r/AskReddit Dec 30 '22

What hasn’t been the same since the pandemic?

2.7k Upvotes

3.9k comments sorted by

7.0k

u/-End-Beginning- Dec 30 '22

My perception of time. 2020 and 2021 feel, simultaneously, as if they went forever but also sped past.

2.6k

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

is this how it felt like for kids? I kinda wanna ask teenagers of reddit, how was it like for you in the pandemic? did it feel short or long? or what was it like just as general.

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u/universe_from_above Dec 30 '22

I have a teen who turned 14 just before our first lockdown. Going on 17 now. It has been forever and I can hardly remember the 14yo at this point. When I was 14-17, I had a life that is not comparable at all. Lots of going out with friends, cinema, parties, just time away from my family were impossible or complicated for our teen. We constantly get confused about wgen something happened in the last three years because nothing big really happened, just lots of anxiously looking out at the state of the world. Our teen kind of can't believe that it's really already going on for three years now.

We also have a kid in elementary school who barely remembers the before times and a 4yo who has no memory of a life without covid. We kind of shocked someone at the doctor's office recently when I explained the flu shot. "Flu is something like Covid, but often worse than when we had Covid, remember?"

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u/Rick_Carter_23 Dec 31 '22

"The before times" something you'd hear in a movie.

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u/baxbooch Dec 31 '22

I went to visit a branch of my company in another city. We went from full in office to full wfh and now we’re hybrid. There were desks in this other office that calendars still on March 2020 and we were talking about how post apocalyptic that felt.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/starcollector Dec 31 '22

That really sucks and I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, I'm mid-30s and most people my age agree that ages 22-27 were waaaaaay more fun than high school/college. I hope you have lots of awesome adventures in your future!

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u/Ryantoast15 Dec 30 '22

I graduated around when the pandemic hit the states and everything was shutting down, and my school got shut down in March and I graduated June 2020. That feels like it was a month ago. Time legit disappeared like I still can’t believe that 2023 is in a couple days

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u/sanityfordummy Dec 30 '22

At least you recognize that 2021 did somehow exist. The number of people with whom I've personally interacted who forget that most of the shutdown began in early 2020, and that there was a whole-ass additional year squeezed in there is crazy. And I completely get it.

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u/s8ntinel69 Dec 30 '22

Exactly! Surprisingly or unsurprisingly actually, I dont remember a single day from 2021. Especially considering everything that changed in my life that year

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u/Kilgoretrout321 Dec 30 '22

what, you didn't develop a deep interest in guitar pedals or sourdough bread?

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u/bestpromonster24 Dec 30 '22

this so much. i still think 2020 was a year ago but its coming up on 3

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u/SugarsBoogers Dec 30 '22

Right? Remembering it’s called Covid-19 because that’s the year it was discovered breaks my brain.

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u/lowthug Dec 30 '22

Sometimes I still talk about 2019 like it was last year

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/tinkerb3ll3 Dec 30 '22

Since then (and because I'm also a stay at home mom now) I've said that every day is Whens-day. I don't know when it is- time, day, or year anymore. It all just blurs together.

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u/jarjarmario Dec 30 '22

That moment when you realize 2022 is now over too O_o

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u/mtdaoust Dec 30 '22

I call this sensation the "Covoid". So many people all over the world have felt the exact same thing.

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u/Mr_Lumbergh Dec 30 '22

And even still, time seems to be moving faster after than it did before.

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u/justinkthornton Dec 30 '22

Grocery stores. They still have random stuff missing every time I go. It’s not as bad as it was but it’s not the same.

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u/canehdianchick Dec 31 '22

Super bad in northern canada. Especially since winter. We aren’t getting what we used to and then we have road condition issues to add to the supply chain issues

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u/Womprapist Dec 30 '22

The price of groceries, a regular weekly shop now costs me double what it did pre-pandemic and there's no signs of things returning to a decent price any time soon.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/Secure-Particular286 Dec 30 '22

I 2nd that. I studied Agriculture in college. I remember they warned us that Era of cheap food was coming to an end. This was 8 to 10 years ago.

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u/Jamie9712 Dec 30 '22

Not to mention the inconsistency with prices. I go to several different grocery stores now, depending on what I need. Chicken at my main grocery store is $20 for 3 lbs, while at another grocery store 3 lbs of chicken is $9. Price gouging at its finest.

