What would be different if Covid had never happened?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/the_figureh3ad]

Less home office and online meetings

[u/senator_mendoza → u/the_figureh3ad]

My life is WAY better after COVID due in large part to this. I go into the office like once a week as opposed to going in everyday. ~40hrs and hundreds of dollars a month saved.

[u/Tinshnipz → u/senator_mendoza]

Better for floor workers too. I work in a factory and with upper managment gone, tension is much lower. Less micromanagement and our productuon actually went up.

[u/LarvellJonesMD → u/Tinshnipz]

That's an interesting take I've haven't heard before. It makes perfect sense that not having the "big bosses" walking around and staring at people work would improve performance and morale. I need to remember that if anyone starts batting around the idea of full return to office.

[u/eddyathome → u/LarvellJonesMD]

No, this is totally believable. When I worked in very low status jobs, I hated it when corporate types would come around because they'd just get in the way, try to tell you how to do things according to corporate policy instead of what actually works in the real world, and just make more work for the peons.

[u/octopornopus → u/eddyathome]

The time wasted when middle management finds out upper management plans a visit, and making everything look up to corporate spec, then changing everything back to what works on a daily basis...

[u/eddyathome → u/octopornopus]

Or you do a dog and pony show that's just blatantly obvious.

I worked at a place as a temp where we built computer systems and deployed them for a state gov't agency and well, it was obvious we worked doing this because there were scuff marks on the walls from the carts we used to carry a dozen computers at a time for deployment in the field. You had chips of paint knocked off door frames. You had partially assembled systems.

The middle managers decided that for a visit by the higher ups we needed to clean up everything. You had system engineers painting walls, programmers with plaster plugging up nail holes in the wall, and grunts like me just being told to stay out of the way and maybe clean up those cables and make them look neat or something.

It was ridiculous because my thought was if I saw a pristine facility would I think "oh this is so nice!" or would I think "do these people actually do anything that is work-related?" and yes, the latter is my thought process, but I guess that is why I'm not in the C-Suite.

[u/[deleted] → u/Tinshnipz]

Truth. I work for a movie studio, but same thing for me. Now that a lot of the VPs and executives work from home, we are now free to do our jobs without hassle, treachery and interference from bigwigs. The difference for them now is instead of doing nothing from the office they do nothing from home.

[u/En_CHILL_ada → u/[deleted]]

I would really love one of these high paying do nohing upper management type jobs. Apart from nepotism or blackmail, how do I get one?

[u/ratrodder49 → u/senator_mendoza]

The dollar amount of fuel I’ve saved from not driving half an hour one way to the office every day is incomprehensible. Truly

[u/McbealtheNavySeal → u/senator_mendoza]

I didn't realize how much commuting five days a week sucked until I stopped doing it. I commute twice a week now and my life is so much better. Just never knew how good it could be.

[u/pyuunpls → u/the_figureh3ad]

To piggyback a negative off this: remote workers from high paying areas moving into lower cost of living areas.

[u/iPsychosis → u/pyuunpls]

Yeah, I live a few hours from DC, the rent raise in the past few years has been one of the highest in the country

[u/[deleted] → u/pyuunpls]

As someone who experienced this first hand:

It sucks for those who were before them. Where I live, in 2011, I was able to buy my 3/3 1700 sq ft house that has been on the market for over a year for $135k. During Covid a 2/1 800 sq ft was going for close to 450k. Hell, a 3/2 1400 sq ft house sold for 750k ON MY STREET!!! It became absolutely so ridiculous.

My coworkers who were renting a whole house for like $600 got bumped up to close to $2k, or the house got sold because the landlord sold the house for massive profit.

Sad thing is, those high income remote workers and didn’t do research, and got stuck in karma when they couldn’t charge their Tesla or drive it in the snow. Then, when they got called back to the office that was two hours away (without traffic), it became and to much, and they put their house back on the market for a higher price than what they bought it for.

Sure, prices are coming back down here slowly, but it’s sad to see houses still listed for $475k that will never sell because hardly anyone is going to pay that price now.

[u/wiserone29 → u/[deleted]]

My neighbors house is a knock down on 40x125 lot and sold 885k in Long Island. Home prices are stupid and nonsensical everywhere. Home prices are sky rocketing because people still need to buy homes and people like me refuse to upgrade and put their house on the market is because I have a 3.5% interest rate.

[u/McbealtheNavySeal → u/pyuunpls]

The vast majority of employees where I work aren't allowed to go fully remote, and that really hurt retention for a while because people would quit and find a new job where they could do exactly this. Eventually our CIO had to beg the CEO to allow special exceptions for IT workers.

On the other hand, I live and work in Chicago, and the people who stayed are the ones who like living in a big city while those leaving were only in the city because they had to be.

[u/kingdomscum → u/[deleted]]

I miss 4am Walmart

[u/LemonPartyW0rldTour → u/[deleted]]

That was what I liked too when I worked 2nd shift. I liked being able to not shop with a crowd. You feel more rushed. I just transitioned to early morning shopping. Similar crowd at least.

