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Well, a little more than year ago I never would have imagined I'd be writing about a product like this, but here we are.
Because vaccine cards aren't wallet sized (why?), they don't fit in the slots of a typical wallet, which means you have to find somewhere else to put yours. I haven't gotten my vaccine yet, but I assume I'll put my card in a pocket of my purse, or in the cash section of my wallet, which means it could get bent and damaged easily. Yet, experts are telling us to protect your card and keep it in good shape. This product (pictured) seems like a great way to protect your card.
I like the helpful note “Vaccination card not included.” Yeah, thanks for clearing that up, Specialist ID. The lanyard isn't included either, but you might have one lying around from a conference. (Remember conferences?)
The sleeve is 4.5″ x 4.5″ and is $8.99 at Amazon. (Tons more are available.)
If you'd rather laminate your card (which I recently did for my parents), Staples and Office Depot will do it for free! (One of my favorite impulse buys, however, is this laminator — albeit when it was a little cheaper — and I recommend it for all sorts of things.)
Sales of note for 9.10.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Save up to 40% on new markdowns
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Warehouse sale, up to 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- White House Black Market – 30% off new arrivals
Sales of note for 9.10.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Save up to 40% on new markdowns
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Warehouse sale, up to 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- White House Black Market – 30% off new arrivals
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Anonymous
Why would you be carrying your vaccination card around?
AIMS
I think some people expect it to be necessary to get in certain places. I don’t know if that will actually be the case and in that case I would just make a copy.
Lyssa
If that becomes the case (the “vaccine passport” concept), I can’t see how the current cards would be useful for it – mine’s just some words printed on cardstock – anyone with a basic printer could fake one in 20 minutes.
I didn’t even get mine filled out for my second shot (accidently left it in the car); they said it was no big deal and just to record the lot number in case it was needed later. It’s been sitting in my center console for months.
Anon for this
Yeah agreed. Ours are in a baggie the same place we store our passports. We took pictures of them so we have the image on our phones if needed. Clearly there are going to be some sort of verified apps emerging for times when you need to prove you’ve gotten it.
anon
I kept mine with my passport too which is in a fireproof safe.
Senior Attorney
Same.
joan wilder
I’m not clicking on this link because Naomi Wolf has become a covid denying anti-vaxxer. But I will say countries like South Africa, which many on this board have vacationed at, have required WHO vaccine yellow Cards with proof of yellow fever vaccine to enter for years. It not only has not been the end of civilization as we know it, I personally find the vaccine shot a whole lot easier than the 14 hour nonstop flight to South Africa from the east coast in economy…
Anon
I thought certain countries (though maybe it was just states) were lifting the travel ban for people that were vaccinated.
anon
I know someone who is traveling to Hawaii for spring break next week. She got the Pfizer vaccine more than a month ago. Even though she is vaccinated she has to provide evidence of a negative covid test.
Is it Friday yet?
Yep, Iceland at least is letting people in with proof of vaccination as of March 18 – I had a ski trip that was postponed last year that looks like it’s happening in May, so I’m getting my card laminated and keeping it with my passport.
Sloan Sabbith
OMFG from the US too? If so this is great news. I want another Iceland trip.
Which I won’t be able to take any time soon for all the reasons my life sucks right now but I am excited about the idea in theory.
Is it Friday yet?
Yes! Very pleasant surprise, as I’d totally given up on the trip happening before 2022.
I’ve seen your updates, and I hope everything with your dad improves soon. When it rains, it pours (believe me, I know, I’ve been there), but you’ll get through it, one way or another, and things will get better and less hard.
AFT
Laminate a copy – I’ve heard stories of laminating harming the original, and you want to be able to record boosters on the original.
Sarah
Yup, exactly what I was told. Don’t laminate the original, make a copy and laminate that if you want.
Is it Friday yet?
Hmmm, that’s a fair point – but I’d be worried that for travel purposes I’d need the original and not a copy. They put big stickers with my vaccine lot info and the location on mine, so the space I’d have for boosters is already covered, for better or for worse. I guess maybe I should just buy one of these sleeves then…
laminatingisabadidea
Yeah… don’t laminate….. Take it from someone managing a mass vaccination clinic. Anything that was printed with a thermal printer (barcode, your name / DOB, etc) will just turn black with the heat from the laminator. Just put it in a plastic bag or something and keep it with your passport.