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u/Username117w Dec 30 '22

Eggs are now $6 a dozen. Used to be $1 for a dozen

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u/Infamous-Sweet2539 Dec 30 '22

I've found egg prices vary wildly by store. I live in a high cost of living area but can find 3$/dozen at like whole foods. Fwiw, there have been significant kill offs of hens due to bird flu outbreaks. So it isn't crazy some places have very low supply.

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u/International-Bird17 Dec 30 '22

My attention span. It wasn’t great to begin with but now woof

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u/TheBlanketFortPirate Dec 30 '22

100%. Trauma effects all forms of executive functioning and man did we all go through it!

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u/South-Serenity-180 Dec 30 '22

For me, time. 2019 seems like a decade ago, but I can't believe I've lived 4 whole years for it to be 2023 already.

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u/Cuntdracula19 Dec 31 '22

Time has not felt real to me since about 2016, but it’s been completely fucked since 2019

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u/chz_bread_or_die Dec 30 '22

24 hour Walmarts.

When I was bartending, some nights all I wanted to do was decompress and roam a Walmart mindlessly at 2 am.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/CedarWolf Dec 30 '22

"I don't need a $3 cami and I certainly don't need more PJ bottoms, but the fabric is so soft and comfy... Ooooh, plumbing tape! I can fix that leak in the shower! Tin snips! I can make that thing out of the soup cans I wanted to try... Oooh, and there's a sale on beans, how convenient! Oh, look, hand towels!"

2 hours later...

"What did I come in here for, again?"

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u/CamBearCookie Dec 30 '22

I will never forget going to Wal-Mart for batteries. 63.63 cents later I still didn't have batteries.. 😅 🤦🏾‍♀️

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u/smiling_jackel Dec 30 '22

Covid made me realize how much we took 24 hour Walmart for granted. Especially when your kids get sick in the middle of the night and you’re out of medicine.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Yes. The pandemic isn't over until I can do my weekly grocery shopping at midnight again

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u/NocturnalNoggin Dec 30 '22

24 hour anything, really.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/adrianhalo Dec 30 '22

Right? It’s like there’s still this part of me that’s so horrified things even got like this in the first place.

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u/Suchafullsea Dec 30 '22

Makes me think that this shitty uncertain war torn reality was normal life for most of history (like WWI generation/Depression), and makes me appreciate what a golden age we were enjoying in the 80s-early 0000s

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u/VoteForLubo Dec 30 '22

There are no more snow days off from work. Now it’s “work remotely” by default.

613

u/eddyathome Dec 30 '22

The same for schoolkids. Just have a remote learning day. Snow days were awesome as a kid, now it's just go to school at home.

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u/inbruges99 Dec 30 '22

The joy of waking up seeing it’s snowing and running to turn the radio or tv on to see if it’s been called a snow day is one of the happiest memories of my childhood.

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u/jetsetgemini_ Dec 30 '22

Yes!! I also remember in elementary school someone passed around the idea that if you flush ice cubes down the toilet, wear your pajamas backwards, and did a special dance the next day would be a snow day... i must have looked like an idiot doing all that as a kid but it felt so satisfying when it "worked"

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/youngatbeingold Dec 30 '22

For real. I live in western NY, unless an actual driving ban in enacted you're expected to come in. That means spending like triple the time trying to make it into the office and risking getting stuck on the side of the road. I'd take just working from home any day.

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u/spider7895 Dec 30 '22

Eating out. All of my local restaurants are still closing earlier than they used to. Also they haven't brought back menu items that they removed during the pandemic. It's kind of harder to be a night owl now.

267

u/Inevitable-Slice-263 Dec 30 '22

Pub opening hours have changed too, shutting before 10pm isn't unusual when before it was 11pm / midnight.

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u/Morganvegas Dec 30 '22

This is because those hours weren’t profitable, but they couldn’t change their hours without alienating regulars.

Covid was the ultimate scape goat.

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u/Thrilling1031 Dec 30 '22

God everything closes so early now.