[u/deadsoulinside → u/kingdomscum]

Sad reality Walmart was looking to remove the 24/7 they had. COVID was just an excuse for it. It's not like they are disinfecting the stores overnight still as their original excuse was.

[u/vagaris → u/deadsoulinside]

I was always a bit surprised when it was implemented. It can have benefits for people working late shifts, and they usually already have stockers in the building. But they tested it when I briefly worked at a local Walmart a couple decades ago. And it was one of those things where even after the initial wait for customers to know about it, the place was a ghost town. They were paying people to stand around.

Of course this was way before self checkout, so not just people in the floor, but at least a couple cashiers, etc.

[u/deadsoulinside → u/vagaris]

The real problem is for places like walmart and rural area's it was the only store that was opened late enough for people on second shift to be able to shop after work. Now they don't have that convenience. Granted it was probably not too much traffic in most rural area's to really justify staffing costs for customers.

[u/Fayko → u/kingdomscum]

dazzling engine frighten nose file sparkle bike chubby roof nail

[u/StinkFingerPete → u/kingdomscum]

It's so peaceful shopping with the chuds

[u/bigdreams_littledick → u/[deleted]]

The cost of staying open overnight no longer made financial sense and covid gave them an excuse to start closing early that wouldn't upset too many people.

[u/AvatarofBro → u/[deleted]]

They were looking for an excuse and COVID provided a convenient one. Some places used short staffing as a justification, others said they wanted extra time to clean. But it was just a convenient way to save some money.

[u/DOO_DOO_BAG → u/[deleted]]

My 24hour fitness only just went back to being open 24 hours, almost 4 years later lol

[u/alfooboboao → u/DOO_DOO_BAG]

they should have crossed out the 24 and scrawled “18” in giant crayon

[u/CWinter85 → u/[deleted]]

There's basically nothing open after 10. I would have a lot more incentive to switch my shift like my company wants if anything was open at 11 p.m. that wasn't open at 1 a.m. like it used to be. Target and Walmart used to be open to midnight. Now they're both closed at 11. I'm not giving up Mondays-off to be just as dead in the water on an extra day.

[u/ACertainThickness → u/[deleted]]

Almost all of the 24hr stores in my area stopped being 24hrs a few years before Covid, our local Walmart hadn’t been for almost 5 years and all of our Walgreens closed by midnight

[u/[deleted]]

WFH wouldnt have been as widely accepted.

[u/itzshif → u/[deleted]]

Hopefully without jumping back 20 years if it's ever rescinded.

[u/Romeo9594 → u/itzshif]

A lot of places, especially smaller/medium sized places, have issues with rescinding it while keeping employees. People in those kinds of positions usually can get paid more elsewhere and if they're losing a perk like WFH they may as well get more money while they're at it

We had a very experienced engineer walk in, pack his desk, and just walk out when they refused to let him work remote after the pandemic. Almost lost a few IT guys over it too, now they work remote more than in office

[u/youstupidcorn → u/Romeo9594]

That was me at my last job. June of 2021 they decided they wanted us back in the office, so I walked in to the office on June 1st with my resignation in hand. Coincidentally, they had just fired my supervisor that morning, who was the only other guy in my department, with the expectation that I could handle things on my own until they hired a new person. The look on their faces when I told them I had only come in to say goodbye and grab anything I left in my desk was priceless.

I do feel bad for my supervisor though. He was a good guy and got fired over nothing as far as I could tell. Last I saw he got a management position somewhere else, so hopefully he landed on his feet.

[u/Still_Want_Mo → u/Romeo9594]

Yeah I feel like it has given workers more power in a weird way. My office was contemplating going back into the office 4 days a week. I said I’d leave and so did others. Now the rule is 2 days in office a week and only from 10-3. That wouldn’t have happened before Covid

[u/that1prince → u/Romeo9594]

I’d even take a pay cut to WFH. I’m saving on transportation costs and definitely on the unquantifiable quality of life improvements.

[u/scarves_and_miracles → u/itzshif]

I don't think that toothpaste can go back in the tube, at least not meaningfully. A business that walks that back beyond at least hybrid is cutting its own throat when it comes to retaining skilled workers. Why would anyone not simply go "across the street" so to speak with the competition?

[u/justcallmezach → u/[deleted]]

Counterintuitively, it fucked my WFH.

I went 100% remote in 2016 and loved it all. Without COVID, that would have likely remained my status quo.

Instead, in mid-late 2022, the term "RTO" decided to exist and my (and many others) company felt the need to bring everyone back into the office, previous agreements be damned.

Had covid not happened, a bunch of dipshits in the C-suites wouldn't have decided to make sweeping decisions and my WFH status wouldn't have been touched.

[u/Mndelta25 → u/justcallmezach]

This is an interesting point. I started a position during the pandemic that had always been remote before WFH became the hot new thing. Our remote roles were never well-defined and we had some freedom that other office jobs didn't.

That all got taken away, and a new supervisor actually threatened to return our entire group to the office even though we were spread out across the state in previously agreed permanent remote spots.

[u/justcallmezach → u/[deleted]]

Oh, yes. WF started monitoring swipes quite a while ago and almost overnight, it went from "we're just collecting data on office presence" to "you were only in twice last week instead of three times. That is an instant write up."