Anonymous
Free donuts at Krispy Kreme….
Cornellian
+1
Anon
The “lower efficacy rates” from J and J are against the Brazilian/South African variants over the summer. Moderna and Pfizers ‘higher efficacy rates” were pre variants in different areas Quite simply, we can’t compare the 3 vaccines and decide any is BETTER because they were tested in different environments. What we can say is that each of them (and likely AZ) do an absolutely amazing job at stopping deaths and hospitalizations from covid. There is a good vox video explaining this in greater detail.
I know the “overachieving chick” mentality (and maybe some entitlement) make some people want the bestest vaccine that ever vaccinated in their body and not some “second class” vaccine. But every day you delay vaccination in order to get the BEST vaccine and not the needle that goes in your arm today means you may become infected, you may become a long hauler, and you may pass the infection onto someone who is less able to handle the infection.
Anon
Sorry. Nesting fail and meant for below.
Ellen
I think that a guy having it and showing it to you makes it easier for you to determine if you want to have s-x with him or not. Otherwise, who cares? Personally, I would never sleep with a guy who was not COVID-19 free, and also must be vaccinated.
Anonymous
There’s some great news coming out about the real-world efficacy of Moderna and Pfizer (90% protection from infection after two doses). Everyone’s still telling me “just get Johnson and Johnson, we would’ve been happy with them before” but I’ve never been the kind of person who can just accept instructions without an explanation that makes sense. I’m high-risk and want the best possible protection. This new study appears to confirm that in the real world (as opposed to a clinical trial), Moderna and Pfizer are offering the best chance I have. I think J&J is still a fabulous option, but for high-risk people, we do need to be more cautious. What are other high-risk people doing? My first appointment is this week, but I don’t know what I’m getting.
Anon
You do you, my dear. We’ve had this discussion 1,000 times here and that’s basically what it boils down to.
Anon
And thank your lucky stars you have the privilege of (a) getting the vaccine now and (b) having a choice of vaccines.
Cat
If you know it’s a first appointment then by definition you’re getting either M or P, not J&J?
Anonymous
I meant my “appointment.” I don’t know if it’s my first or only. I misspoke.
Anonymous
Get whatever you can get asap. Don’t turn down JJ to wait for M/P because then you risk getting covid before you get vaxxed.
Anon
Yup. I work in public health and for many reasons you should get what is available to you now, rather than hold off for your preferred vaccine
Anon
I’m high-ish risk. Moderate asthma and other autoimmune conditions. Whether that actually raises my risk is TBD.
I’m actually hoping for J&J so I can have my immunities quicker. I’m also much more concerned about severe disease than I am any disease. With the other vaccines you have to get dose one, wait three weeks to a month, get your second dose, then wait another two weeks. With J&J you are just waiting 2 weeks. I want protection as soon as I can have it.
Anonymous
Hm, that’s interesting. I’m less concerned about getting immunity *quickly* since I’m able to stay very safe/WFH (thankfully) and am more interested in max efficacy based on my specific health conditions, but food for thought.
Anonymous
This assumes you have zero accidents. Like if you cut your hand badly with a kitchen knife and need to get stiches you are at risk of exposure at the hospital.
Anonymous
Kindly, if you live your daily life around anticipating accidents that require a trip to the ER, please seek help for your anxiety. Like yes you should have insurance in case something happens, no you should not base everyday decisions on OMG WHAT IF I NEED THE ER????
anon
I think you’re missing the point. She’s not anxious about needing the ER, she’s explaining why it’s prudent to get vaccinated ASAP.
LaurenB
Can we not with the drama? While no one *wants* to go to an ER, it’s, you know, a hospital where they have sanitation. It’s the ER / frontline health care workers who are at risk of Covid because they are exposed for hours on end, day after day – not a visitor to the ER.
Anonymous
Maybe I’m totally out of the loop, but how do you even pick? In my state I haven’t seen any guidance on how to tell which vaccine you’re getting, just how to sign up for an appointment.