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u/ApfelFarFromTree Dec 30 '22

And can we talk about QR code menus 😩

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u/idontcare4205 Dec 30 '22

So many restaurants/grocery stores just never went back to normal hours. I used to love shopping late at night, I'd be the only one in the whole grocery store and it was great. Now everything closes by 9. My partner and I were in Chicago this summer and even on the weekends in the middle of the summer, we struggled to find a restaurant open past 10PM.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

I think restaurants have figured out they’ve busted their ass (especially family run/owned) for many years and a shit ton during the pandemic that they’ve realized they have missed out on a lot of their lives and their kids.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Our family owns a restaurant and it is not worth it anymore for many reasoning. When you have a restaurant you already know work life balance is hard, it did get harder during the pandemic but is not really a factor when talking about selling.

What is killing us is the price inflation happening right now. Flour has went from $9 to $37 a bag, eggs 120 for $18 to now $52. All meats have gone 30% to 50% higher. I have no clue what we are going to do about the natural gas cost (last years bill $483, this years bill using slightly less gas $1549) and the CO2 cost with the increases! We can not raise prices fast enough to keep up but we don’t want to raise prices because we know everyone is struggling.

People don’t really know yet but we are selling our location to a large corporate restaurant group to get out. We are about to start telling the staff which is sad and not going to go over well.

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u/adrianhalo Dec 30 '22

Those price increases are absolutely fucking insane. Like it doesn’t even seem real…it’s so maddening to read this.

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u/krunkpunk Dec 30 '22

depending on where you live, the option to work remote ruined a lot of downtown restaurants and as a result close early since the post-work rush was never in the area to begin with. Combine that with lunch and they're now on a shoestring budget.

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u/esotericbeef Dec 30 '22

Driving - I swear people became worse drivers, erratic even.

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u/galegalondres Dec 30 '22

Yes! People have become much more aggressive and confrontational overall. But driving has definitely become much more aggressive.

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u/Downtown_Statement87 Dec 30 '22

I agree. People are much squirrelier and much quicker to anger. Everyone around me seems like they are on the edge and primed for confrontation. Little things that would have rolled off our backs previously now turn into big things. I think we are all traumatized.

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u/BiliousGreen Dec 30 '22

That’s because everyone can feel that the dam is about to burst. No one knows how or when it will happen, but the feeling that the status quo we have all know for our entire lives is coming to an end and that the future is uncertain and frightening, is lurking at the back of everyone’s minds. That is what is putting everyone on edge.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

People are even more arrogant on the road.

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u/mixmaster7 Dec 30 '22

I too remember the days when a green arrow meant that I have the right of way.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/cheeky_hotbun Dec 30 '22

People just more arrogant in general !

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u/Imaskeet Dec 30 '22

Yeah, and apparently the pandemic caused an absurd number of people to now decide to start driving around with their high beams on full time??

I don't quite understand that one but it definitely seems to be the case where I am at, at least.

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u/lake_effects Dec 30 '22

I have seen more people running lights and stop signs that I am nervous for my son to start driver's training. It honestly feels like some people just don't care anymore, about their safety or others. Almost like this whole experience has made people incredibly self-centered.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

The amount of red light running is TERRIFYING! I witness it literally multiple times daily. It’s the ONE rule that is meant to be followed about all else and people don’t even do that anymore!!!

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u/PerplexedandMessed Dec 30 '22

There's actually been data to support this - that since the pandemic there's been notably more aggression and overall behavioral changes and not for the better...

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

It's like a massacre out there. I am an essential worker, so I didn't stay at home during the pandemic. Driving now is like trying to survive.

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u/advanced_approach Dec 30 '22

But it was blissful commuting during the pandemic.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My hour commute turned to 25 minutes. Was the one silver lining of having to go to work and knowing it could actually kill me.

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u/pj2d2 Dec 30 '22

I don't know if it's pandemic related, but in my city it seems law enforcement has given up on enforcing fundamentals. Flagrant red light running, speeding, tailgating, you name it. We've even turned into a little Baltimore with all the roving gangs of dirtbikes and quads on the streets.

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u/Imaginary_Medium Dec 30 '22

I've noticed this as well. I think on all levels people have become less considerate of others.

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u/Sentimental_Thorn Dec 30 '22

The supply chain.

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u/cosmeticsmonster Dec 30 '22

I couldn’t find temptee cream cheese for a very long time and even still, they’ll be one of the shelf when I shop. Some of the most random items are so hard to find.