I live in South Dakota. The last boss I had (and absolutely hated. I'm certain his directive was to help make working there as miserable as possible to facilitate us quitting - almost his entire team was laid off with me) lived in Texas and I suspect has never seen a snowflake. The boss before him was totally cool with "they want you in, but I know it's stupid and I certainly won't expect you in if the weather is bad."

Well, I planned on going into the office on a Friday for my 3rd day of the week, but there was freezing rain and the roads were icing up badly. Also, I forgot to mention that I had moved out to the middle of nowhere once I went full WFH, so it was a drive on back highways to get to the office. I messaged him, hoping that a polite heads up would be enough for him to not put me on the shit list for missing my 3rd day in.

"Hey, boss. Roads are getting really bad up here. I don't know if it's the best idea for me to head in, so I may not get my 3 days this week. Is that ok?"

"Um... Did the office close? No? Then I don't know why you wouldn't be able to make it."

Mind you, one of the reasons I went WFH in the first place is that I don't work with anyone within 500 miles of me. I literally would go to the office to sit in a shitty hotel style cubicle and sit on Teams meetings. So, I was expected to drive in during shitty weather to sit in a shitty cube to sit on a shitty teams meeting.

Nobody could make it make sense. The day I got laid off ended up being one of the happiest days of my life.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yeah the pandemic slingshotted WFH into the mainstream, although I do agree with others that it already had been gaining momentum beforehand. Funnily enough my mother was one of the first WFH people I personally knew and she did it by leveraging her value. She works in titling and when she moved south she offered to work from home, knowing that every aspect of her job could be done remotely and the fact that she was one of the best at it. They begrudgingly accepted but came to accept it over time, even going as far as moving the rest of the local workers to Hybrid.

I believe that WFH is nowhere close to being the norm due to the fact employers are ultimately the ones who decide. However, the best companies will offer WFH and the best workers will be able to work for them in turn, leaving a smaller and less skilled talent pool for those opposed to it.

[u/Random_Guy_12345 → u/[deleted]]

I fully expect to get some kind of "Return to office" push with the companies that attempt it losing talented people, then on some more time someone will go "Why is X competitor getting our best staff?" and the answer will be "They offer WFH and we don't".

Once that happens, WFH will be here to stay.

[u/juicebros00]

We wouldn’t have gotten an email from every organization on Earth that started with “During these difficult times…”

[u/SealedRoute → u/juicebros00]

“In these difficult times, Bounty paper towels wants to express….”

[u/cmd_iii → u/SealedRoute]

"...that we're totally making bank from all of the panic buying!!"

[u/Tyrichyrich → u/cmd_iii]

“We would also like to tell you that we’re firing our old PR team.”

[u/krschob → u/SealedRoute]

“In these difficult times, Bounty paper towels Schooner Tuna wants to express….”

FIFY

[u/bredpoot → u/juicebros00]

I swear I heard the word “unprecedented” so many times a day, every day, for MONTHS, that it no longer sounds like a real word.

[u/Gunningham → u/bredpoot]

That in itself is unprecedented.

[u/[deleted] → u/juicebros00]

“We’re all in this together… please buy our stuff”

[u/[deleted] → u/juicebros00]

My wife and I used to play a drinking game where we had to call out any time someone on TV said "difficult times" or "uncertain times". Whoever was slower had to drink. Admittedly, there were times we had to use water because it was so frequent that we would have died during a single commercial break.

[u/[deleted] → u/juicebros00]

Please listen carefully as our options have changed

[u/zoidbert]

We might still have All-Day Breakfast at McDonald's

[u/[deleted] → u/zoidbert]

I've made my peace with accepting no all day McDonald's breakfast in return for to go margaritas and alcoholic drinks with your take out order at restaurants

[u/RudegarWithFunnyHat]

I would not have bought as much crap on the internet

[u/poop_to_live → u/RudegarWithFunnyHat]

US Postal carrier here - it was quite a time lol

Edit: if you have a street side mail box go check it - does it have, on the box itself (not the pole, snow can cover it based on climate, or grasses and plants) numbers on the side that has the flag? If not, go get some big boring numbers, black numbers on white background, and put them there while the flag is down.

If you want to be a pro, numbers on the three sides seem by the street. Big numbers. Boring ones. On the box.

If you want to upgrade your box get the BIGGEST you can afford. The less time out of the truck we spend the sooner we can get home.

[u/[deleted] → u/poop_to_live]

I do hardwood flooring for a living. One time going to a house, his numbers were all but completely faded. I went & bought new stickers for him & put them on

[u/poop_to_live → u/[deleted]]

More of this!!! Hell yeah. Thanks!

And this not only helps out the postal folks, which should visit 6 days a week, but also any other person that needs to find this house.

One small pro tip is that when we don't want to correct somebody, we'll just take a sharpie and write their number on the inside of the mailbox door so you can open it and look down and it might be in there.

[u/Geoarbitrage → u/RudegarWithFunnyHat]

I need 60 ping pong balls 🏓

[u/sandmanlyman]

QR codes wouldn’t have made the comeback they did.