Cat
Depending on where you get it, you may know. The FEMA site near me only did Pfizer and is going to switch to J&J after they finish giving second doses in a few weeks. CVS tells you at the time you make the appointment (and for the Moderna and Pfizer, they have you make your second appointment 4 or 3 weeks later at the same time).
Anonymous
Some locations only get one type of vaccine. You can find out by word of mouth or online. If you have a preference which vaccine you get then you limit your sign ups to the locations that have it.
Anonymous
I am high-risk and took J&J because that was what was offered. A week later they were vaccinating everyone with Moderna. I really wish I’d waited.
Anon
Y’all need to take a course in game theory. Just get a GD shot, any shot.
Anon
That’s not helpful to individuals who might need the highest efficacy for medical reasons. It’s gaslighting to act like 66% efficacy = 90%.
Anon
Has your doctor told you to wait? Then wait. Otherwise this is good advice and you shouldn’t expect personalized medical recommendations from the internet.
Anonymous
It’s stupid to keep parroting those stats like you know what they mean when you obviously don’t.
Please take your anti vax misinformation somewhere else
Anonymous
It’s not antivax to point out differences in efficacy found in the vaccine manufacturers’ own trials. On the contrary–OP seems to be very pro-vax.
Anonymous
How is this permitted?
Anon
I used to feel like you do about the efficacy and I’m also high risk. But those stats are apples to oranges and any vax is better than no vax. I would get the first shot available to you. Any current variety will keep you from having a severe case and out of the hospital. That’s way better than waiting.
I got my information from reading more, and also from talking to a colleague of mine who is a doctor and who has spoken on many panels recently about this exact topic.
Anonymous
How is it apples to oranges though? That was true for the head-to-head comparison of the clinical trials, but the newest data that came out today is that Pfizer and Moderna are so efficacious in a real-world setting. J&J didn’t perform as well under the tightly controlled trial conditions. Isn’t that what is most relevant to all of us?
Anon
Yes, all the J&J vaccine does is keep you from dying or developing severe COVID (that needs hospitalization). Pretty effective.
Anon
“Get a needle in your arm, and a second one if required, as fast as possible and shut up” – My sister, the Nurse Practitioner with shockingly good bedside manner despite her candor. But yes. What she said.
Anonymous
This is good advice on a population level but is asking individuals to sacrifice.
Anon
No, it isn’t. It’s asking you to take the shot that keeps you out of the hospital. Both varieties will do that.
Anonymous
I don’t only want to stay out of the hospital. I want to avoid any infection because as a middle-aged woman and a person with an autoimmune disease, I appear to be at high risk for long COVID.
I think very highly of Anthony Fauci, but it drives me crazy when he says “What matters is preventing hospitalization and death.” That’s not all that matters.
Anonymous
I agree. Of course I want to stay out of the hospital – that would be great! But Pfizer and Moderna appear to have BETTER efficacy in the real world than J&J had in the clinical trial. Yes, they’re are “good,” but two appear to be better. Why is that so taboo? Why wouldn’t someone who is high-risk want the best possible odds of a) not contracting COVID b) not suffering morbidity from COVID and c) preventing severe illness and death?
Anon
Exactly. That is not all that matters to high-risk people and it’s really frustrating that people keep ignoring us when we say that. I’m not OP but feel exactly the same.
Anon at 3:05
High risk is a huge catchall. Dad is T1D with severe asthma. NP sister gave him the exact same speech. Other sister (not NP) is high risk from severe cardiac issues and asthma. NP sister also told her the same.
Maybe you have some other condition that makes you high-high-risk? Maybe you should ask your doctor and not the internet?
LaurenB
This is what my frontline physician spouse says as well. Get the first one that is available to you. The end. Nothing more to say.
Anonymous
I bet he got one of the more effective vaccines, so he is not the one facing an increased risk of “moderate” infection that leads to lifelong complications.
Post viral
I echo your, and others, voice that Moderate COVID and then lifelong disability is nothing to be sniffed at. Historically outbreaks have led to around 10% long term illness (usually women as we have more complex immune systems) and out of those, there’s a less than 5% return to previous health according to a systematic review of studies.
There’s no treatment or even very much medical research for post viral syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis but there is a lot of dismissal as psychological and outright contempt.
