☝🏻@gnat This wasn't even close to a duplicate. Please knock it off

Pretty quiet in here without Richard, I hope things are working out OK for him.

@kilisi I emailed him about something the other day - seemed his usual self

@Bee great

@motosubatsu around?

@iLuvLogix yup :)

My boss just told me I have home-office from Monday.. Corona panic at yours as well?

I thought they knew programmers have hardly any (social) contact at all - besides with the buttons on the keyboard and the mouse maybe..

@iLuvLogix not panic - at least not yet. Although yesterday they did install sanitiser dispensers all around the building

to be honest most of the impact it's had on me so far has been First World Problems

definitly

whereabouts are you based?

aut

austria, vienna

europe too?

@iLuvLogix I'm in the UK - so we've got the virus but it's not too bad (yet)

Yeah most of the people I know who can work from home have been told to in London

I spoke with a couple of my peeps and it seems to be the thing with loads of companies that they will reduce to ho where posiible or have 50% staff

as it was suggested by our chancellor babyface Basti Kurz

this is really hurting the economy..

indexes fell around 30-40% worldwide

theoretically my current contract could be done remotely - the majority of the workers here couldn't though

would you consider to avoid office if possible?

@iLuvLogix TBH I'll be lead by the client on that - if they want me on-site I'll pretty much have to do that but if they start sending us remote I'm more than happy to

feel similar.. -though I'll be missing my tech-desk with all the test-setups and all the toys to fiddle around with..

@iLuvLogix the only downside to WFH for me really would be having to work off my laptop rather than enjoying the multi-monitor setup

I asked my company for two 29incher when I picked up my second docking station for HO and they granted my wish ;) Did you asked for some as well?

Weirdly with some things they are quite stingy - but when it comes to equipment, especially for IT, there wallets are open

@motosubatsu Everyone in my office can work from home, so it's not really any impact, despite us going formally to a 50/50 working plan for the next month

I have better monitors at home anyway :-)

work only gives me 27" 1080p. At home I have a couple of lovely big 4k monitors

@RoryAlsop Where are sou based? Regarding the monitors - they should provide you with decent ones as well, especially considering the fact that we stare into those for 8h a day 5 days a week ;)

@iLuvLogix Scotland. The 27" ones do count as decent

Moving house monday - can't wait to get a proper little home office set up

@RoryAlsop agree, thats decent. @Bee Thats the first and main priority when moving in somewhere: Get the home-office setup and the fridge plugged in (for cold beer)..

ahaha I like the way you think @iLuvLogix

Need to get broadband and a mattress sorted too

Gonna treat myself to one of those fancy ones - anyone got experiance with Emma or Nectar?

for the meanwhile you can always use your cellphone as hotspot - in regards to the matress a hammock will do for a start..

Yeah I have plenty of mobile data - just get kinda patchy signal round here on my network

Didn't think ahead with that one when I changed my contract

@iLuvLogix I'm a contractor - so while I'm on-site I work on the client's kit but at home I would expect to be working on my own. My home setup has been sadly neglected in recent years, and a friend still has my main workhorse laptop on loan so I'd probably be sat there working away on my Surface :)

or more realistically I'd delve into the company bank account and order myself some new kit :)

@motosubatsu now thats the spirit ;)

On a serious note - could you increase your hourly rate by a couple of bucks in order to cover additional tech-costs for your ho-setup?

@iLuvLogix probably not - but given I'd be saving on the commute it would probably cover the cost of any kit in a couple of months

@motosubatsu true..

@Bee not tried either of those - I'm currently using a SilentNight 7-zone full memory foam and I've found that to be pretty decent

@Bee & @motosubatsu I'm currently using a potato-bag filled with straw - at least thats what it feels like..

@iLuvLogix so that's where my old mattress ended up!

@motosubatsu ..just to clarify: She's MIIINE now, muhahahaha :)

@iLuvLogix haha.. you should consider selling it to the people at Guantanamo Bay - even the toughest suspected terrorist would be singing like a bird after a couple of nights

@moto I'll look into it

@motosubatsu combine that with austrian folklore music and you'll break them in a week ;)

@iLuvLogix anti pattern

WFH is not on the table except for upper management, we even had a general announcement that they still expect people to come in with mild flu like usual and not take sick leave and that they don't want this to be used to stay home with every sniffle

@Magisch Interesting.. At our place a couple of ppl are happy with WFH another bunch prefers to come to the office anyways - guess thats just their routine talking ;)

@Magisch sounds a bit self-defeating - about all that will do is maximize the spread

@motosubatsu One of the owners thinks it's less dangerous then the flu and that everyone will get it anyways

so in their mind doing anything to combat the spread is unnecessarily economically damaging

@Bee I got mine on sale at Amazon, less than £150 IIRC

Oo not bad

mattress is one thing I only buy new

I'll never have bedbugs again that was hell on earth

Yeah used mattresses give me the creeps

Plus I have a really bad dust mite allergy

@Magisch idiots.. it's clearly at least on a par with Flu in terms of danger (and likely significantly more) and in the long run more people sick = longer term economic danger

heh

@Magisch ugh.. bedbugs are supposed to be extremely unpleasant and extremely hard to get rid of

one of my coworkers is on ski holiday in tyrol right now and pissed he has to come back early because they're ending the ski season

