So its July 2020 and it's a whole new world. I mean, its still planet Earth but its a whole new world. Covid-19 has changed literally every aspect of life. We can't touch, or kiss strangers or shop without an alcohol swab nearby. Besides hoping we can find a cure, one of the biggest questions about all of this is in regards to the fallout. What happens next? If we can get an affective vaccine, how to we move forward? What will be the outcome of all we learned and experienced? Get ready everyone. Life is forever changed.
Redditor u/fool126 wanted everyone to discuss what we all think a post Covid world looks like.... it's time to make some hard realizations... they asked.... What's never gonna be the same after this pandemic?to the left
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For me, I feel like even if there's a vaccine and the virus is wiped out, the world will still be at a loss.
There will always be that feeling or memory of the time when the world shut down and irreplaceable people died.
Caps Off....
Not 100% sure but graduations. My sister had a reduced and socially distant ceremony and after your child's name was called, you were allowed to leave. Do you honestly think that when the restrictions get lifted, people are going to want to sit through all 200+ names?
Sing Out....
Concerts. I love concerts and festivals. I honestly don't know that I will ever go to another one. My anxiety through all this has helped in now being so turned off at the thought of going to a concert.
This hits me hard. I love live music. There's nothing better than going to see a band you love live. But now I know I won't go to concerts in a long time.
Where I live (Finland) there will already be some festivals in August and I'm amazed that some people can go. I don't know how long will it take for me to not feel extremely anxious in crowds again.
Forgotten....
Nothing. We'll forget. Plagues, Spanish Flu, Smallpox, Polio all happened.
I doubt the people who lived through them forgot. Did you forget the great recession? I know I haven't. My grandparents never forgot WWII. My dad never forgot Vietnam. My mom never forgot quaaludes. This will forever change how people interact with strangers.
Too Close....
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Nightclubs , I don't ever see myself wanting to be around that many people in an enclosed space.
Bad Education....
School.
Yep. We teach in overcrowded germ factories.
And a lot of experienced teachers are retiring this year if they can rather than dealing with this crap, and something like 50% of teachers leave the field entirely within the first 5 years. The overall demographic of teachers is going to shift this year, I think.
Grounded.
People flying for business. I'm a FA so air travel is so different this year. Well tens of thousands airline employees will be furloughed come October and if things go well a good portion will be rehired by next spring. Some airlines won't rehire for years. It could be less if more employees take early retirement. Most of the airlines are expecting a year to three to come back to 2019 levels.
Right now foreign international carriers have laid off or terminated probably just shy of 100k staff. I believe close to 40 airlines have gone bankrupt this year.
People will fly again, they want to get out and vacation, see family and friends they didn't see this year and such. Those coupled with fare deals will encourage more to fly when things calm down, but that isn't working well right now with the resurgence of positive cases.
Visitation
America's reputation.
I can't speak to London but I lived in NYC for a few years. It was great for a young person but I cannot imagine doing it now that I'm older and I have no idea how people raise kids there. No car, no easy shopping, and while mass transit exists it's EXTREMELY slow and the amount of stairs is not to be underestimated, nor is the amount of walking. I would literally walk through the soles of my shoes on a regular basis.
As a younger person I loved going to all kinds of restaurants and bars and museums and stuff, and the cultural scene was amazing - lots of supposedly "amateur" shoes for $5-10 that were incredible. And DAMN, the restaurants. I find myself often thinking of them with genuinely tearful longing. Every kind of cuisine and all of it amazing.
Right now, I imagine it's kind of a second circle of hell, because apartments are TINY and often badly ventilated. The whole point of living there is that you just don't spend that much time actually in your apartment.
No Tongue.
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Spin the bottle.
Instead of kissing we're just going to make finger guns at each other.
"summer break"
Not sure how widespread this is; but, the local universities (US) are starting Fall semester earlier (Aug). Then, when students leave for Thanksgiving break, they do not return until Spring semester starts in Jan. They don't want students to interact with so many people from all over, during the long Thanksgiving weekend; then, return to spread anything.
Plus, those who have to travel far, don't have to return for the short time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Seems like a long-term beneficial shift for all, that should be considered permanent.
Similar to the year-round schooling, the big chunk of "summer break" is slimmed down.
Office Space.
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Work... Many office jobs will be done remotely.
This. Businesses will see that they no longer need giant buildings and parking structures to support work that basically amounts to a few emails and some excel or word docs.
Valued Time.
I think we'll value the time spent in person with family and friends a whole lot more. I haven't seen my parents or siblings or nieces or nephews since Christmas and likely won't until (if?) this whole thing mercifully ends. I daydream all the time about what it will be like to see them all again. I surely won't be squandering that time distracted by scrolling through social media on my stupid phone.
No to Real Estate.
Our law firm is now counting the days until our office space lease is up (649). We've all been forced to work remotely for 4 months which has convinced us we don't need space. We'll likely give back about 1/2 of our floor, and convert the rest into small video-conf conference rooms and hoteling our individual office spaces, instead of the individual 100 to 200 sq ft offices we have now.