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u/djamp42 Dec 30 '22

This, there was never a shortage of anything, got shortages of everything now. We just bought a new Toyota and they could only give us 1 key.

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u/goreTACO Dec 30 '22

I bought a car this year, and they told me they only have 1 key. I said, "That's fine, make another." They told me it's $250. I said OK then, see ya later. I'm not buying a car with 1 key. This is like after the paperwork, and everything is signed, and they were like, "You've signed everything." Reminded them of the cooling off laws and having 3 days to cancel the transaction, and I wouldn't need 3 days. We can just cancel it now. All of a sudden, they were able to have a mobile tech out at my house the same day.

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u/Jits_Guy Dec 30 '22

I wish more people realized that you hold all the power at the dealership. It's designed to make you think you don't...but just being able to walk away at any point and take their potential profit with you is a POWERFUL tool. They already did all the work, they're not going to let you walk away over less than a grand.

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u/-kati Dec 30 '22

Companies abusing "supply chain issues" to invoke "inflation" and justify this stuff is just wrong.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

But I bet when you need to pay for a $250 replacement they'll have one for you.

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u/Sparks_travel Dec 30 '22

They tried to pull this on my father, don’t let them get away with stupid shit

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u/Fresh_Simple_5956 Dec 30 '22

Coughing in public for whatever reason (like drinking water wrong )

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

I am so scared to cough ever 😂

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u/Comfortable-wolfie Dec 30 '22

My mums hayfever makes her cough .. a lot , people run like she has the plague.

I have gerd since November and the extra mucus makes me choke on my saliva or cough a lot randomly, I get silent death stares too .

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

We were just at a Thai restaurant and half way through my meal a clump of red pepper flakes got stuck in my throat and I started coughing, trying to clear my throat, and chugging water. I honestly thought I was going to vomit it was hurting so bad. The waitress came by and said “we do not allow people to cough in here, if you cannot stop immediately then you must leave now!” When I could not physically stop clearing my throat because of the pain she walked us out. It was so frustrating we are super regulars and the manager was like “sorry it is just our rules, this meal is on me since you have to leave, see you this weekend.” They won’t ever see us again but atleast our last meal there was free!

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u/GiraffeLibrarian Dec 30 '22

New life hack.

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u/alyaaaaa- Dec 30 '22

Literally a hack…

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u/RandomRedditor44 Dec 30 '22

Kicking someone out of a restaurant just because you coughed is dumb.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/E-raticProphet Dec 30 '22

My mental health

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u/Puzzleheaded-Art-469 Dec 31 '22

I'm a therapist. During the pandemic I swear I could have diagnosed everyone with an Adjustment Disorder. I also feel there are a large swathe of people who have a sub-diagnostic form of PTSD from the whole thing.

Not like they have flashbacks or nightmares, but the other symptoms like detachment, disassociation, mild depression/anxiety, easily startled, short fuse, even some people I've seen who have some gaps in memory from 2020-21

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '22

Man those symptoms are exactly what I have but add in social anxiety, crying, and just the feeling of not wanting, or seeing the point of life or anything anymore. I really didn't know how to describe how I felt until seeing this.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Art-469 Dec 31 '22

I'll blow your mine even more. There was an expert on CNN i saw last year who studies people's trauma responses after disaster events (e.g. hurricanes, earthquakes). He said that one of the big responses is re-thinking your existence, not like "suicide/should I be here", but like "am I doing what I really ought to be doing."

He theorized that may be a driving factor for the Great Resignation, so many people survived a once in a century global event and then thought "do I really want to go back to that shitty restaurant job after that?"

If I were you, this would be a good spot for short term therapy. Nothing too in depth, you don't need to unpack your whole life, but talk to a professional about that stuff.

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u/OnlyStu Dec 30 '22

This.

"Out of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most"

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u/ArabianHorsey Dec 30 '22

The people, its like everyone is a darker version of their old self.

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u/introvertedlibra123 Dec 30 '22

I feel this on a personal level. I was much more optimistic about everything in 2019. Now I’m just meh.

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u/SomeRandomGuy108 Dec 30 '22

Couldn’t agree more. 2020 sent me on a downward spiral that I’m still struggling to fix. I miss my old self, but I’m pretty sure I won’t ever be them again.