I think it's the scale of the impact more than anything else

@motosubatsu about 3 grand and 8 weeks of chemical treatment, plus throwing out a lot of clothes and textiles

@Bee yeah, not sure how it compares to the more expensive ones but so far (about three months in) it feels like fantastic value for money

I'll definitely add it to my list to review

@Tina_Sea yeah similar for the majority of employees at this client - it's a manufacturing business and product can't make itself

@Bee the one downside to it being full memory foam is having to let it expand/settle for 36 hours before you can sleep on it

Oh dam I hadn't thought about that - I think they all are haha

Looks like I'm staying with a friend the first couple of evenings then

@Bee yeah I was lucky in that I have a spare bedroom so just kipped in there for the night

Haven't even got a sofa yet

first time buying all my own furniture

feeling like a real adult now

@Bee it's nice being able to choose all your own stuff for a change - expensive and kind of inconvenient to start with but still nice

Yeah I know it's going to be $$

but I can get stuff slowly and build up

plus I'm saving a fortune on rent not living in London :)

Ikea can be your friend for picking up the basics cheaply to get you going

Bloody love ikea

our government just stated they'll put up whatever it takes to prevent economic collapse, even if it has to be 500 billion or more

the EU similarly said in this situation debt ceilings will be ignored

@Bee Long ago in days of yore, it all began with a god named Thor, There were Vikings and boats, And some plans for a furniture store...

I don't know if you wrote that or if it's one of their ads

they always have funny adds

*ads

Ikea is cool tbh

I'm going to get so many frozen meetballs and bottles of ligonberry juice when I go

building your furniture yourself is at least superficially satisfying

@Bee It's a Jonathan Coulton song

I think I'm more excited about the ikea trip than moving tbh

well worth a listen as it's hilarious

Ah I definitely will do!

I really want to take the rest of the year off, but my boss is a prick

@Kilisi I really want to take the rest of the year off, my boss is okay with it, my mortgage provider.. not so much

@motosubatsu I'm self employed :-) But wiped out the mortgage long ago

@Kilisi yeah, self-employed here too, just haven't quite gotten to the "paid-off" stage of mortgage yet :D

ahhh well, you'll get there, I don't like being in debt so I hit mine pretty hard

5 kids though, so not shoret on expenses

short*

yeah kiddos can be rather expensive from what I can tell, doesn't seem to stop me finding things to sink money into though!

Love how sarcastic the guardian is about Trump

Just gave me a chuckle

But you're right, very easy target

@Bee oh agreed

@motosubatsu please remember:

"the guardian" is not a SE user :P

I was being positive about the guardian :P

:D

I'm still trying to reconcile the fact that Shog doesn't like Beyonce

@dwizum It really makes you think, no? You thought you knew a eye.

My employer just announced full time WFH for all back office staff if/when local schools are closed

schools in my state close on monday until mid april

we have been informed that unless the government passes a regulation stating otherwise, parents still have to go to work or take PTO to take care of their kids

and WFH is still not on the table

it's gonna be a bloodbath on monday, easily 70% of my coworkers have kids

@Magisch oof.... I think that your bosses particular flight of fancy is heading towards a hard ugly crash into the mountain of reality

even if say 50% of the parents can somehow scrape up emergency child care over the weekend that still leaves over a third of the workforce out, all at the same time

WFH and getting at least some productivity from those people is going to start looking a lot more attractive in a hurry

they seem to think they can mandate people solve it somehow

@Magisch I've seen "managers" who have that so-called style before - the thing is, as distasteful as it is the tactic works for sporadic short term issues where one or two workers at a time need emergency cover for a sick kid or whatever. But when you've got a (potentially) long-term mass event effecting multiple people at the same time (and one that also makes it harder than normal to get childcare

it's going to fall on it's face - hard

one of the company owners is seemingly losing his mind

denial do you think?

yes

The funny part is, minutes after the email about WFH, someone else sent an email saying there was pie in the break room for "pi day" which is tomorrow

so let me get this straight, we're basically sending everyone home because of a contagious virus, but we want everyone to come to the break room and eat food together?

@dwizum really it all depends on one crucial fact.................................................................................. what sort of pie?

@motosubatsu I have to admit I'm a little curious, being a big fan of pie

but then I thought, I can just go home and make my own (germ free) pie

@dwizum I've eaten pie that I'd gladly risk a germ or two for

admittedly that was pie baked at home (not by me.. I'm a terrible baker) - which I'd be unlikely to find in the office kitchen

thedaobums.com/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/…

Today I had a meeting, and had to drive 2 hours to the place

When we arrive, "the meeting is postponed till next week"

:)

Woke up at 4am for nothing lol

Just had breakfast and it's noon over here

that sucks...

we are pretty much on lockdown here in the US

same here too

all public life is shutting down

except my company it seems

Fortunately, no cases yet here in my country

But govt already declared state of calamity in preparation

@DarkCygnus Guatamala?

Guatemala* yes

I am not a great speller.... :-}

But it's inevitable I guess

El salvador and Honduras already got cases

@motosubatsu What's up duck?

@motosubatsu Quack's up Duck?

aaaaand first case in Guatemala