Loads of talk of what everyone is doing while they are at home but who have we got on here that are still going to work everyday?
I'll start: I'm a supermarket Manager, it's a very strange world at the moment at work.
Back in work tomorrow fire engines still need fixing. Had a bizarre 2weeks holiday at home.
I don't consider myself key but we're an engineering workshop supplying the oil and gas industry, the boss even spoke to the local Tory MP for guidance whether to remain open after initially closing and was told to carry on but with extra distancing measures.
Wife is an HDU nurse so definitely key.
Hospital laboratory for me and school for my wife.
I'm on a shift rotation at the moment so various days in/out. My wife is on reduced hours to two days a week. The little one has a nursery place still on the days when we're both working, but given how our days fall, she's only there once in the next three weeks.
Field Service Engineer, Nuclear Sector. Booked to be away from home now for at least the next 6 weeks, home at weekends. Finding hotels open for key workers within travelling distance from site is an issue let alone sourcing food once you're there. Almost all hotel restaurants are closed so it's relying on takeaways or supermarkets, not so easy in an unfamiliar area. I have porridge pots and pot noodles in my bag.
I'm a copper in London
Work in a Jobcentre, something like 150,000 claims in last few weeks means we have never been busier 🙁
Waste water treatment. Running my own site. No visitors allowed onsite. Quite peaceful but lonely at work.
Work in a pharmacy so going in every day and will be for as long as I can.
Fire and Rescue here. Lots of cleaning in station at the moment but quiet otherwise. Got some time off in around ten days time but not quite sure it will be welcome!
Oil and gas worker doing more hours now.
I am a 'critical' worker apparently. Working on the government response to the pandemic. I've not pushed to the front of the queue at Asda yet 😀
Bus driver
FMCG drinks industry for me, or plastic bottles for pop, if you want the non-glamorous version. The Wife is a TA in primary school.
I'm still on continental shifts, although there are plans to reduce the amount of staff on shift to reduce exposure, confirmed tomorrow, so I'll potentially be in less than I should be. The Wife has two full weeks between now and June rather than a few hours a day.
Boy1 is home from Uni, Boy2 is home from Tech College. We've a house full of bored people. Netflix is getting a hammering. The Wife is OCD cleaning. The bike shed is clean and tidy. Don't know what we'll do for the next however many months.
Electric cool box with 240v adaptor can help in rooms without a fridge (aka minibar). Whilst crushed ice cocktails are out of scope, will keep milk/butter etc. useable.
Artic driver here . Mad busy at the moment
Repairs engineer on the 11kV network. So long as people want electricity, I'll be keep working.
One of today's example was that someone had set fire to a pole and knocked some 600 people off supply.
Police here.
Needless to say the response by senior management has been to bury heads in sand, so look out for anarchy in a town near you soon folks (whilst all your coppers are off).
I’m a copper in London
Have you been given the same PPE as us? That is, **** all & a bottle of anti-bacterial hand gel in the car you share with umpteen others?
We’ve been told “battle on, its business as usual” - by email obviously.
I work with adults with physical and learning disabilities. They're pretty much dependant on us to get by, and a lot of their normal support has disappeared, so I'm expecting to be working a lot of extra hours in the next couple of months. Possibly sleep-ins as well, which won't go down very well with my family.
I used to be a SCUBA-diving instructor. I knew I should never have given it up - underwater is probably the best place to ne right now.
We've had so.ilar advice. Keep doing your job, but stay 2m apart.
Erm, you know what my job entails, right?
Lost all my business income (holiday accommodation) so now working down the local coop. Apparently that makes me a key worker restocking loO rolls and selling them. Plus dog food, booze and lottery tickets.
I watched out the window as a guy from Amberon traffic management company was out putting cones on the road outside. Placing them between the cars next to the kerb. I’m guessing someone is planning on digging up the road, but can’t see anyone moving their cars (nowhere else to put them / self isolating etc )
classed as a key worker but dont feel it, fire and rescue manager, working from home, but as my stations are quiet at the moment then so am i. just responding to incidents at the mo from home and feel humbled at the work the NHS (and all support workers) are doing while im relatively quiet.
id like to volunteer to help out where needed, so will ask that question this coming week.
wife was a pharmacy dispenser, she left as the pay was sh1t for the responsibility, but has now volunteered to go back to help out the shops that need it right now.
IT consultant here and not a key worker. But my role is WFH or client sites, and as the clients are all working remotely I am now WFH all the time. So it's basically normal work time for me - which is annoying as people are enjoying time off.
I'm a firefighter in leeds, we have been asked to volunteer for roles as well as normal duties including delivering food and medicine,driving ambulances and body retrieval. The mrs is a care worker for adults with physical and learning disabilities and now we are both teacher to the two little ones between shifts lol
I work in Timpsons
Work in a bank HQ.. back office dealing with all the people after payment holidays currently. It's a very big office and we've only just all moved 2 desks apart on Friday. It's a big office with hundreds of people in. It's very odd at the minute, people are very jumpy. People having to take time off for childcare having to take holiday or unpaid, very badly organised. We keep getting emails from the ceo telling us what a good job we're doing, filmed in his raab jumper in his drawing room.