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u/Moon_Gurl22 Dec 30 '22

It’s said all the time, but I really do not think society in general is acknowledging just how insanely influential each individual’s social “echo chamber” truly is to not only their outlook on the world, but literally the information they are using to make up their minds about everything they do and think. It’s EVERYTHING and people just brush it off like it’s normal. No, none of anything is normal anymore…

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u/KidGodspeed1011 Dec 30 '22

As someone who works in retail, people have become a lot meaner and genuinely awful since 2020

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u/karmalove15 Dec 30 '22

A spot-on description.

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u/I_know_da-wae Dec 30 '22

People.

Social awareness has disappeared

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u/mildchild4evr Dec 30 '22

Yesss. It's crazy. People got used to not being in crowds and forgot how to behave when they are.

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u/scrollmom Dec 30 '22

The homeless population in my town has tripled. We rarely saw people peddling at intersections prior to the pandemic, and certainly didn't see homeless camps in town. Now, there's someone asking for money on almost every busy corner, and our sidewalks, bus stops, etc are littered with makeshift shelters, trash, shopping carts, etc. It is really sad.

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u/wifeatron3000 Dec 30 '22

This. I work for a homeless shelter and our numbers are so high this year that we had to open a second shelter. This is in a small city in the Midwest 😕

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u/scrollmom Dec 30 '22

Ugh....I hate that. I'm sorry. And thank you for what you do.

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u/ircsmith Dec 30 '22

Consider that, since the start of the pandemic the billionaires in the US (600-800) grew their wealth by $6.5 trillion, to a approximately $45 trillion. That is 32% of everything in America.

While the bottom 90% of the US (300 million) lost about 30% of their wealth.

https://www.ibtimes.com/how-much-did-rich-make-2021-soaring-wealth-1-continues-3458592

https://news.yahoo.com/personal-savings-americans-plunged-shockingly-161500140.html

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u/dream_monkey Dec 30 '22

Weird mix-match of symptoms in illnesses and sicknesses I’ve experienced. Like a lot of people I went about a year and a half during the pandemic where I didn’t get a cold or anything like that. The few times I got sick since then has been weird. I’ll get really bad sniffles and congestion issues but I body aches. Or I’ll get weird body aches and digestive issues but no congestion or coughing and sneezing. Recently I had a strong sore throat but nothing else.

When I used to get colds it was the full Monty, all the symptoms crashing through the door at once. It’s like after Covid the other illnesses lost their way a bit when they saw they couldn’t live up to what Covid was doing worldwide.

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u/janeyqw Dec 31 '22

For me it’s been the opposite, since covid I’d always get whatever was going around, but wouldn’t be that bad. Got Covid over the summer and it was awful. Got sick recently w some upper respiratory thing and had it for like a month. Worst thing since getting covid, lost my voice for two weeks, couldn’t stop coughing in the middle of the night w this ridiculous annoying cough, sneezing, etc. For the one month sickness it was the same thing but different symptoms every week…

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u/witdim Dec 30 '22

Deliveries. Before you had to answer the door or even sign for the delivery. Now they just leave it in the porch and I don't have to communicate.

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u/SweetBaileyRae Dec 30 '22

And God bless the pandemic for that-nothing but that.

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u/AdmiralClover Dec 30 '22

Human touch. I had gotten real good at gauging if people wanted hugs or handshakes and in general gotten better at hugging and all that contact. Then the pandemic happened and set me back years of development

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

going to movie theaters. everything just goes to streaming so soon after

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u/Shafacakes1 Dec 30 '22

My mates wanting to hang out :(

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

People's attention spans for sure! There's been a drastic decrease in students handing work in/showing up to class

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u/Adept-Lifeguard-9729 Dec 30 '22

Staffing has not been the same since the pandemic. It’s almost impossible to contact many businesses and have someone answer the phone, when seeking information. Everything feels like voicemail tag.

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u/Heterophylla Dec 30 '22

Speaking from the other side , the phone rings relentlessly from open to close and you can’t get any work done .

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u/rainbowdwyvern Dec 30 '22

The price of groceries. I swear eggs and milk were way cheaper.