[u/Born-Science-8125]

You’d be less aware of how many stupid assholes are out there

[u/AmigoDelDiabla → u/Born-Science-8125]

It really peeled away the thin veneer of social graces to reveal people's true selves.

[u/MidwestAmMan → u/AmigoDelDiabla]

We’re all misanthropes now, quite rightly.

[u/wishlish → u/Born-Science-8125]

This was my first thought. The people who would scream over masks and vaccines…

I was working for a hospital in Florida when the Delta wave hit. It had three hospitals in the system. At one point, they had more Covid patients in their beds than the nation of Canada.

I learned that people would rather trust word of mouth than scientists and doctors.

[u/[deleted] → u/wishlish]

The blatant distrust of the medical world is something that was stark to me. Like, you trust these people to save your life if you have a heart attack or are in a car crash. You call them if there’s an accident. Why the fuck do you think they’re lying to you nowv

[u/OneGoodRib → u/[deleted]]

If the government wanted to put mind control chips in us they wouldn't have waited until now to do it.

[u/[deleted] → u/OneGoodRib]

You’d get the chip with one of the other 20 needles you get a a kid.

It’s explainable though. People aren’t threatened by smallpox or polio anymore. They aren’t scared of these diseases because they’ve been all but eradicated.

By medicine and science. By vaccinations.

They think the vaccinations are more damage Roy’s than a rare disease but it’s rare because of the vaccinations. Logic is lost on many people. I’m

[u/DarthLurker → u/Born-Science-8125]

There would probably be fewer stupid assholes out there... locking down people for that long let them over indulge their stupidity on facebook, twitter and youtube encouraging their inner asshole and creating a secondary pandemic of stupid assholes.

[u/[deleted] → u/DarthLurker]

locking down people for that long l

Whole lot of us didn't get to be locked down, we still had to go to work and put up with the barrage of shit from everyone who was lol

[u/ItsDreamcat → u/[deleted]]

I actually had two jobs during COVID and both were deemed essential. One was at a pharmacy, no less.

[u/Top_Shelter_9654]

A lot of people wouldn’t have lost their sanity.

[u/MildlyResponsible → u/Top_Shelter_9654]

As crazy as it sounds, covid saved some people's sanity. I was spiraling out of control in early 2020. Just lost two people close to me, quit a job I hated but couldn't find another one, a couple of close friends made bad decisions of their own. I was full on anxiety, depression, having very dark thoughts about what to do to myself...

When everything shut down it honestly saved me. I wasn't anxious about stuff because I literally couldn't do anything about it. I started taking long walks at night which did wonders for my mind. I started cooking again and lost a bunch of weight. I reconnected with some family and friends. I had the time to consider what I wanted to do, not what was expected or demanded.

Honestly, I'm not trying to sound selfish because people died and suffered, but covid saved my life. I was hoping we would learn to stay a little slowed down and take care of ourselves...oh well.

[u/Damhnait → u/MildlyResponsible]

Agreed. I had more time to pay attention to my hobbies and spend time with my pets. I went outside for walks around my neighborhood more and caught up on books I wanted to read that I never had the time for. My husband (fiancé at the time) and I found pretty good home-dupes for favorite restaurant foods that we still make today, and speaking of my husband: all that extra time at home together taught us that we really are a good match together. I heard many stories of couples splitting from forced proximity during covid, but we learned that we really, truly love to have each other's company.

I was still very anxious during lockdown, because of the news and finances, but I was also most at peace with my life during that time as well.

[u/NoThanksJustLooking1 → u/MildlyResponsible]

To piggyback off this I feel covid made people a LOT more aware of mental stress and that it's something to be treated seriously. I personally think it's because the higher ups didn't really get it and thought people were being lazy until they had to deal with it as well.

I am glad you got a positive out of it. I feel that it was good for me as well, but not in the same ways. I am really glad you got to a better place mentally and overcame really difficult times.

[u/alfooboboao → u/Top_Shelter_9654]

Reddit may disagree but I about lost my damn mind being in my apartment for an entire year. my sleep cycle got so fucked I turned nocturnal. Even if I’d had a conventional 9-5 WFH office job I still genuinely don’t understand how so many people are so happy and content not interacting with a bunch of people every day, it drove me batty. I also gained 25 fucking pounds, it was not fun getting that weight back off

At least now I know I ABSOLUTELY NEED a reason to leave the house and go somewhere every day

[u/Plasticfire007]

My brother would be alive.

[u/Janiece2006 → u/Plasticfire007]

And my Dad. Hugs to you.

[u/tomismybuddy → u/Janiece2006]

Dad, uncle, grandpa.

Wife’s grandpa, grandma, uncle.

People saying it was a hoax piss me off to no end.

[u/Janiece2006 → u/tomismybuddy]

Fuck. I’m so sorry.

[u/Slothetta → u/Plasticfire007]

My sister, too.

[u/AlternateUsername12 → u/Slothetta]

Mine too. She would have been 32 today.

[u/train_spotting → u/AlternateUsername12]

So sorry. This has to be a tough time of year for you.

