pm---not only are there tons of guests, but it's much tougher to spread out even from other TMs. My district and store had just about kissed Overnights goodbye forever until the pandemic hit..now it's deemed a necessity until the pandemic is over.

 

[Yetive]

Everyone gets a call or text. Call for the first case, if they can reach you,
then text for cases after that.

23rd... which means if I just got the text today... interesting

That would be a reflection of when the team member informed the store. The texts are not sent by the store.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

We've had 4 positive cases at my store, and the pace has picked up recently. We went a very long time before our first one and now we've had two in the last couple of weeks, which is reflective of how things are going in my state - not horrible, yet, but not nearly as well as we were doing.
I so wish we'd go to overnights! Doubtful though because we're a low-volume store. But I'd sure love to not have to deal with those passive-aggressive guests who can't be bothered to wear their masks properly, while they're just strolling around the store at a leisurely pace. Jerks.
Personally, because I don't travel and I'm an introvert, I really don't mind the restrictions encouraging people to stay home, etc. I do miss being able to browse at the library though; it's fine to select books online and pick them up outside the building, but I'm looking forward to just being able to pull a book off the shelf and flip through it.
What bugs be more than passive-aggressive non-mask-wearing guests? Stupid TMs. Most TMs at my store are pretty good about masking, cleaning their space in the break room, using the one-way set-up for the stairs, etc. But there are a few who so obviously don't care about any of it, and then they're rude about it on top of it. I have no patience for that stuff these days.
Thanks, HardlinesGuy, for the thread. It's good to have a place to vent with people who understand.
P.S. - Editing to say that I try to have a mask-free day once a week. Still working my other job a tiny bit, but even between that and Target, I usually have one completely unscheduled day that I purposely don't go anywhere other than to walk my dog. (We're not required to wear a mask when outdoors and able to keep distance.) It's blissful to not wear a mask for the whole day.

 

[BurgerBob]

Everyone gets a call or text. Call for the first case, if they can reach you,
then text for cases after that.

That would be a reflection of when the team member informed the store. The texts are not sent by the store.

Oh no, its interesting, cause trying to piece together who I've not seen since then is interesting. Time to go reach out to friends in other departments.

Though I figure if I haven't got it yet...

 

[greatteam]

My store has had at least 3 cases. I didn’t receive a call or a text about any of them.

 

[Ringwraith917]

Less people are wearing masks in my store (guests) despite the mandate still being in effect. We've had cases. People I know personally have got it and recovered. I'm tired of all the arguing on Facebook and stepping back when a guest gets too close. I used to play cards every weekend but I haven't since March 😞. My girlfiend who i live with has asthma and is diabetic so I'm constantly worried for her. Virtual school is terrible for my son, thankfully he's back in school for now. Lucky I still have a job though. That's my vent for now.
I'm doing nothing to cope/vent/get better.