afternoon update, Friday March 20

[edenfalling]

This is mostly Covid-19 related stuff:

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The rental company is still trying to figure out how to deal with New York's new "only 25% of your staff can be in the office" rule.

The immediate result is that I will not be in the office tomorrow; Miss California will be on her own. This is partly because Saturdays are always slow except for tours (and we're past the frantic exodus of last weekend), and partly because we have a new policy that nobody can touch anyone else's computer. So I can't use Mom Boss's desk and computer like I usually do on weekends, and I will have to sterilize my desk and keyboard very thoroughly before I leave tonight. (We have ordered a second keyboard -- wireless, like the current one -- so Miss California and I will each have our own, but the spare hasn't arrive yet. *sigh*)

We'll probably also cut back office hours starting next week, but the details are still up in the air as we wait for further instructions from the state and also for Lawyer Man (our local COO) to make some decisions.

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As for Not the IRS, well, the federal filing deadline got pushed back to July 15 as of about 10am this morning, as per a tweet from Trump's administration. (Sidenote: what the fuck even??? Couldn't you rise to the level of basic professionalism and call a press conference, or at least issue a news brief? Government by Twitter is fucking embarrassing.) The company has yet to issue any guidance on what employees and offices should do.

At the moment, I'm still on the schedule for Sunday afternoon and I still have a confirmed appointment, so until I hear otherwise I plan to go in as scheduled.

Which will be slightly cheaper than usual, since TCAT has suspended all bus fares until after April 9, in an effort to provide some financial aid to passengers who are taking a hit from all the closures. They are also limiting buses to 20 passengers maximum, and spraying everything down with high-powered cleaners every night.

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My eye exam proceeded as scheduled on Tuesday, but the Visionworks office is now closing through April 4th so there's probably going to be a delay on picking up my new glasses. This is okay! My current pair still let me see just fine; the main reason I'm replacing them is that the right lens has a small but deep scratch and both lenses are losing bits of the anti-glare coating around the edges.

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I guess I will use my unexpectedly free Saturday to work on some writing, some internet organizational stuff, and maybe also making a batch of bean soup, which I've been meaning to do for a couple weeks but keep forgetting to actually get around to.

If I dump the beans into a bowl to soak overnight, that will force me to deal with them tomorrow. :)

Comments

[autumnia]

From one NYer to another, stay safe! I've only gone out twice this week for food and bank errands, but have been seeing people out and about walking their dogs and strollers. At least you can still go out to get some fresh air as long as you stay well away from others and keep it short.

Also, I think NY changed the state's income tax filing deadline to match the federal one as well, which is great since my family accountant's office has been shut down for a few weeks already and I didn't receive all my paperwork early enough to file my taxes sooner. That's one less stressful thing to worry about for now. But it sounds like you're not seeing that many people coming in to file at your office either. Do you think you'll see even less people coming in once the state lockdown pause goes into effect in a few days?

[rosaxx50]

No go with electronic processing of rentals, I'm guessing?

[edenfalling]

If Aunt Boss gets herself set up to work remotely, she can make leases and email them to prospective tenants. I am unsure whether Mom Boss can get remote access to the program we use to handle electronic payments, but once a tenant is entered in there, we can handle all payments electronically. But physical payments have to be handled in the office, and there's still stuff like keys to receive and hand out for subtenants, so... it would be very difficult to have NOBODY in the office. I have a feeling what may happen is that Miss California and I will be there all alone for restricted hours while our bosses both work from home -- that is, if we can get an essential business exemption from the state.

Also, yeah, there's scanning and uploading and filing that has to happen in the office, but that can presumably be put off until May.

[edenfalling]

I will not give up my daily walks! But I have tragically had to give up saying hello to other people's dogs, since we all need to avoid contact.

Not the IRS seems to have made a start by reducing office hours to 11am-7pm instead of 9am-9pm, and we've been working to increase online-only options for the last couple years anyway, but I am unsure if tax prep will count as an essential business. You'd think it ought to, but with the extended deadlines, who knows!

We actually didn't have any reduction in clients this past week, which I think was partly people trying to get their taxes done before any further restrictions and partly because all the local free tax prep services (senior centers, a credit union, etc.) shut down completely so the clients we used to send their way had to come back to us. Which is infuriating, honestly -- there's a reason we usually tell them to go to the free places! -- but I guess corporate is happy. :(

[violsva]

Re sidenote: Right? I have spent the last three years baffled that random comments on a personal twitter account are how we announce policy now.

[edenfalling]

I know!!! It's just... *makes inarticulate gestures of outrage*