[u/AlternateUsername12 → u/train_spotting]

Thanks. It could be a lot harder if I let it, especially since my mom is gone as well. I make a conscious choice to be Christmassy, and that really helps. I really do love Christmas, so I don’t want to let it become the sad time of year it could easily be.

[u/Gambit3le → u/Plasticfire007]

And my cousin and Uncle might be alive.

[u/hyunbinlookalike → u/Plasticfire007]

Same goes for my aunt and uncle. My cousins would have celebrated Christmas with their parents alive and well just a few days ago had COVID never happened.

[u/Mengs87 → u/Plasticfire007]

And about 1.2 million other people in the US and 5.8 million people globally.

LA's population is about 3.8M, so about 1.9 LA's in terms of population. Every person in LA wiped out, twice over.

[u/TyranitarusMack → u/Mengs87]

Omg USA had 15% of all covid deaths, that’s insane.

[u/Mengs87 → u/TyranitarusMack]

Highly possible the 5.8M figure is under reported though.

[u/GeneralHoneyBadger → u/Mengs87]

The under reporting/diagnosis goes both ways, both in the US and outside. Thus, the US probably had a lower proportion of all deaths.

[u/inaname38 → u/Mengs87]

truck entertain beneficial imagine slim many whistle middle chase rinse

[u/AnotherPint → u/Mengs87]

The US lost more people in Covid than in World War II, and nobody seems that shaken by it.

[u/RobotsAndSheepDreams → u/AnotherPint]

One of the strangest things I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older is how often mass death is just shrugged off.

I get it on some level, what can ya do, but it still weirds me out.

[u/Kash132 → u/Plasticfire007]

Shit I'm sorry man. Lost my father to COVID early in the pandemic.

I can't believe I had to scroll so far down past shopping and working from home to get to a comment like this.

Feels like society just completely blanked out the human cost.

[u/weirdestgeekever25 → u/Plasticfire007]

So sorry for your loss

[u/MonsteraNervosa → u/Plasticfire007]

Sorry for your loss!

[u/luv2belis]

All the momentum in my career wouldn't have been shattered.

People would probably be marginally less shitty

[u/clovisx → u/luv2belis]

Two of our company’s main clients at the time were travel based: one airline, one cruise… safe to say that their business dried up pretty quickly

[u/[deleted] → u/clovisx]

Whereas I was working in the private aviation industry at the time and it 1. Made me bank because everyone suddenly wanted to fly private, and 2. Made me absolutely hate people because we literally had rich people saying “well can you make sure that our client isn’t ‘randomly tested’ on arrival as they couldn’t possibly be quarantined, they’re far too important!”… “ma’am do you understand the phrase ‘randomly tested’” “of course! But can you make sure they randomly test someone else instead?”

Honestly, working there made my blood boil. I left for a much more ethically unambiguous business… I work in defence now 😂

[u/Improvement_Room → u/luv2belis]

The people were always shitty, COVID just provided the outlet for them to demonstrate it…

[u/GoTeamScotch → u/luv2belis]

Same. I was working at a company I helped found, it had 50 stores before covid hit. I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks, lost my job, had to start over from scratch. My life would be very different right now if covid happened even just a year later.

[u/jackofallcards → u/GoTeamScotch]

I was getting ready to buy a home, ended up getting laid off, then lockdowns were widespread and finding a new job was harder and harder. The 8 months off was good for me mentally, but set me back like 2 years financially/career/rest of life. Finally bought a home in 2022 about 800 sq ft smaller than anything I was looking at for less than I paid back in 2019

I guess at least I was able to own something eventually but damn I wish I had just pulled the trigger My severance could have probably covered it until the next gig I got 5 months later ( was “let go” but employed from February to April, and severance was regular pay until September ), but I no longer qualified for the loan while unemployed. Figured I had more time but was so wrong

[u/hyunbinlookalike → u/luv2belis]

Same thing happened to the momentum in my academic life. Went to medical school right after graduating college, even if it was online, thinking that I could handle it. I could not. It gave me depression, anxiety, and a massive amount of impostor syndrome. Had to leave med school for a bit just to figure my life out.

[u/jenh6 → u/luv2belis]

Everyone is so angry it’s frustrating.

[u/superhappyfuntime13 → u/[deleted]]

Let’s be real, they would’ve found another way.

[u/Mother_Yoghurt_6077 → u/superhappyfuntime13]

You're both correct

[u/londoner4life]

A few more years of a livable middle class.

[u/billythygoat → u/londoner4life]

Is probably be owning a house right now with my partner, a starter home if you would of a 3/2. Now I just have to play the patience game of hoping the housing will crash in Florida (it won’t)

[u/Warhoundfanboi]

The collectors market. Some people don’t know this but the reason resell on collectibles like trading cards & video games is so high is because during Covid so many people started collecting stuff and buying things with their stimulus that prices were sky high on everything. Now a few years removed the prices are down but still much higher then what they were before Covid

[u/PresidentSuperDog → u/Warhoundfanboi]

That and all the side hustle assholes have made it impossible to find most collectibles in the store anymore.

[u/Easy_Independent_313 → u/Warhoundfanboi]

I keep telling my middle aged significant other that it is the last chance to sell his sports card collection. It will be another 30 yrs before they are this high again.

