Forgot how much I enjoy coding

Doing pre-work for a coding bootcamp and I did some coding this evening. Oh, I feel so much better!

Plague Rats

Tina at work left early yesterday because her son was being sent home from school. She sounded quite agitated but I didn't pay it much mind because she tends to over dramatize things. Learned today he's getting tested for COVID so of course she is too. Now she's one of the people who wear their masks like a chinstrap. Not only that when she talks to someone, she's right in their personal space. I'm talking hand on your shoulder close.

Today I was working with Barb, the other woman who both doesn't wear a mask and who gets in your face when talking to you. I thought about walking out but then I was moved to another task where I wasn't interacting with Barb. I'm planning to leave soon anyway but I would like to exit the job gracefully.

On a related note, my new t-shirt arrived today. It shows a plague doctor with one of those beak masks and says “Wear your mask, plague rat.”

e-mail I sent to my manager

Tom,

I wanted to talk to you today but Niki pulled me away for a task and by the time I got back you were talking with Barb. I didn’t want to discuss this around her.

First, a heads up, I’m doing pre-work for a coding bootcamp. Once I pass the assessment and get into the class, I’ll be handing in my notice. I’m planning to attend the bootcamp full-time.

I’ve decided that when I do give notice it will be only one weeks notice because I’m concerned about COVID. For reasons I’ll go into below, I’m afraid it will hit the office and I’d like to be gone before it does.

The government has loosened restrictions at the exact same time that there are new, more contagious variants of the disease. I’ve been concerned about a spike for a while now, and the numbers are definitely increasing in Pennsylvania.

More specifically, there are people in the office who don’t wear their masks. This has been an issue for me for the past year. I’d become less concerned about it but with the more contagious variants, I’m getting upset about the lack of masks again.

In addition, people in the office – Tina and Barb – literally barge into my personal space when talking to me, and when I say in my personal space I mean they get right in my face. That’s been frustrating me for a while now but with Tina needing a COVID test, I felt terribly anxious all day. I almost walked out of the office when Barb was in my face today. I felt that unsafe. I would like to leave this job gracefully by giving my notice but if I don’t feel safe I can’t guarantee that I will. And frankly, I should feel safe on the job.

I understand that some people will not keep their masks on but I would appreciate it if you could at least talk to Tina and Barb into maintaining more of a distance.