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Mischief has saved my mental health. Think of some creative things that WFH uniquely enables and do them. Here are examples of things I've done: 1. Planned a 1

Mischief has saved my mental health. Think of some creative things that WFH uniquely enables and do them. Here are examples of things I've done: 1. Planned a 1-hour prank on a coworker over Zoom 2. Left work early to play golf all afternoon 3. Had a beer at noon once or twice 4. Worked on a side projects for about 2-hours during "lunch" one day 5. Worked from a lake house I rented for 3 weeks 6. Worked from the beach one day 7. Finished all my assignments in a 4-day work week and spent the entire day Friday reading books 8. Ate extremely lavish takeout for breakfast or lunch When you look back on this time, you'll be glad you did these things you would never otherwise do in an office.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
danpalmer 6y ago
3 of these are banned in most lockdowns. Reminder that if you're in a lockdown or want to help prevent the spread of Covid, stay at home. Travelling to and using holiday homes still contributes to the spread even if you maintain social distancing. No judgement on lesinski, I do not know the guidance or prevalence of Covid where they are, but this thread is explicitly about lockdown environments so I think it's important to re-iterate that these are sadly not suitable things to do for many of us.
- volkk 6y ago
  Serious question: the numbers are completely out of control as of right now (at least in the US). I'm not really seeing any benefits from any lockdowns so far (albeit we did do well in the summer). Most of the outdoor seating is just security theater. The outside areas are just cacooned indoor tents. There are indoor basketball games being run (here in NYC) and the rules are: 'wear a mask while you walk around the gym but youre allowed to sweat all over each other without one.' It all seems like a complete joke at this point. I'm one hundred and ten percent on board with wearing masks and being cautious about what to do, but it's been a year of this already. It feels like renting a lakehouse for some much needed mental health recuperation is at the bottom of the barrel as far as risk factor goes. Considering California is seeing 30,000 a day Covid numbers, it feels like "stay home" when 50% of the country doesn't give a shit anymore is like throwing a cup of water on a house fire at this point. Curious to hear at what point does your mental well being become more of a concern? 1 year? 2 years? 5 years of lockdown? while you have people in Florida going to nightclubs then flying elsewhere? I'm starting to feel like one of those people tying themselves to a tree with a "save the planet" t-shirt while other people walk by and laugh and continue to ignore the damage and live their lives. I'm not trying to sound defeatist, but I am seriously at a loss here.
  - danpalmer 6y ago
    Bad lockdowns are bad, yes. Good lockdowns have had amazing impacts in many places. Australia is a good example. Victoria had out of control community spread (~100 infections a day), so locked down for 3 months. This meant no visitors at home, no going to work unless one of a few specific reasons, no general retail, masks mandated at all times outside the house, no travelling more than 5k for any reason, no travelling for exercise. They got rid of it. This is what lockdown means. This is what the science shows us is effective. Wearing a mask and office jobs being done from home is not a lockdown. Saying badly implemented lockdowns don't work so why bother is the attitude that is killing thousands of people a day.
    - volkk 6y ago
      I dont disagree with the theory of a lockdown when necessary, but now that I look back at our year in the US...it now seems so obvious that this was never going to work. This place is simply too big with too many selfish idiots that want to do their own thing for how virulent COVID is. Leadership is a huge failure that didn't help at all, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we'd be in the same exact position of an uncontrolled spread even if we had a different sitting president with different views. 330 million people spread out across 50 states, across various local governments, some of who might not care as much is just too many people to get on the same page regardless of the message from the top. Australia is 7% of the population of the US. Barely a comparison
