New York Governor Cuomo Lifts State’s COVID-19 Restrictions, Allowing Businesses to Return to “Normal”
6/15/21 – – Calling it a “momentous day,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today lifted most of the COVID-19 restrictions across the Empire State. With 70-percent of adult New Yorkers having received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot, restaurants may return to normal operations and businesses can open offices without desks being six-feet apart.
While fireworks celebrations are planned for tonight and the Empire State Building will be lit in blue and gold (the state’s colors), getting back into the office has not put everybody in a celebratory mood. In fact, earlier this year an online survey by the job-seeker site LiveCareer found that 29-percent of working professionals would quit their jobs if they couldn’t continue to work from home. A crisis may be brewing for employers and employees.
Motivated by today’s announcement, I was moved to capture some of this workplace angst in verse:
Farewell to the Office
It’s where we went from nine to five
We’d take the train or maybe drive.
We gave no thought to time away
From home and hearth throughout the day.
And then things changed, there came a virus
That flipped the switch on what divides us.
Our meetings went online on Zoom
The kitchen was our conference room.
And soon what seemed so new and strange
Became the norm and welcomed change.
We didn’t miss a skirt or tie
Knowing sweats would get us by.
It was proclaimed a stunning feat
When profits didn’t skip a beat.
Had our commutes been all in vain?
Could business thrive without the pain?
And then we got the troubling news
Our fate would not be ours to choose.
When vaccines changed the status quo
Our new world faced a mortal blow.
Our bosses longed for face-to-face
Behind a desk would be our place.
But “not so fast” was our reply
Staying the course is worth a try.
It worked so far and what the heck
It’s from our homes we’ll earn a check.
So chuck the coffee cups, my friend
And mark us down as “won’t attend.”
Please use our cubes for storage space
From what we’ve learned, we know our place.
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Okay, it’s not “Charge of the Light Brigade.” But then again, Alfred Lord Tennyson never had his own blog. So there!
Crisis Quotient Blog 