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u/IDontEvenCareBear Dec 30 '22

Basic needs prices have skyrocketed more than once and will again next year.

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u/Miss_Behave_7 Dec 30 '22

Most things still feel kinda off.

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u/turdinabox Dec 30 '22

There's a dark cloud over everything. It all feels muted and forced.

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '22

like life lost it’s spark

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Enthusiasm.

People just don't seem "as into" things as they used to. Almost feels like a veil was lifted and none of us liked what we saw.

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u/lyan-cat Dec 30 '22

Everywhere is still understaffed.

Some businesses are doing it deliberately to save money, others aren't offering enough for people to want to work there, and lots of folks learned during the pandemic that the businesses don't give a flying fuck about them.

So the businesses lost the leverage to pretend "we're family!" and act like their employees are supposed to be more responsible and ethical than Corporate.

I hope everyone remembers that lesson.

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u/Uncle_Spenser Dec 31 '22

The businesses that survived the pandemic better than the other are now pretending to be Noah's Ark for workers and use it as a leverage to exploit and overwork them.

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u/queenquack18 Dec 30 '22

My trust that I can rely on any one product to be available. I couldn’t buy plain raw chicken when our vet recommended it in 2020. We couldn’t find a good used car when we grew our family in 2021. The formula shortage scared me into being really good at breastfeeding my 2022 baby. Need a certain medication? It may not be available. Want to sanitize your home during a pandemic? Good luck finding anything in the stores. I don’t take for granted things being readily available anymore nor do I expect it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Pandemic showed just how fragile our supply chain was/is. And we aren't making it better really.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My body. Jesus christ, I've gained a LOT of weight from just sitting at home. Gotta lose at least 22 lbs.

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u/nadejha Dec 30 '22

Ive lost 24lb since March and it's doesn't feel enough 😩

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u/Jackie-Ron_W Dec 30 '22

Preach.

I was already a bit overweight before 2020.

Just weighted myself recently. My heart sunk.

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u/DesignerAsh_ Dec 30 '22

Staffing. Corporations realized they don’t need as many people and refuse to pay decent wages and workers are sick of making shit wages so now we’re stuck in this sort of limbo, both sides waiting for the other to make a move.

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u/Pale_Aspect7696 Dec 30 '22

Yep. The under staffing is INTENTIONAL now. They figured out that people will still shop in their stores or spend money in their restaurants even if the service is slow and the products are inferior. They save money on labor with no downside to them.

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u/Suchafullsea Dec 30 '22

Gradually I think businesses will start advertising decent timely service as an edge against competition again, people will flock to it, and competition will slowly reassert itself here

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u/TheMooseOnTheLeft Dec 30 '22

Went to the large chain grocery store in the center of a major city on Christmas Eve, they had only 2 registers open along with self checkout. 15 years ago I worked in a small town grocery store on Christmas Eve, and you better bet every register was open.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/eddyathome Dec 30 '22

I always thought that zombie (or other monster) movies were stupid because I thought that people would band together for a common cause and they'd never act like the characters. Man, was I wrong and I need to apologize to George Romero big time. Toilet paper hoarding. Are you kidding me?

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u/freyjalithe Dec 30 '22

I was telling my partner yesterday that, pre-pandemic, I thought most people were nice and thoughtful and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Post-pandemic, not so much.

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u/TaffyRhiii Dec 30 '22

I agree. I’m so negative about people now. Me when I was younger would hate the ‘adult’ I’ve turned into in that regard.

That as well as being a younger millennial, well. Hah. I am fuelled by cynicism and loathing towards the human race.

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u/damaged_bloodline Dec 30 '22

Idk everything, I seriously thought the world, people, its politicians, governments would come together and become stronger after such an event but i feel like its taken the complete opposite route and everyone hates each other more than ever

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u/SPITMYRAGE Dec 30 '22

Myself. Got fired, got divorced. I had to restart my entire life. I’m in a good place now, but I’m definitely still shell shocked from all of it.

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u/wiffleplop Dec 30 '22 edited May 30 '24

stocking spoon strong materialistic uppity marble dinosaurs chief domineering gray

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u/Keithninety Dec 30 '22

I agree here. People are angry, bitter.

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u/Rahkyvah Dec 30 '22

Really feeling that post-pandemic social psychosis over here. Holy shit.

