Six years ago...

[leebee]

Six years ago today, after monitoring the internet and my email all morning, I was teaching lab. Around 3:20 pm I gathered my students around me and told them that UMaine had just announced that spring break would be extended to two weeks, and that the UM dorms would be closed during that 2 weeks. I also told my students if they had anything of importance in their dorm room to take it with them when they left on Friday, to take as much as they could with them. I never saw those kids again, after that lab. I still feel the loss... I wasn't done knowing them as people. We sent them all home on Friday, March 13, 2026, and we didn't hold an in-person lab again for 10 months. Funny, the things that stick with you about the pandemic.

 

[princesscinderella]

I was decorating our kids class game booth for their annual school carnival. All the rides were up and ready to go that evening. The vice principal came around that morning around 10am and said they are canceling the carnival due to the quickly spreading virus. The next day was the kids last day of in person school for that year and they were sent home with all of their textbooks.

My son’s girlfriend was at WDW with her family when it was shutting down and they had to leave.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We went to school through March 13 (Friday). Spring break was 2 weeks away, so they called off school for those 2 weeks giving a 3 week break. We went back in person a year later.

 

[texaslover]

My teacher friends and I were on spring break at the casino when we got an email that school would be cancelled the following week with more updates to come. We joke about being in the germiest environment possible when the world started shutting down. The kids ended up never coming back that year though we as teachers did work in the building on and off. Our first day back was 5 months later in August with half the kids virtual and half in person (based on parent choice). Now that was a wild ride lol!

 

[fla4fun]

We worked in the office through Saturday, March 14th, and then worked from home for a year before the company shut down for good. There were only two of us working on the 14th, doing an audit and getting the bank deposits from Friday to the bank. I miss that job. We had a good team from top to bottom and there was rarely any drama. Plus, I worked four ten-hour days, so I had a three day weekend every week.

 

[kdonnel]

I have to admit it is all my fault.

I got a job in January 2020 with a long commute. I tried taking public transit but it was taking two to two and a half hours each way. Then one day I drove and it only took 45 minutes each way but cost $36 in tolls.

A little more research and I found out that alternative fueled vehicles could ride in the toll lanes free.

At a time savings of nearly 2 hours a day and a yearly cost savings of over $8000 in tolls, I bought an EV.

But I could not use the toll lanes for free until I got the AFV(alternative fuel vehicle) plates for the car.

I drove into work on March 13th and found it was just me and two others. Everyone else had decided they were no longer coming into the office, including my boss and my bosses boss, neither of which let me know.

I stayed until lunch and then went home.

Found the plates to my new car in the mailbox.

The world shut down and I never drove back to the office again.

I never used the car or the plates for the intended purpose.

Before the return to office started I found a different job that is full time work from home.

It was me trying to save time and money and the universe messing with me.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Monday, March 16th was my last day of semi-normalcy.

I had just bought a new SUV over the weekend and was excited to take her into the office on her maiden voyage. The work day was semi-normal but you could tell everyone was nervous. Each walk to the bathroom or breakroom, everyone was trying to distance in the narrow walkways while trying to turn their heads and breath in the other direction. Hand washing time had also become crazy. Shortly after lunch, large signs were posted on the floor entries, kitchens and bathrooms that only essential personnel would be permitted beginning March 17th. Now, we already were working from home 3x a week and had been utilizing some form of work from home schedule for nearly a decade. So, we were well poised to go into a remote work world but my boss was an in the office every day kind of guy. I remember him freaking out a bit, saying we're all essential. By EOB, we got the word that while we're all essential, we'd all be shifting home until further notice and only a few handfuls of people (like IT engineers and a few of the execs and their assistants) would be granted access to the building. My kids were on spring break that week and received notice that it would be extended for at least another week. The kids didn't go back to the classroom until late summer 2020 and I didn't return to the office in person in any capacity until April 2022.

Oh, and the new SUV was a lemon. I finally got VW to buy it back in April of 2021 and it never got to see the office parking garage after that maiden voyage in 2020.

 

[tvguy]

We were at Spring Training in Phoenix, very much unaware of how serious covid had become. March 12th was a normal day. The next day, March 13th, our last day there, our game was rained out. Then that night MLB canceled the rest of spring training. Flight to Phoenix was normal. Flight home 4 days later on the 13 was far different. They were passing out Clorox wipes so we could wipe down our seats and the area around them.
When we got back to work, we were handed letters to show police if we got pulled over explaining we were essential workers and exempt from the stay home order. Also special Photo ID cars identifying where we worked and that we were essential workers. It took another three weeks before my job shifted entirely to work from home, for 15 months. My wife's job never did. Our son's job went full remote. Our daughter's job required her to be in the office 3 days most weeks, and 2 at home.
Six years later, the remote work aspect that covid brought remains a hot topic. Our Governor has been trying to get state workers back in the office for over a year. He has pushed that back several times. And a big state worker union is about to start contract talks, and the number one proposal from them is that ALL state jobs are remote jobs.
My son works for the state. His agency got rid of their building a year into the pandemic. Their response to the Governor's request was that he would need to add $15-$20 million to their budget each year to pay for a lease for a building that would be required if workers returned to the office. That was not well received. My son has switched jobs, another state agency. His new job was created after covid, and it's funding specifies that it is remote only. There is no place for him to report to work.

 

[mom2rtk]

The 11th was the day I chatted back and forth with my daughter by text all day telling her how things were developing (with some universities closing). Later that day her dorm roommate came back and announced that she had the flu and pneumonia. Since tests really weren't available, we both worried she had Covid. She didn't have a car, so I put aside the dinner I was making and hit the road. I told her to bring her plants home, but she was convinced she didn't need to. I'm glad she humored me. The last she saw of that dorm room was a few weeks later when we went back to move her home for the rest of the year after the move to remote.

 

[LoveToDisney]

We were at WDW on our Spring Break trip with our son’s family. It ended up being the last week WDW was open. As the week progressed, the crowds got thinner and thinner.

 

[Kitty 34]

March 14th........FlyGirl started the Funny Meme thread.......... best thread started on the DIS!!! (My opinion of course)


Laughter kept me going thru those dark unknown times.

Thanks, FlyGirl. (and the many that contributed to it. )

 

[hardcorestitch]

I was walking out of my HS for the LAST TIME

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I was teaching and they told us school was shutting down for 2 weeks.