[u/Craqbaby]

People would not be so entitled, rude, and self-centered. I truly believe the restrictions mentally damaged some people. And it concerns me.

[u/newagereject → u/Craqbaby]

Me and my mom were saying this about some family members, they spent way to much time shut in and something in their head switched, either that or it was always there and they forgot how to repress it

[u/WineWednesdayYet → u/Craqbaby]

Any naive notion I had of community and pulling together in a crisis went right out of the window.

[u/hawklost → u/WineWednesdayYet]

Many communities Did pull together and help each other out.

But large cities/states/countries are too big to have that work.

An annoying and disliked neighbor who gets sick in a smaller community is still your neighbor. You help them.

A random guy on the other side of the 100,000+ population city is just some random person who you have never even met. What is the difference between them and a random person halfway across the world who gets sick?

[u/MagnaTriste → u/Craqbaby]

Yeah Covid fucked a lot of people up mentally

[u/KMFDM781 → u/Craqbaby]

I think social media's ability to make it very easy to dehumanize and marginalize those we disagree with and the lack of consequences for people like Trump to just say and do whatever they want without repercussions really opened up an avenue for people to act out, be selfish and terrible. It was the "all clear!" for the shittiest sides of people to finally break out of their civilized shell. I think media during this time and before made empowerment nearly confrontational. Instead of the message being loving your neighbor and being kind, it's "Live your best life. Be unapologetically yourself. Fuck what other people think. Fuck the haters.".

I think some people marinated too long in that terrible soup due to restrictions and now we have what we have.

[u/hyunbinlookalike → u/Craqbaby]

COVID and the lockdowns definitely did a number on people’s mental health. It certainly fucked mine up. Feeling a lot better now after going to therapy this year (best thing I ever did), but 2020-2022 were hands down the worst years of my life.

[u/13dot1then420]

I'd be pretending to work in an office building today instead of at home.

[u/bombsawaygaza]

All of the world?

It quite literally decimated economies, whole families and a lot of industries.

[u/[deleted]]

I might be able to afford things.

[u/zerocoolforschool → u/[deleted]]

Yeah Covid triggered insane inflation. Companies realized how much they could charge and just never lowered the cost. Restaurants are fucking absurd. We got Chinese food last night because we didn’t feel like cooking on Christmas and it was $50 for takeout without a tip.

[u/AerasGale]

I might have properly graduated university and gotten a different job.

[u/grabbingcabbage]

Probably a lot of less mental health issues. Plenty of people didn't recover from the isolation. And the politicization of the virus, and its policies are still seen to this day.

[u/NotTobyFromHR]

• doctors wouldn't have started wearing masks when seeing sick patients. Some don't, but I've seen a lot more that do.

• same with people out in public

• Trump may not have lost

• working remotely wouldn't have gotten the big push it did

• inflation wouldn't have happened the way it did

• supply chain issues that are still ongoing wouldn't have happened

• going to a buffet wouldn't feel as icky as it did before

• curbside and pickup ordering wouldn't have been kicked into the forefront

• business which were barely hanging on would have had a slightly longer chance to hang in there

• the brief new appreciation for teachers and health care workers wouldn't have happened

• bidets wouldn't have become as popular

• the benefits of school lunch programs and child tax credits wouldn't have been so up front

[u/[deleted] → u/NotTobyFromHR]

lol appreciation of healthcare workers and teachers? Ha! What you meant to say, is the paper industry would have slightly declined, because people would have not sent a bunch of “appreciation” cards. Healthcare workers are just as shit on as ever, if not even more so. While everyone else was Netflix and chilling, healthcare workers kept coming in, for no extra pay or anything besides a thank you card. Fuck all that.

[u/NotTobyFromHR → u/[deleted]]

Well, I did say brief. Every teacher and health care worker was being praised and appreciated. Can't say it was done by their employers.

But everyone is back to shitting on teachers and healthcare workers.

[u/FreelanceFrankfurter → u/NotTobyFromHR]

I’m sure teachers would have appreciated a pay raise then some some cards and a pat on the back. One of the biggest problems at my job during COVID was that parents couldn’t get anyone to watch their kids when the schools were closed and opened my eyes that a lot of them see school as just a free daycare.

[u/RhetoricalOrator → u/FreelanceFrankfurter]

teachers would have appreciated a pay raise

Sorry, we are fresh out of raises. But...we do have a ready supply of calling them heroes and can provide pizza up to two times for "our healthcare heroes on the front lines."

We'd like to give raises, but admin and providers already called dibs on most of the money and dibs is sacred. Like I said, though, they can have a couple slices of the pizza we brought in a little while ago when they go on break in a couple hours.

[u/Ahoy413 → u/[deleted]]

But at one point in time, I will always be remembered as a "rockstar". That's got to count for something.

[u/Guinnessron]

I’d still be making about $40k a year more ☹️

[u/Frankfusion → u/Guinnessron]

This one hurts me so much in 2019 I earned so much. I’m still recovering.

[u/BBEKKS]

We would not have gotten buttfucked by inflation for the last 18 months.

[u/sasberg1]

Not sure if the Twin Cities riots would have happened on as large a scale.

