I’ve been using Twitter more regularly for reasons, and while it is generally a trashfire website that is bad, I’ve found I really like it as a writing medium, particularly threads. Ever since Twitter started people have been talking about how the character limit can actually be really helpful, and yeah, I finally get it. With threads especially it really forces you to make your wording as concise as possible, and pace your writing in a way that’s engaging to the reader. Not necessarily the best medium for everything, but fun for some stuff.
Here are some threads I enjoyed writing and think are pretty good.
A short reflection on the idea of “professionalism”:
Happy Labour Day! A thing I’ve been thinking about lately: The way we think about professionalism centers the needs of the company when it should center the needs of the workers.
I say we because I, for one, have internalized attitudes and beliefs that make me think about my co-workers not in terms of their humanity but in terms of their roles in arbitrary, profit-driven processes.
I’m constantly having to check my frustration with others for doing things that don’t actually make my life harder but just don’t reflect the company’s idea of the perfect worker. And it’s taken me *years* to get to the point where I’m aware enough to even check that frustration.
So yeah. Be generous to your fellow workers, and hold them to your own standards, not those dictated from above.
Originally tweeted by me (@noplotr) on May 2, 2021.
A long reflection on how it felt to take my mask off at work for the first time and why maybe the pandemic won’t be over even when it’s over:
Returning to normalcy: a thread
1/
At work we’ve had to wear masks all the time (except when actively eating or drinking) since April 2020. If you’ve never had to wear a mask 8 hours a day for five days a week…don’t? I don’t recommend it. It’s very uncomfortable and I have what seems to be permanent jaw pain. 2/
Our state’s governor recently announced that restrictions are going to be lifted soon because of vaccinations (not going to get into whether that’s a good idea but we only have a 48% vax rate so…) 3/
To try to ease the transition, my work has started to allow fully vaxxed people (2nd dose or J&J + ≥2 weeks) to not wear masks and even not distance under specific circumstances, for example: 4/
doing stationary work, like working at a desk; sitting in the break room; or taking breaks outside with other vaxxed people. We still have to wear masks when walking around or doing more mobile work. 5/
(Also people have to show a manager their vaccination card as proof in order to get these exemptions, and I’m not getting into that either.) 6/
Today was the first day I worked since hitting 2 weeks. 7/
On a̵ ̵t̵y̵p̵i̵c̵a̵l̵ ̵d̵a̵y̵ several days a week for the past couple months I spend a solid chunk of the day doing stationary work (sometimes involving stationary, even), so I was really looking forward to not having to wear my mask for a while. 8/
I had my vaccine card in my pocket and ready to go. And then I got to work and just…didn’t do it. For the first hour or so of my day, I just worked as normal, with my mask on. Now that not wearing was an option, I felt really stressed out about it. 9/
I stopped to drink some water, and I’ve noticed lately that when I drink water and then immediately put my mask back on my face gets really hot. (I think it’s because the colder water displaces the heat in my face which then gets trapped by the mask? I don’t know, physics). 10/
So my face was feeling especially uncomfortable, so I went over to the nearest manager and said, “Hey, can I show my vaccination proof?” Or at least I think that’s what I said, I honestly couldn’t hear the second half of the sentence with how quiet I was talking. 11/
Manager looked at my card, did the math, said “Ok, I’ll add you to the list, feel free to take your mask off when you get back to your station” and then I went back to my station and took my mask off. 12/
And it felt really fucking uncomfortable. 13/
Now, I’ve had anxiety attacks at work, and this was not that bad. But it sure was persistent. I started dropping things and felt like everyone was looking at me (which, ok, that also happens a lot, but I swear this was because of the whole mask thing).14/
After about an hour and a half I went on my break, and when I got back I left my mask on, once again not taking it off until I stopped to drink some water. 15/
Later in the day I wore my mask for 2 hours straight while doing more physically demanding work, and after that I felt a little bit better about taking my mask off for the last hour. It helped that there are fewer people around in the evening (we have two overlapping shifts). 16/
All in all, it was not the joyous rush of freedom I was expecting. I’m guessing/hoping that it will get easier, but honestly I don’t think I’m going to be completely comfortable having my mask off at work as long as any of my coworkers aren’t, and that could be a while yet. 17/
This is maybe unrelated (but also maybe not), but there are people I work with every day (in meatspace) whose faces I’ve never seen. 18/
Obviously this pandemic has fucked us up in ways we already know, but there are some that we’re just now going to discover as we slowly crawl our way out. 19/
And that’s about all I have to say about that. 20/
Epilogue: when I went back to my station and took my mask off the manager was like “Feels good doesn’t it?” and I said “Yeah I feel less humid in ma face area” 21/
Originally tweeted by me (@noplotr) on Jun 11, 2021.
(That one, uh, did not age great, but keeping it in here anyway. For the record, that policy lasted about a month and it’s masks on for everyone now. The company is also teasing a vaccination mandate (though most people are vaccinated already). And we’re obviously not really “crawl[ing] our way out” of the pandemic so much as just…crawling through it.)
And an analysis of an episode of Night Court (a 2-parter, actually, S8e01 & e02 if you want to follow along at home) and why grades are bad:
Talked to a friend about how grades are terrible and then watched the Night Court episode where (and it’s only now occurring to me how incredibly convoluted this is) Harry’s high school computerizes their records and “discovers” that he received an incomplete in 9th grade history
So Harry has to retake his history final or his high school diploma is no longer valid, and Christine is like “If you weren’t supposed to graduate high school then you shouldn’t have gotten into college or law school and then you shouldn’t be a judge”
And obviously this is Night Court so standards are *low*, but at no point does anyone, even Harry, point out that, you know, he did get into college, and law school, and became a judge, and has served as a judge
and that none of those achievements are invalidated by what grade he got in 9th grade history, and that passing that test will prove literally nothing about his competence as a judge.
And when Harry’s like “this seems stupid and pointless” (not for the reasons stated above but just because he doesn’t like studying), we meet Ted, the guy who replaced Christine while she was on maternity leave
And everyone’s been talking about how Ted was so great, and now we find out that Ted was just pretending to be a lawyer and is therefore guilty of crime (also he was pretending to be a surgeon but he’s not charged with murder so I guess he was good at that too),
and the point is supposed to be “See Harry, you don’t want to be like Ted, right? If you don’t take this test then you’re just as bad, you’re just *impersonating* a judge” But the point should actually be “Hey, Ted didn’t even go to law school (or med school) and he’s great.”
Also Harry ends up “passing” his test with a D- which at my high school would be a failing grade so I guess I can be a judge now? I did technically fail a math test once (a 79/100, one point below passing) but I passed the class.
tl;dr grades are stupid and I’ve been watching way too much Night Court.
Originally tweeted by Jordan Meiller (@noplotr) on Jun 30, 2021.
Certain of Eventual Failure 