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Earlier this week I wrote Five Years of the Coronavirus Pandemic about what has and hasn't changed over the 5 years since Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic. I intended it to be a gentle reminiscing about how things have evolved. It turned, though, into a more strident criticism of the politically motivated denialism that reached fever pitch about the pandemic and then spread to other aspects of reality. So, how about those gentler musings? I'll cover there here in a part 2. Here are Five Things that have or haven't changed since the pandemic:
1. Remote Work. Working remotely was a reality for me for years before the pandemic. The crisis of the pandemic made it a reality for a lot more people. As business leaders praised how effective it was many of us thought it would become the new normal. Many leaders have subsequently yanked us back to the past with Return to Office (RTO) mandates. I've remarked before that there's absolutely value in teams being together in an office with low barriers to communication... but the reality of the business world independent of the pandemic is that companies have offshored or distributed so many jobs, especially in technology, that it makes only limited sense for people to sit in an office while still having to use phones, email, chat, and video to communicate with colleagues.
2. Prices. It didn't happen early in the pandemic, but at the impacts of supply chain disruptions, government stimulus, and changes in habits hit, inflation hit. Significant inflation hit. Monthly price changes came an annualized rates upwards of 10% at certain points. But while the overall full-year consumer price index never really rose about 5%, certain sectors saw way more inflation. For example, I've seen the prices of a wide variety of groceries increase by 50% - 100% over the past 5 years.
3. Eating at Home. Eating at home suddenly became a necessity when restaurants closed in March 2020. I'd made that shift a few days ahead of the shutdown. It was a big change for me as I was accustomed to eating nearly all lunches and dinners at restaurants. I made a knife edge transition from dining out 13 times a week to 0. As risks eased I added back dining out— or at least ordering take-out— at once a week, then twice, then more. I've gradually ramped up to dining out about 9 times a week now; but that's still down from 13 pre-pandemic.
4. Tipping is out of Control. Tipping standards increased during the pandemic. As people realized restaurants and take-out food were "essential infrastructure" even though food service workers are among the lowest paid people in our economy, people wanted a way to say, "Thank you for risking your life so I can buy this burrito." Tipping standards increased, and "Add a tip" interfaces appeared on payment kiosks where they hadn't been seen before. The sense of gratitude has lessened along with the risks of dying for a burrito, but the prompts on payment kiosks have not. In fact, kiosks prompting for tips have only continued to spread— including in silly places like self-service checkouts at grocery stores. There's now a widening backlash against expectations of tipping getting out of control.
5. Less Socializing. One of the most enduring social changes from the pandemic is that we all socialize less. Safety closures not only got us out of the habit of "third spaces"— places like coffee shops and bars where we can casually see & be seen outside of work/school and home— but also greatly reduced the second space, too, as work/school became remote much of the time. People got accustomed to living most of their lives from their bedrooms and sofas. Having gotten out of the habit of meeting people face to face— including spending the time and effort of going out to meet people face to face— it's hard to get back into it. And it's to our detriment as we humans are fundamentally social creatures. Depression is up, satisfaction with life is down, and record numbers of people report feeling isolated.
1. Remote Work. Working remotely was a reality for me for years before the pandemic. The crisis of the pandemic made it a reality for a lot more people. As business leaders praised how effective it was many of us thought it would become the new normal. Many leaders have subsequently yanked us back to the past with Return to Office (RTO) mandates. I've remarked before that there's absolutely value in teams being together in an office with low barriers to communication... but the reality of the business world independent of the pandemic is that companies have offshored or distributed so many jobs, especially in technology, that it makes only limited sense for people to sit in an office while still having to use phones, email, chat, and video to communicate with colleagues.
2. Prices. It didn't happen early in the pandemic, but at the impacts of supply chain disruptions, government stimulus, and changes in habits hit, inflation hit. Significant inflation hit. Monthly price changes came an annualized rates upwards of 10% at certain points. But while the overall full-year consumer price index never really rose about 5%, certain sectors saw way more inflation. For example, I've seen the prices of a wide variety of groceries increase by 50% - 100% over the past 5 years.
3. Eating at Home. Eating at home suddenly became a necessity when restaurants closed in March 2020. I'd made that shift a few days ahead of the shutdown. It was a big change for me as I was accustomed to eating nearly all lunches and dinners at restaurants. I made a knife edge transition from dining out 13 times a week to 0. As risks eased I added back dining out— or at least ordering take-out— at once a week, then twice, then more. I've gradually ramped up to dining out about 9 times a week now; but that's still down from 13 pre-pandemic.
4. Tipping is out of Control. Tipping standards increased during the pandemic. As people realized restaurants and take-out food were "essential infrastructure" even though food service workers are among the lowest paid people in our economy, people wanted a way to say, "Thank you for risking your life so I can buy this burrito." Tipping standards increased, and "Add a tip" interfaces appeared on payment kiosks where they hadn't been seen before. The sense of gratitude has lessened along with the risks of dying for a burrito, but the prompts on payment kiosks have not. In fact, kiosks prompting for tips have only continued to spread— including in silly places like self-service checkouts at grocery stores. There's now a widening backlash against expectations of tipping getting out of control.
5. Less Socializing. One of the most enduring social changes from the pandemic is that we all socialize less. Safety closures not only got us out of the habit of "third spaces"— places like coffee shops and bars where we can casually see & be seen outside of work/school and home— but also greatly reduced the second space, too, as work/school became remote much of the time. People got accustomed to living most of their lives from their bedrooms and sofas. Having gotten out of the habit of meeting people face to face— including spending the time and effort of going out to meet people face to face— it's hard to get back into it. And it's to our detriment as we humans are fundamentally social creatures. Depression is up, satisfaction with life is down, and record numbers of people report feeling isolated.