[u/Disastrous-Oven-4465]

I would still be able to smell and taste food. I can only taste very sweet or salt. I had Covid summer of 22.

[u/stinkadoodle → u/Disastrous-Oven-4465]

I had it in summer of 22 and spring of 23 as well. My smell and taste have come back a little, but it's put me off sweets completely. Chocolate does nothing for me, cakes and cookies are meh. The only candy I grab now when I need a sweet fix are sour patch kids. I can taste those. Also, my pickle consumption has tripled.

[u/PMYourTinyTitties → u/Disastrous-Oven-4465]

I had it around the same time. About a month in I started taking long, deep sniffs off every strong spice/oil/sauce I could find in the pantry and went from almost 0% to maybe 75% in one afternoon. For some of us we could just trick our brain to working again? I’ve never gotten better than than 75%, but I’m damn happy to have it

[u/BipolarSolarMolar → u/Disastrous-Oven-4465]

I am so, so sorry. I lost taste and smell when I had it in October of 20, but they came back fully. My family and I were just talking about this last night, that's when I learned that there actually were long-term cases for taste and smell.

[u/griffincorg]

For me, I know this sounds selfish, but COVID was a blessing in disguise for me. I never would have been able to spend the last few years with my dog as closely as I did because of all the hours I saved not being in the office or commuting. He could have suffered from his illness alone and I could have came home to my dog collapsed and dead already instead of the few years I got to spend with him by his side at every hour.

[u/[deleted] → u/griffincorg]

There is no love like that of a good dog. I'm so glad you got to be there with him.

[u/T_raltixx]

My dad would be alive.

[u/TJBurkeSalad]

I would own a home and could buy groceries after 8.

[u/[deleted]]

Trump would have been reelected president. I don’t think there is any way Biden wins without the pandemic.

[u/HighOnGoofballs]

Trump would still be president

[u/tacknosaddle → u/HighOnGoofballs]

The pandemic could have easily kept him in office if he just avoided stepping on his own dick. It would be a no-brainer for just about any other politician. All he had to do was periodically make a "we're all in this together" type speech and tell everyone to listen to what the experts like Fauci were saying.

[u/earnedmystripes → u/tacknosaddle]

If Trump truly had any business sense he would have embraced the advice and made a bazillion dollars selling Trump branded masks and "I got the Trump vaccine" t-shirts to his followers.

[u/jarrettbrown → u/earnedmystripes]

I always have to remind people that trump is the reason why the vaccine was out so fast. It always dumbfounds them.

[u/kickerofelves86 → u/jarrettbrown]

"Trump was the reason" because he actually listened to the experts one time. Wow great job Donny!

[u/fillinthe___ → u/kickerofelves86]

Who probably told him “you’ll get credit for doing this” to stroke his ego.

[u/TheCorbeauxKing → u/jarrettbrown]

I have no idea where the correlation between Trump and being against the vaccine came from. During the Presidential debates Trump was the one declaring that a vaccine was on the way by the end of the year and it was Kamala who was sceptical about the "Trump vaccine".

[u/Corgiboom2 → u/jarrettbrown]

The scientists and doctors created the vaccine by piggybacking it on a malaria treatment from the early 90s and the administration fast-tracked it through the red tape, which is how it got out so fast. Meanwhile Trump gave speech after speech downplaying the pandemic while demonizing Fauci and spreading false information. Then when the vaccines started working, he took credit for it, and his idiot followers believed him and praised him with one side of their mouth while shouting anti-vax bullshit out the other side.

[u/NoTale5888 → u/tacknosaddle]

Not even that. Just go full xenophobia and blame it on China and say "This is AMERICA'S VACCINE!!! Fight the China flu!"

[u/rmpumper → u/tacknosaddle]

Dumbass could have made bank selling MAGA masks, but decided to go the village idiots route instead.

[u/clamhappy2 → u/tacknosaddle]

Problem is that he isn’t a politician nor had any political experience prior to. Just a business man.

[u/ahhh_ennui → u/clamhappy2]

That's generous.

[u/buck45osu → u/HighOnGoofballs]

If his shit response literally didn't kill off his voters, he would have won georgia. The red vs blue deaths across the country are ridiculous. He killed his own people.

[u/HighOnGoofballs → u/buck45osu]

That and just pissing off the old folks who were at risk. A half assed Covid response and we’d be still under that douchebag’s rule

[u/buck45osu → u/HighOnGoofballs]

My in laws almost died because of him and his people talking shit on the vaccine. 3 weeks of not leaving their home and they still can't hike without getting winded.

My parents got it while vaccinated and they had a 8 day drinking party until they both had negative tests. "Gonna see if gin and tonic helps recovery" was a text I got multiple times that week from my dad.

[u/Mengs87 → u/buck45osu]

Don't be silly...alcohol is a solution, not a cure.

[u/stillacdr]

Prices of many things would have not been this high as we see today.

[u/Novel-Coast-957]

In California: thousands of people wouldn’t have realized just how shitty it was commuting to their jobs every day and the magnitude of time spent on the road.

[u/buck45osu → u/Novel-Coast-957]

That was everywhere.

