The boss’s husband is breaking quarantine, and you should be doing anything you need to do to protect yourself.
BUT, people are taking it a little far - and are not being, as far as I can tell accurate – in extending the label “exposed” to the boss herself, let alone to OP.
Corona is highly contagious. But it is not close to a guarantee that everyone exposed to someone with Corona is going to get it - one of my colleagues literally shared food and a scarf with someone who came down with symptoms the next day, and is now approaching the end of the quarantine period symptom free.
No government, as far as I know, is imposing restrictions on the family members of people in quarantine because of exposure - just the family members of people with confirmed or suspected cases of Corona. If it did, and if we then extended it further to people those people had come into contact with, everyone would soon be in quarantine. In other words, assuming her husband has no symptoms of the virus, the boss is not doing anything wrong in going into work herself, though she - like everyone – should be taking precautions.
This reinforces the importance of basically acting as if everyone is infected - and reducing all unnecessary interaction. Anyone who can be working from home should be. If a loved one is in a high risk group and is staying at home, but you yourself are still interacting regularly with others, you should be keeping your distance.
This is a small firm - maybe 13 people including the 2 owners. No HR and the boss I’m talking about is one of the 2 owners. I also can’t afford to just quit or I would have Thursday when this happened.
The other owner was so annoyed he wouldnt talk to her or even come upstairs ?. Helpful. We had hoped he would talk to her.
So Friday the office manager and I went in and talked to her about how we both have at risk older spouses at home and were very uncomfortable that her husband was here without the all clear - both for ourselves and the rest of the staff. She said it was their choice (her and husband). Which was a big FU to me and the rest of the staff as far as I’m concerned. Then said it was also our choice if we wanted to work from home. So I told her that in that case, that will be my choice then. I later told the other owner he needs to make the option available to all employees. So far 4 people have made that decision and I think more will.
No word on test result. It wouldn’t make any difference to how I feel about the situation at this point. Or to my decision to work from home.
In the meantime time his (co-owner)'s wife messaged my boss and asked her politely to not have her quarantined husband come into the office till his friend gets the all clear. She got a similar response to the one the office manager and I got. So then she penned an eloquent message telling her how selfish she was being exposing all her employees. This lady is the sweetest person you could ever meet so for her to say the things she did to my boss was unusual.
I started working at home from yesterday. I do have to go in now and then to pick up and return files but will do so at a time when no one is there and follow safety practices.
Maybe it’s good that this has forced us into being proactive and start working from home before a shelter in place order is issued.
We are lucky we are in a job that allows us to work from home. But I’m still in shock about the whole thing. What a time in history to pull the I’m the owner and I do what I want card. And honestly, things will never go back to the way they were before all this.
@swimcatsmom, I’m so sorry that this has happened to you. Although I am glad that you are now able to work at home, I’m sorry your boss is so ignorant of this pandemic.
I’m glad you can work from home and I’m glad the other owner confronted her. Perhaps she planted a seed that will grow. If not, at least you can work from home.
@HImom You mentioned coal in a post above when you discussed preventive measures your family is using. How do you use coal? Where do you get it? Is it charcoal?
Yup, soap and water are excellent and should be used often. Try to scrub hands at least 20 seconds. Most of us wash too quickly and don’t get rid of ALL germs.
More than half the people at this Westport party got infected from a single attendee. I’d bet their contact was a lot more incidental than sharing food and a scarf, too. I think your colleague was crazy lucky, tbh.
So far 5 employees and the other owner have opted to work from home. So that leaves 6 employees and the boss who’s husband’s friend had been tested. She has not told us the result of the test.
Those 6 employees were told they have the option to work from home. That is what I and a couple others were pushing for with the other boss.
Our state does not have mandatory shelter at home yet. I think maybe this moment would have arrived in time. Ironically last week’s fracas sped bit it up. Probably not the expected outcome of that meeting (which, at the time, I thought was fruitless)
I’m still employed. So far. Don’t think I’m very popular in one particular quarter.
Working with a single monitor is driving me nuts though.
I’ve often thought when I retire I’d like to do some work from home. This has made me see the possibilities.
“Working with a single monitor is driving me nuts though.”
Can you take one of your work monitors home next time you pick up files? I tried using just my work laptop last week but over the weekend I picked up my work monitors and chair and took them home. Today was so much better. I have no idea how long we’ll be working from home (I think at least until early May) and I decided that was too long to be inefficient with one laptop screen.
Personally, I love having two monitors at home. It might be worthwhile investment if you can’t easily take another one from work next time you get files — pretty reasonable prices
well I’d sure be able to see my spreadsheets better is I hooked our TV to the laptop but I’m not sure a 60" screen would fit on the table plus I need it available for my husband to watch when he is banished to the den while I work.
If it looks like this will go on for a while I’m thinking of buying 2. I’m sure we’ll find a use for them down the road and they’re not that expensive. The problem is I’m not sure if it will work. Or maybe it’s if I know how to make it work. One of our employees has been working part at the office and part from home for a while. She has not been able to get it to where she could get the 2 work monitors to appear on 2 home monitors when she is remoting in.
I’m not techy at all. I’m very good at using software and computers. So long as they do what they’re supposed to. Once they don’t I’m lost.
Before you buy a second monitor will work with your setup. Our vpn/remote desktop doesn’t allow the use of two monitors, even though I have that at home. OTOH my son’s setup does allow it. Good luck!
I just bought this 27” 4k monitor for D since she’s working from home. At $230 it’s a good compromise in terms of price/size/resolution. If you have a big spreadsheet you can crank up the resolution to 4k and put on your reading glasses, but in normal circumstances you’d use it in a lower scaled resolution. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JXCR263/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Standard 1080p resolution monitors are a bit cheaper if you’re looking for a pair and don’t care about the lower resolution.
Boss’s husband’s friend tested positive for covid-19. The office manager found out through someone who knows the friend. The boss DID NOT share this with us.
Most of the staff had made the choice to work from home already. But she didn’t have the common decency to tell us. We were suspecting because a couple of people asked and she ignored them.