      - ryandrake 6y ago
        We shouldn’t be saying “Lockdowns don’t work,” because thanks to the idiots we really aren’t doing any kind of real lockdown. We should instead be saying “Uncoordinated and unenforced public health policy and lack of federal leadership doesn’t work.”
        d357r0y3r 6y ago
        If your policy depends on everyone doing the right thing, it's awful policy. Lockdowns have never been done in human history. They've never been possible, really; if there were no internet, it wouldn't even have been considered as a possibility. It takes a lot of hubris to claim that lockdowns were/are guaranteed to work. It is totally uncharted territory.
- mancerayder 6y ago
  >Reminder that if you're in a lockdown or want to help prevent the spread of Covid, stay at home. Travelling to and using holiday homes still contributes to the spread even if you maintain social distancin It's a virus and doesn't spread outside very easily, especially during even a little wind. Telling people to stay indoors is damaging to their physical health, damaging to their mental health, and is more of a political action than a scientific one. Get outside as much as you can, go for walks, mask up if you walk through crowds or indoors.
  - danpalmer 6y ago
    But don't go inside at the golf club, don't travel more than maybe 5km, don't use public transport, deep-clean the rental house when you arrive and leave. Seriously, it's easy to think that sitting in a rental house for 3 weeks is harmless, but then you go shopping, and even with a mask you still have a ~10% chance of spreading it, and then you're spreading it to a community likely a significant distance from your own.
    - nradov 6y ago
      The virus has already spread to every community. Whether someone goes to a rental house or not no longer makes any difference.
  - TimTheTinker 6y ago
    Completely agreed. The mental and social instability that comes from "stay indoors" orders is far worse, and arguably contributes far more to societal issues, than the (arguably minimal or none) additional deaths incurred by going outdoors, especially in suburbs and rural areas.
    - orangecat 6y ago
      Zero-tolerance lockdowns are the logical equivalent of abstinence-only sex education programs, and it's amazing that the advocates of each seem to be disjoint sets.
- Grustaf 6y ago
  How would going to a beach house contribute to spreading corona? The poster is probably American, so he's most likely going there in a private car. Not to mention that he's almost certainly not infected. Look at Norway, they have very low numbers, but are not anywhere near this paranoid.
  - _whiteCaps_ 6y ago
    You're shopping in new grocery stores, potentially being in contact with emergency services due to increased travel, etc.
    - Grustaf 6y ago
      Each time you go to the grocery there will different people there anyway. The effects are very marginal.
sixothree 6y ago
I've used my lunch to take hot relaxing baths a number of times.
randycupertino 6y ago
Tell us more about the prank! I like your style, although am running out of lavish takeouts near us... we've already tried them all.
ryandrake 6y ago
> 3. Had a beer at noon once or twice Those are rookie numbers! It’s not mischief until you’re having that beer at 8AM with your corn flakes.
- muzani 6y ago
  For bonus mischief, try coffee or red bull with your corn flakes.
randomuser80 6y ago
This made me chuckle. You're absolutely right.
shortandsweet 6y ago
Thank you for sharing your tactics and skills that have helped.
mattowen_uk 6y ago
20 years ago, this was the norm in IT. Sometimes I hate whats happened to our industry.
- core-questions 6y ago
  I vaguely remember having slack time when there was truly nothing to do, everything was humming along, nobody was asking for anything. It's been a really, really long time.
  - 55555 6y ago
    Remember, it can always get worse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
  - oftenwrong 6y ago
    I don't think I've ever worked at a company that did not have an infinite, ever-growing backlog. Still, slack time has always been plentiful, but that is not because there is nothing to do; it is because a low stress level is good for the individual and is good for the company.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