Don't invest in commercial real estate...
I'm Out.
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Calling in sick will become calling in via Google Hangouts 😢.
It can't be. Or at least no changes from pre-pandemic. If you're on PTO or sick leave, you're off. That said, I've worked important events (outages, planned major projects, etc..) while severely sick, as I'm sure many of us have.
The Mainstream....
Remote work will be more mainstream, so needing to live close to work will no longer be as desirable, causing inflated home prices in major tech metro areas to deflate.
Home delivery services like Amazon and Instacart will mean less time spent shopping.
Malls which were already on the decline will start closing down completely.
Business travel will decline as virtual meetings become normal.
Housing with home offices/video production studios and high speed internet will be important selling features.
Tech Days Ahead.
The pandemic has made this very clear that many of activities that require you to go outside are non essential. technology has grown up to fill that gap very well. I think technology will play a big role in this transition.
Can anyone imagine what would have happened if this thing arrived 10 or 15 years ago? The Western world would be torpedoed.
"upscale"
Buffets.
Before the pandemic I could go to an "upscale" buffet and tell myself everybody else was being hygienic.
I love buffet. But I will never eat at a buffet again in my life.
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Days Off....
Hopefully the view of the work week. 4 day weeks are overdue and having the permanent option to work from home 1 or 2 days should be a thing
Not gonna happen soon though.
The 40 hour, 5 day work week has been proven many times to do more harm than not. Well for corporate M-F roles anyway. We still gotta have people doing service things but they still need a more appropriate work schedule
But then someone's going to fuss that they have to pay more to employees per hour (this is an issue across a lot of jobs tbh, not just entry level hourly gigs).
Save Retail.
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JC Penney's is legit about to go under.
There's a lot of brick and mortar stores that could disappear by this time next year. Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's, Best Buy. Malls are going to empty of most of their anchor retailers.
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"Straight men of Reddit, what is the strangest thing you have been told not to do because 'that's gay?'"
The following behavior just screams, "gay," fellas. Watch out.
Song Choice
"Sing a Lily Allen song during karaoke."
– KentuckyFriedEel
School Protocol
"Advice I received in high school from other students:"
"Don't cross your legs with one knee over the other. Put one ankle over the other knee."
"When carrying books, palm them and carry them at your side. Don't rest one edge of the books near your waist."
"Never button the top button of your shirt."
– Gorf_the_Magnificent
Look, But Don't Look
"This one time, at summer camp, this guy who'd just been swimming in the lake told me you could tell how cold the water was by how hard his nipples were. 'But don't stare too long,' he said, 'because that's gay.'"
"You were the one who told me to look in the first place!"
– SonOfTheShire
Sandwich For Sissies
"When I was a kid, my dad called me a sissy because I cut a sandwich diagonally."
– captainmagictrousers
Getting Woodwind
"I played the clarinet. I got called Faginet a lot."
– Virtual_Caramell
"But that's one women do," one might argue.
Daddy Duty
"Changing my daughter's diaper. Mentioned it in the office one day. Called gay."
– Bullydaddy
A Lighter Shade
"Buying a white IPhone."
– Freshrendar
"Added my husband (then boyfriend) to my phone plan. Went to the store on my own to upgrade both our phones. We both just wanted the next gen Samsung. It was only available in purplish-pink in store."
"I shrugged and said it didn't matter, he's putting a case on it anyways. Guys working at the store kept trying to talk me out of it, actively pushing me to go to another store, making them lose commission, just so my partner wouldn't have a feminine phone. He used his pink phone for 3 years."
– Caity26
Life Skills
"I've been criticized for knowing how to sew and cook. Those are essential life skills!"
– placeholderNull
"My father was a Marine drill instructor in the 50's. Guess who did all the sewing in my house growing up?"
"Yeah, no one dared to call him gay for it."
– desrever1138
Here are examples of guidelines for being a manly man, according to manly men.
Manly Appetite
"Not a straight man but... back in my bartending days I asked a man if he wanted to see a dessert menu. He said 'if I wanted dessert I'd order wings like a real man.'"
"Weird flex but okay."
– BigJiggies
When I'm In The Mood, I Masticate
"When I'm feeling extra manly, I just take a bite out of a cow and then chew on some raw wheat."
"Like a man."
– AmigoDelDiabla
No Appointments Necessary For Straight Men
"I left a pick-up basketball game because I had an appointment to get a haircut. Evidently, the only straight way to get a haircut is as a walk in."
– patricksaurus
Abiding By The Law Is So Gay
"Using turn signals. And not as some sort of euphemism, but literally using them while driving to turn or change lanes."
– Sargatanus
In grade school, some fellow classmates asked me to check for gum on my shoe because they saw me step in some.
When I lifted my leg to take a gander, the boys were howling hysterically as if my actions confirmed something.
Well, it sure did. Apparently, if I l looked at the bottom of my shoe from in front of me, I was "normal," but since I bent my leg back and looked at the bottom of my shoe from behind, that made me "so gay."
Although, I didn't come out 'til years later, maybe those goons were onto something. Thanks for the heads up, guys.
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