I caught a mild virus and nearly a decade later I still cannot work, I can’t drive, cook or concentrate for long and I have to use a wheelchair to get around my own house, even after spending all my money trying to get better. Take mild cases seriously.
Anonymous
My state tweets about this fairly often: “The best vaccine for you is the one you can get.”
Anonymous
Yeah everyone keeps saying that but like another poster said, it feels like gaslighting. I’m not some covidiot looking for whatever will get me to spring break fastest. I’m looking for my best possible chance of surviving COVID given my health. Am I actually supposed to suspend disbelief and comparative efficacy based on the data we have in front of us?
Anon
Imagine being so privileged that you cry “gaslighting!” when people tell you to get vaccinated.
Agurk
Imagine being so privileged as to be healthy enough that you don’t have to disentangle health guidance intended for the general population from what is best for your specific health issues!
Anon
+100000, Agurk. Must be really nice to know with confidence that J&J is good enough for you.
anon
If you have a problem with internet people giving you a reality check, then maybe stop posting the same effing question on here every day. Unless your doctor told you that you absolutely NEED Pfizer or Moderna, you’re being obnoxious.
Anonymous
Health care providers are just parroting the party line. See anecdote about NP sister above. So, no, I am not going to just shut up unless my doctor tells me I must have Moderna or Pfizer.
Anon
Why do you even need to get vaxxed? Does anyone actually enjoy being around you??
Anon
Totally agree. In my case, I’m not super concerned about dying, because I’m at relatively low risk of that, and WFH, so I’m not really exposed right now. I am very concerned about long term effects of a mild infection, because I already have multiple life altering chronic conditions and don’t need to make them worse or develop another. If I get the J&J vaccine, I think I’ll be a lot more hesitant to be out and about than if I got the others, at least until a lot more people have been vaccinated and cases are way lower.
Anonymous
Then don’t get vaccinated and stay home so you don’t kill someone else.
anon
Yep, this is the obvious solution.
Anon
Why would you say this? I barely leave the house as is and plan to take any vaccine I can get as soon as I can. But it’s perfectly reasonable to still be concerned about the likelihood of long term effects of a mild covid infection and as far as I can tell, no vaccine trials have reported this at all, just infection rates (for all we know, J&J might actually be better than the mRNA vaccines, though absent other evidence, higher efficacy at reducing infections will probably be better- and yes,I know they’re not directly comparable). As someone with a chronic illness, I wouldn’t wish something similar on anyone else.
Anon
What Everyone In General Population Will Be Told: Get whatever shot you can. It’s all the same.
In reality, they’re not all the same. But they will all help herd immunity. If we get enough herd immunity then eventually that slightly-less-effective shot won’t matter as much because your exposure is lower.
There is valid argument to be made in favor of this. If everyone waited on their preferred shot, then we’d have a tragedy of commons, and we’d all be worse off for it.
Personally, I think that the time of doing what is best for everyone else for the sake of being a team player is over. People were selfish with refusing to just stay the f*%) home and now they’re asking people at a high risk of complications people who literally did everything they could do to avoid getting and spreading it, to just take whatever is offered to them and ignore the substantial efficacy differences (and how many news publications are owned by parent companies tied to J&J? How much of an incentive do you think that plays in how they’re painting this picture) for the sake of “herd immunity.”
You do you because that’s what everyone else is doing and they’re not going to have your best interests in mind. People in public health will be repeating what their superiors are saying (“Just got a shot any shot”) when in reality they have a bias. They are not thinking in terms of what is good for a small subset of the population, they are thinking in terms of what kind of united front they need to put on to get the general population closer to herd immunity so we can end a pandemic. Ending a pandemic and keeping immunocompromised people as safe as possible do not always require the same things.
Anonymous
Thank you so much for putting your finger on exactly why I am concerned. I totally, 100% get why the messaging is what it is (I work in health policy – trust me, I GET it), but I’m having so much trouble getting anyone to listen to my concerns about how lower efficacy will harm me given my specific health conditions and risk profile (and yes, I’ve talked to my doctors and they’re concerned that NONE of the vaccines will work for me, so there’s that). I thought posting here might be a good idea because you can get all kinds of random good input here sometimes. Thanks, Anon.