Fuel delivery driver here to domestic and business premises. Domestic deliveries have gone mental, mental busy just now. Meant to be off next week but that got cancelled.
Onzadog - who you with?
I’m Head of Innovation at NPg - so not key today, but two of my staff are redeployed to support the local resilience forums so they now are.
I’ll probably get redeployed at some point down the line - I’ll have to try to remember what I once knew.
I'm an accountant....rarely been busier! But doing it all from home!
which is annoying as people are enjoying time off
see the post a few above yours about processing hundreds of thousands of benefits claims. I don’t think many people are ’enjoying’ time off.
Hospital laboratory for me and school for my wife.
+1 (only we're not married 😳)
On split shifts now to reduce the amount of staff in at one time. Going to work means it's not as strange as having to stay at home. Only weird days are the one day a week we get off, don't think I'd cope at home permanently
Manufacturing here.
Not a key worker, but the machine trundles on. Can do most remotely from home (in a more time consuming, less efficient type of way) but will be going in to do a safety related inspection tomorrow. The worker ants are still on continental shift, but work stations have been spaced out to reduce attrition. Much faith being placed in hand sanitiser.
If push comes to shove, the employer will be classed as a 'key' industry because part of them is involved with supplying the MOD, so will likely carry on regardless.
Am slightly non-plussed that "only travel to work if [travel is] essential" has become "only travel to essential work" in the pitchfork-wielding world of ****ter and arcebook.
Mrs Lunge works in a pharmacy at a hospital...that has no A&E and is elective surgery only.
So at the moment, she’s working but it’s dead as they’ve emptied all of the beds. She’s expecting this quietness to end shortly.
Me, I’m “working” in recruitment from home. And by working I mean sending a few emails, posting positive crap in LinkedIn and talking to desperate candidates. Sod all jobs out there.
I’m still controlling the few planes we’ve got left at the airport.
We’re down to skeleton staff to have as few of us in the building as possible. I’m only down to work half of my shifts in April, the rest are standby. It all feels very weird.
We have coastguard, hospital, lifeline, police & hems flights so that should keep us open which is a slight comfort. Aviation is not a good place to be at the moment, I’m nightshift tonight, I won’t be very busy.
I work in IT for a large bank, so classed as a key worker. This week will be my first proper WFH week, over the past week we've been extremely busy supporting users and getting hundreds of laptops built for the remainder of users who aren't able to WFH yet.
Out customer service teams have been scary busy last week, 150+ calls queueing all the time.
Us vets are still working, emergencies only and having to send staff home to keep functioning, but still available 24/7 as ever.
Forestry engineer. Basically my job is maintaining in forest roads, bridges and timber transfer facilities to get timber to the mill.
Two reasons it's important - distribution of everything uses pallets, people need paper. If we reused pallets like we should I could probably sit at home and polish bicycles.
I work in Timpsons
I see what you did there
I'm a shift engineer in a dried foods factory.
Staff-wise, we're about 20pc down, but only a couple off in the dept. Nobody, afaik, diagnosed, but isolating with symptoms. The office staff are all wfh, everyone else is still on shifts.
Police and NHS (nurse) in our house so both still going to work so childcare could get tricky.
Otherwise fine apart from a three day Glastonbury tailback while I’m waiting for tartanscarf up there to get a few more bog rolls out on the shelves.
Flour Milling
I'm the engineering manager, we were already at about 95% capacity but now we are at 115% so base stocks are dropping all the time, we usually like to have 1000 Tonnes in stock for opening on a Monday.
Its squeaky bum time at the moment, we have run 168hrs per week for the last 3 & that's it as there are only 168 hours in a week except this one as its 167 🙁
To compound this I have had to split the team up so unless its an emergency only 1 engineer on site at any one time. We usually have 4 at any one time which is not going to work long time for reliability.
Oh and I'm on call from 20:00-07:00 all this week as well so I'm stroking my lucky Rabbits foot till its bald 😮
Flat out with lambing here. Certainly don't consider myself as a key worker, but I know there is a massive disconnect between the general urban consumer and primary food production, and the recent focus on the importance/role of the supermarkets has perhaps masked it even more. But without seeds being planted, and animals being bred, and the whole shebang nurtured until harvest, then at some point down the line the whole lot will come crashing down.
a three day Glastonbury tailback
Well, you learn something new every day...
Train driver. Astonished at the fact that not enough is being done to stop idiots from travelling. We are only supposed to be running for key workers and absolutely essential travel.
There were rumours that British Transport Police were at Piccadilly station in Manchester and only letting key workers through into the station from the streets with proof (letter and/or ID) of their key worker status, no idea if that's true but it needs to be done.