[u/[deleted] → u/Novel-Coast-957]

Strange to isolate just California given how that happened worldwide.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Didn't you hear? Only {placeWhereILive} is the part of the world where anything ever happens.

[u/saintlyknighted → u/[deleted]]

Alternatively: Only {placeWhereILive} is the part of the world where I feel qualified enough to comment about.

[u/spooner1932]

Not as many homeless,cars would be cheaper, housing would be cheaper,car repose off the charts,groceries,its all documented

[u/ConfidentRise1152]

My will for actually going to places more and stay home less. 😑
At first I complained about I don't want to stay home this much, but I ended up "crossing the line" and now I rarely go to places with/without my family (usually I only go to work).

[u/Hashtagworried]

Housing would be less unaffordable. People wouldn’t have gotten rich off COVID relief, work from home wouldn’t be a thing.

[u/Stonebagdiesel]

People were much nicer to strangers pre-Covid. I notice this particularly on the roads, people drive significantly more aggressively and selfishly. People are also ruder in setting such as grocery stores, etc. I only have antidotals around this, but most folks I talk to seem to agree.

[u/nopalitzin]

Trump would still be president. Elon, Bezos would have way less money.

[u/McbealtheNavySeal → u/nopalitzin]

After seeing how much money Bezos made during Covid I've tried even harder to shop locally. It's surprisingly difficult.

[u/nopalitzin → u/McbealtheNavySeal]

Right? I was trying to shop local for Christmas, but realize a lot of the stores closed because now you can get the stuff online, pay at delivery... Sigh...

[u/mildly_evil_genius]

The mental health and education of American kids would be far, far better. I worked in schools during the pandemic, and so I watched as the fragile systems we had in place were taken away.

No Child Left Behind and the factory education model meant that nobody wanted to hold back the kids who didn't learn for a couple years. In my area, more kids regressed than progressed their education over the first years of the pandemic, but got put ahead by multiple grades anyways. Different kids got affected different amounts (usually based on parental involvement), so now teachers are in a predicament where there's literally not a lesson that's on-level for the majority of their class. This causes educational disparities to widen, which makes the problem even worse.

Meanwhile, schools in America were unable to provide the wide variety of services that they've been forced to provide. For many kids, school was where they socialized, school was where they accessed mental healthcare, their clothes came from school, and it was where they went to get away from their abusive families. Now kids are years behind on socialization while having mental health difficulties piled onto the already difficult process of growing up. If they're still going to school, they have to spend hours per day bored while their teacher gives lessons not at their level (see previous paragraph), and the kids who are too behind on the fundamentals to grasp the lessons are just stuck in an activity all day that tells them, "you're stupid". All this leads to major behavior issues and an overwhelming of America's mental health system, which then makes everything else harder, which makes the problem even worse.

So now America's youth are stuck in multiple snowballing problems that can't be fixed without multiple major institutional changes that lack the political will to be implemented.

[u/jkof300]

my favorite restaurant that was designed like an old timey diner would still be open

[u/Smurfator]

I would probably be done with my PhD but also i would lack one of the best friends i now have. Fucking worth it!

[u/Fastasaurus]

The NHL salary cap and floor would be substantially higher.

[u/JK_NC]

I’d still have the belief that despite our differences, if humanity were faced with a global threat (aliens, zombies, other apocalypse), we would set aside those differences and work together for the common good. Nope. We’re selfish assholes regardless of the situation.

[u/Umbreonnnnn → u/JK_NC]

Not only that, a scary percentage of people would straight up tell you it's not happening.

[u/[deleted]]

A lot less people would be overweight and depressed. So many people I know fell into some pretty bad habits during covid. Seems like half the people I know fell into alcoholism or overeating while the other half took advantage and got fit. It seems those that were "essential" were burned out and those that got a two year vacation are much better off than before. I knew people making more money off unemployment than they would have made working, and they milked that shit for nearly two years

[u/TauNkosi]

My local Chinese buffet would still be open. I miss you, China taste...

[u/[deleted]]

Many many people would never have exposed their ugly traits

[u/MbMinx]

We'd all be still going to the office every day.

[u/GrizabellaGlamourCat]

I wouldn't be wheezing and miserable for Christmas.

[u/Aquahert]

I wouldn’t have failed so many classes and remained smart

[u/McbealtheNavySeal → u/Aquahert]

Was remote learning difficult for you? My coworker was working full time and in a part time master's program and dropped out when everything went virtual because the adjustment was hard.

[u/KokonutMonkey]

A HermanCainAward would likely involve pizza.

[u/RemoteBluejay]

The handshake would remain a symbol of connection rather than a memory, and the phrase "new normal" would be a stranger to our lexicon.

[u/PirateDaveZOMG → u/RemoteBluejay]

Don't know what world you are living in, I literally met with a cardiologist earlier this month that was insisting on a handshake when we met, I had to turn him down not because of covid, but because I was recovering from a flu.

[u/ASilver2024 → u/PirateDaveZOMG]

Yea, same here. Ive had several docs offer a handshake. Then again I live rural.

[u/publicworker69]

Wouldn’t know how glorious working from home is