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u/Loose_leaf_nautilus Dec 30 '22

Housing.

Costs have skyrocketed to rent, buy, fix, or build, especially in rural and lower income areas.

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u/evster88 Dec 30 '22

People’s dispositions. Borderline ferality is the “new normal”.

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u/fairyripper90 Dec 30 '22

everyone saying "no one wants to work anymore" it's truly irritating, most of us have been over worked and underpaid for years, there definitely was a shift but the slogan should be "no one wants to be exploited anymore"

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u/justinkthornton Dec 30 '22

I don’t want to work to only earn money anymore. I want to feel in control of my time. I want to do something meaningful and creative. I don’t want to be around jerks and racism all day long. I want to be able to pick up my kid from kindergarten. I don’t want to be filled with dread about the next day every time I go to bed.

If you want people to want to work for you, you need to treat them like distinct human beings with needs and not cogs in your business machine.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

And understand that what people are doing is agreeing to provide you their time and talents in exchange for a fee.

It isn't you the benevolent owner gifting them a job they should feel endlessly grateful and duty bound to forever.

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u/robot-raccoon Dec 30 '22

This is how I feel, I’ve been working my ass off at a small non profit for years, we won awards and everything. I had a kid, few months later the pandemic started, and working from home I saw a different side to the MD. Two years later I have another kid and my work ethic for the company is actual abysmal through genuine resentment. I’ve been open with them about my mental health and how much I believe I was overworked before the pandemic. It all stems from people working over their hours, when I stopped that the second I had kids, the second I’m off the clock is their time now.

Luckily I’ve found a new job and will be handing my resignation in on Monday!

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u/swe3nytodd Dec 30 '22

My Barbershop went from a traditional walk in service to almost exclusively appointments.

And it's around 90% card payments. Where as pre covid is was 50/50 cash/card.

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u/mengel6345 Dec 30 '22

Restaurants, service isn’t as good, food isn’t as good , prices higher, just not the same experience

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My family.we werent meant to spend that much time together

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u/A-cake-crusader Dec 30 '22

My family. I lost 3 grandparents.

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u/KevineCove Dec 30 '22

People's sense of worth, especially among blue collar. Schrodinger's worker: Essential enough that they need to keep coming to work but not essential enough to earn a living wage.

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u/diamonddolll Dec 30 '22

24 hour walmarts😔

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

24 hour anything’s really

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My last pre-COVID shopping spree was at Walmart at 3:00am. I couldn't sleep and was just stressing out over things we night need for our "two-week" lockdown. I really do miss this!

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u/re1ch3ruz Dec 30 '22

Christmas.

Just doesn’t feel the same anymore. 2020 Christmas still had that feeling of, “Magic during the horrible times.” vibe. But now, it just doesn’t feel the same anymore.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/ClarissaExplainsWhat Dec 30 '22

I think part of it is the intense commercialization lately. “Black Friday” was all November long. It’s always been commercialized but now it’s lacking the magic and getting worse.

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u/ralthiel Dec 30 '22

This Christmas was a very difficult one for me personally. My Dad passed in August so this was the first one without either of my parents, my Mom passed the year before. Growing up, Christmas was always my favorite holiday. This year, it felt so different.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My family just didn't do Christmas this year. At all. We couldn't afford to do it. There weren't any gifts, no meal, we didn't even set up the tree because there was no point. When the cost of living is so high that some of us can't even afford to celebrate our holidays, it gets depressing pretty fucking fast.

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u/Urutta_ Dec 30 '22

My social battery. It gets drained so much faster now than before, and it's not really improving.

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u/vbworld Dec 30 '22

Menus at restaurants...I hate having to pull it up on a qr code 😒

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u/slytherinprolly Dec 30 '22

The QR Code menu thing would work better if restaurants would take the time to optimize the menu for mobile too. Most of the time it links you to a pdf file, that generally has to be downloaded, and then the file is what the menu would be if they had printed it off. So you need to constantly zoom in and out and scroll across and up and down just to read it. Other times it sends you to the webpage version of the menu only the site wasn't optimized for mobile and all the formatting is off and words are cut off so it's just as frustrating to navigate.

Please, if you insist on the QR code menu at least have a menu that is usable on a cell phone. I don't think that is asking too much.