danpalmer 6y ago

3 of these are banned in most lockdowns. Reminder that if you're in a lockdown or want to help prevent the spread of Covid, stay at home. Travelling to and using holiday homes still contributes to the spread even if you maintain social distancing. No judgement on lesinski, I do not know the guidance or prevalence of Covid where they are, but this thread is explicitly about lockdown environments so I think it's important to re-iterate that these are sadly not suitable things to do for many of us.

volkk 6y ago
Serious question: the numbers are completely out of control as of right now (at least in the US). I'm not really seeing any benefits from any lockdowns so far (albeit we did do well in the summer). Most of the outdoor seating is just security theater. The outside areas are just cacooned indoor tents. There are indoor basketball games being run (here in NYC) and the rules are: 'wear a mask while you walk around the gym but youre allowed to sweat all over each other without one.' It all seems like a complete joke at this point. I'm one hundred and ten percent on board with wearing masks and being cautious about what to do, but it's been a year of this already. It feels like renting a lakehouse for some much needed mental health recuperation is at the bottom of the barrel as far as risk factor goes. Considering California is seeing 30,000 a day Covid numbers, it feels like "stay home" when 50% of the country doesn't give a shit anymore is like throwing a cup of water on a house fire at this point. Curious to hear at what point does your mental well being become more of a concern? 1 year? 2 years? 5 years of lockdown? while you have people in Florida going to nightclubs then flying elsewhere? I'm starting to feel like one of those people tying themselves to a tree with a "save the planet" t-shirt while other people walk by and laugh and continue to ignore the damage and live their lives. I'm not trying to sound defeatist, but I am seriously at a loss here.
- danpalmer 6y ago
  Bad lockdowns are bad, yes. Good lockdowns have had amazing impacts in many places. Australia is a good example. Victoria had out of control community spread (~100 infections a day), so locked down for 3 months. This meant no visitors at home, no going to work unless one of a few specific reasons, no general retail, masks mandated at all times outside the house, no travelling more than 5k for any reason, no travelling for exercise. They got rid of it. This is what lockdown means. This is what the science shows us is effective. Wearing a mask and office jobs being done from home is not a lockdown. Saying badly implemented lockdowns don't work so why bother is the attitude that is killing thousands of people a day.
  - volkk 6y ago
    I dont disagree with the theory of a lockdown when necessary, but now that I look back at our year in the US...it now seems so obvious that this was never going to work. This place is simply too big with too many selfish idiots that want to do their own thing for how virulent COVID is. Leadership is a huge failure that didn't help at all, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we'd be in the same exact position of an uncontrolled spread even if we had a different sitting president with different views. 330 million people spread out across 50 states, across various local governments, some of who might not care as much is just too many people to get on the same page regardless of the message from the top. Australia is 7% of the population of the US. Barely a comparison
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      We shouldn’t be saying “Lockdowns don’t work,” because thanks to the idiots we really aren’t doing any kind of real lockdown. We should instead be saying “Uncoordinated and unenforced public health policy and lack of federal leadership doesn’t work.”
      - d357r0y3r 6y ago
        If your policy depends on everyone doing the right thing, it's awful policy. Lockdowns have never been done in human history. They've never been possible, really; if there were no internet, it wouldn't even have been considered as a possibility. It takes a lot of hubris to claim that lockdowns were/are guaranteed to work. It is totally uncharted territory.
mancerayder 6y ago
>Reminder that if you're in a lockdown or want to help prevent the spread of Covid, stay at home. Travelling to and using holiday homes still contributes to the spread even if you maintain social distancin It's a virus and doesn't spread outside very easily, especially during even a little wind. Telling people to stay indoors is damaging to their physical health, damaging to their mental health, and is more of a political action than a scientific one. Get outside as much as you can, go for walks, mask up if you walk through crowds or indoors.
- danpalmer 6y ago
  But don't go inside at the golf club, don't travel more than maybe 5km, don't use public transport, deep-clean the rental house when you arrive and leave. Seriously, it's easy to think that sitting in a rental house for 3 weeks is harmless, but then you go shopping, and even with a mask you still have a ~10% chance of spreading it, and then you're spreading it to a community likely a significant distance from your own.
  - nradov 6y ago
    The virus has already spread to every community. Whether someone goes to a rental house or not no longer makes any difference.
- TimTheTinker 6y ago
  Completely agreed. The mental and social instability that comes from "stay indoors" orders is far worse, and arguably contributes far more to societal issues, than the (arguably minimal or none) additional deaths incurred by going outdoors, especially in suburbs and rural areas.
  - orangecat 6y ago
    Zero-tolerance lockdowns are the logical equivalent of abstinence-only sex education programs, and it's amazing that the advocates of each seem to be disjoint sets.
Grustaf 6y ago
How would going to a beach house contribute to spreading corona? The poster is probably American, so he's most likely going there in a private car. Not to mention that he's almost certainly not infected. Look at Norway, they have very low numbers, but are not anywhere near this paranoid.
- _whiteCaps_ 6y ago
  You're shopping in new grocery stores, potentially being in contact with emergency services due to increased travel, etc.
  - Grustaf 6y ago
    Each time you go to the grocery there will different people there anyway. The effects are very marginal.

sixothree 6y ago

I've used my lunch to take hot relaxing baths a number of times.

randycupertino 6y ago

Tell us more about the prank! I like your style, although am running out of lavish takeouts near us... we've already tried them all.

ryandrake 6y ago

> 3. Had a beer at noon once or twice Those are rookie numbers! It’s not mischief until you’re having that beer at 8AM with your corn flakes.

muzani 6y ago
For bonus mischief, try coffee or red bull with your corn flakes.

randomuser80 6y ago

This made me chuckle. You're absolutely right.

shortandsweet 6y ago

Thank you for sharing your tactics and skills that have helped.

mattowen_uk 6y ago

20 years ago, this was the norm in IT. Sometimes I hate whats happened to our industry.

core-questions 6y ago
I vaguely remember having slack time when there was truly nothing to do, everything was humming along, nobody was asking for anything. It's been a really, really long time.
- 55555 6y ago
  Remember, it can always get worse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
- oftenwrong 6y ago
  I don't think I've ever worked at a company that did not have an infinite, ever-growing backlog. Still, slack time has always been plentiful, but that is not because there is nothing to do; it is because a low stress level is good for the individual and is good for the company.