Coronavirus in Massachusetts (middle-class, vs., office)

[msRB311]

I'm sure there are men who want to stay home too but I have noticed more men headed back to the office by choice though, not the women. In households it seems to be the men want to get away and they do...the woman then stays remote working with kids. Could be that the man of the house is the bread winner and feels like he needs to show up and get noticed. No one can go into my office building even if they wanted to.

If my office had a better commute and parking and i could go in I probably would have by now to get some quiet. But it's not feasible for me, just easier to stay home

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I just don't appreciate people being the voice of doom about this.

doom...reality...eh, what's the difference?

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

doom...reality...eh, what's the difference?

the reality is people can work from home

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

the reality is people can work from home

...if their bosses authorize it.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by massnative71

...if their bosses authorize it.

quite a few already have

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

quite a few already have

OK then.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Everyone's role is different, though. If you're crunching numbers, you probably don't need to be in as high-touch of a work environment.

It is interesting. I am a numbers cruncher and I feel just as productive 100% WFH as I ever did in any 100% office environment. Pre-COVID I worked for mostly other numbers crunchers and most of them were uncomfortable allowing people to WFH even at 20% time or less. In my current role I am crunching numbers for an operations person and he has absolutely no concern with any of his direct reports being WFH. Pre-COVID it seemed like many finance and accounting departments were not allowed to WFH as the status quo.

[mdovell]

I think the harder reality isn't so much when we get past this but the gap between when we do and when other countries don't. Boston is greatly dependent on immigration and the low birth rate we've had since 2008 and the policies of the past four or so years even precovid prevented immigration. We're going to see school districts close down elementary schools nationwide and start merging.

I think this is more of a harbinger for self driving cars and 5G. No more parking garages, DUI lawyers, an additional room in every single family house, no more ubur (at least by people), far fewer auto parts stores and gas stations etc. Given the announcements of the state along with car companies I don't see internal combustion engines being around by 2040.

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

This is all fine if your goal is to move to a society of corporate-androids who stay home all the time. Outside that, this type of scenario removes the human element. How that will affect people over the long run could be terrifying. The dramatic changes in human behavior can be seen from just the last 20 years of tech as it infiltrated society and human development as those raised on tech have become less and less social and interactive. Human interaction is a serious element to be considered. It should also be considered within the organization framework as for many fields, relationships are a BIG deal and can make or break your results. If you think that business or government will run smoothly without emphasis on building and maintaining relationships, you're delusional in my view. Those organizations that understand this will have the upper hand. The world cannot be just broken down into "data" and human relationships can't be effectively built and managed electronically over the long run. If your work revolves strictly around being in a lab, engineering or research where its centered around data, you may not get this. But it's a big deal generally. Even in those industries that are focused on data the organizations are managed by people who depend on human interaction to be successful.

https://www.brainspire.com/blog/what...an-interaction

But we've ALREADY been doing this for decades. ATM's, online shopping, on demand tv/movies, instacart etc. I don't know if you've worked directly with customers but much of the time they just want their stuff and the have other things to do. When I did retail some would "hang around" and act like we were bartenders. I'm not a bartender. Find something else to do. Heck even therapy is online at this point. Ever see Kentucky fried movie? remember the drug store scene? Life isn't like that anymore. There's a difference between Country Time Lemonade commercial slow and sodium pentanol in the dentist office slow. things are faster now.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I think the harder reality isn't so much when we get past this but the gap between when we do and when other countries don't. Boston is greatly dependent on immigration and the low birth rate we've had since 2008 and the policies of the past four or so years even precovid prevented immigration. We're going to see school districts close down elementary schools nationwide and start merging.

I think this is more of a harbinger for self driving cars and 5G. No more parking garages, DUI lawyers, an additional room in every single family house, no more ubur (at least by people), far fewer auto parts stores and gas stations etc. Given the announcements of the state along with car companies I don't see internal combustion engines being around by 2040.



But we've ALREADY been doing this for decades. ATM's, online shopping, on demand tv/movies, instacart etc. I don't know if you've worked directly with customers but much of the time they just want their stuff and the have other things to do. When I did retail some would "hang around" and act like we were bartenders. I'm not a bartender. Find something else to do. Heck even therapy is online at this point. Ever see Kentucky fried movie? remember the drug store scene? Life isn't like that anymore. There's a difference between Country Time Lemonade commercial slow and sodium pentanol in the dentist office slow. things are faster now.

Sure and the effects of this are already horrifying. Our enemies and competitors will seize on this and steamroll right over us.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I think the harder reality isn't so much when we get past this but the gap between when we do and when other countries don't. Boston is greatly dependent on immigration and the low birth rate we've had since 2008 and the policies of the past four or so years even precovid prevented immigration. We're going to see school districts close down elementary schools nationwide and start merging.

Maybe it would get local pols to take domestic net migration seriously if that really happened.