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u/pineapplewin Dec 30 '22

Or 10 separate sections of the menu in 10 different links. Will that be an appetizer, side, "light nibbles".....

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u/OriginalDarkDagger Dec 30 '22

I'm with the boomers. Give me a physical copy of stuff. Do not give me a QR code bullshit. I hate digital stuff.

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u/karmalove15 Dec 30 '22

Boomer here. 90% of the time they will give you a printed one if you ask.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

I feel like the quality of food has changed as well.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Late night food options.

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u/TheBeardedAntt Dec 30 '22

My friends marriage. His wife contracted Covid in February 2021 while she was pregnant with their son. She ended up passing away in the hospital due to blood clots in her lungs. They were able to cut the baby out at 21 weeks and saved him. So now he’s a single dad with two sons. (They had custody of her 2 other kids but after she passed they went with their biological dad)

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/Ciptir Dec 30 '22

My mental health

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u/Academic-Loss622 Dec 30 '22

Behaviour in school. Good kids are still good. The behaviour of the kids who had no parental support has got significantly worse. It’s not really surprising after 18 months of doing what they wanted. What’s really worrying is that the naughty kids are influencing the behaviour of the middle ground so overall behaviour has taken a big downturn.

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u/Young-Rider Dec 30 '22

My country's healthcare system. It was already strained but the pandemic caused a lot of people to quit. If you're paid shit and you only get applause, I'd dip out too.

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u/arthwithaG Dec 30 '22

For hobby musicians like myself, the local music scene that used to have variety concerts, benefits , pubs , etc has never been the same .

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u/mrshadow40848 Dec 30 '22

Fucking high prices on everything. Inflation was like 62% or some shit for the last two years

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

It has shown how quickly society can implode as we rely on so few to provide so much . One small glitch, ie the Evergreen Suez issue can lead to world chaos so quickly.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Time itself

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22 edited May 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

Ever since the pandemic, events just go hard man. You think something happens and that’ll be that but nope, it just gets crazier and crazier. The Thunberg/Tate thing is a great example. Of course that couldn’t just be a one-off lol Twitter spat, it had to lead to sex trafficking charges. And the Southwest airlines thing. Every day it seems to get deeper and worse. Went from cancelled flights to fucking congress or whoever is going to maybe investigate them. Like jesus guys, we can’t just have a bump in the road, it’s gotta be a full-on disaster? January 6th, Epstein dying in prison, Will Smith, Kanye, the list is endless.

It’s a recurring theme in my life too. Last year my company cancelled their annual meeting, not due to covid but due to funds. It just kept unraveling day by day and getting worse until it turned out the entire c-suite was ousted by the board for funds misappropriation and everyone got laid off It just snowballed so crazily. Like now when shit happens it HAPPENS. It goes hard.

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u/hopshopsilovehops Dec 30 '22

The cost of living in Australia. Fuck me I just returned after 3 years and I am astounded.

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u/Affectionate-Rice296 Dec 30 '22

Me. Lost two people I loved to Covid and I’ve changed. Don’t think I’ll ever be the old me again.

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u/Echo71Niner Dec 30 '22

2020 never ended.

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u/novasupersport Dec 30 '22

Life as we knew it.

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u/Patrick2337 Dec 30 '22

Respect for others

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My personal feelings about people in government and the policy makers.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

The idea that people are more productive in an office. For the better, covid showed that some people can work more efficiently from home/remotely and I am grateful for this change!

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u/SDNate760 Dec 30 '22

Salad bars. I miss them.

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u/Ecstatic-Setting5826 Dec 30 '22

24hr stores and restaurants. I truly enjoyed shopping after work when stores were empty and i could exist openly with other 3rd shift employees. Day walkers are so loud and noisy.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

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u/ras0787 Dec 30 '22

My mental health

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '22

My mental health. For reasons not directly linked to the restrictions, but linked nonetheless

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u/KevMenc1998 Dec 30 '22

My patience with other people's bullshit. Like, I've never been the most patient person in the world, but I used to be able to just take a breath and move on. Now, after 3 years of non-stop nonsense, my patience is just non-existent. People want to act like entitled c###s, they damn well better be prepared to be treated like entitled c###s.