Anonymous
Who cares? Just make your decision. Stop coming on here day after day after day to stir up this drama again. You don’t care what people here have to say.
Anonymous
Why on earth do you think I come here daily? This is the second time in months I have posted anything about my situation.
Anonymous
Well said.
Signed, someone who took J&J because “it was the right thing to do” and now wishes I’d waited for the real deal
Anonymous
Would you consider trying to get Moderna or Pfizer, even though you already got Johnson? I know there is no data on doing this, but people double up on flu vaccine all the time, and kids get multiple different vaccines at once, so I feel like, immunologically, it will either help or do nothing.
Except for through insurance, are states even tracking who is getting vaccinated? Would you go to vaccine jail if you got M/P after having got Johnson?
Anonymous
That’s so selfish
anonshmanon
because of the variants still spreading and not all being equally susceptible to existing vaccines, it’s very likely that not only the recipients of the J&J, but most early recipients of either vaccine will get a booster shot sooner or later to ensure sufficient immunity.
Anonymous
My state is absolutely tracking who’s been vaccinated. Even if they weren’t, they ask if you’ve already been vaccinated before they give you the shot, so you’d have to lie.
Anonymous
I assume there will be booster shots, but that’s not going to happen for at least a year, and I don’t have any confidence that people will be allowed to select the manufacturer then either.
AnonMPH
There is no evidence that this would help you rather than hurt you. I personally would not want to be vaccinated with a combination of drugs that no one had ever combined before. It would probably be fine, but you’d really be making yourself a guinea pig. And hogging a shot that could have gone to someone who actually needed it.
anon
I really am sorry about the struggles immunocompromised people face in dissecting public health information, and it must be extremely challenging to determine if any one condition changes general public health guidance. That said if you think media is not reporting accurately because their parent companies are tied to J&J, you need to back away from the Internet, and fast. And this, by the way, is how misinformation spreads. Someone reads this here and says, someone on a blog I read says there are financial ties influencing reporting on J&J, and repeats it, and then…
LaurenB
+ 1000.
AnonMPH
The vaccines have not ever been compared to each other head to head in a trial that applied all the vaccines to the same population at the same time. If you want to be pissed about pharma company manipulation, be pissed about that. Operation Warp Speed was supposed to make it a requirement for them to participate in a mega trial where they could be directly compared, and the companies refused- this might actually be partly why Pfizer didn’t take OWS R&D money. That means that people are not gaslighting you when they say that you can’t compare the numbers apples to apples. You actually just can’t. Even the way that Pfizer/Moderna defined moderate COVID is different from how J&J defined it. The way J&J defined severe disease was a lower threshold than how Pfizer/Moderna defined it. I think with J&J if you had a headache and a cough, you had “severe disease”. I think no matter your health condition, you could withstand a headache and a cough.
Only hospitalizations and deaths are directly comparable, and even there, the population and the timing of the pandemic were different. So yes- the real-world data from Pfizer and Moderna is great! But J&J was being tested at a similar time in the year, in areas that had more contagious variants. Pfizer and Moderna have yet to be tested against those variants at all in real world settings, so we should all be concerned until they are that we have zero idea how they will hold up against the variants when they reach our communities here.
Finally- because of the variants it is highly likely that we are all going to be getting boosters, whichever shot you get now. All the companies are already testing them.
So yeah, do whatever you want now. Wait and scramble to get your preferred shot, or just take the one that is available and makes your life easier. In the US, the difference in time you’ll probably have to wait is pretty negligible. But it’s not like you are DEFINITELY getting a better health outcome. It’s unclear, and both are really going to protect you very well.
Anonymous
That’s not accurate though since the data released today were for Pfizer and Moderna in a real-world setting, INCLUDING variants in circulation. I think your info is a bit outdated.
Anonymous
Where are you getting vaccinated? In my state it is very very easy to determine what shot you are getting in nearly all instances and also to shop for something specific. I suggest that if it is so important to you, you do some light research/inquiry to find out. I suspect you could know with very little effort (e.g., read an internet site, make a phone call, find a Facebook page, that kind of thing).
Anonymous
Not in my state. You have to sign up on a centralized registry. When you get offered an appointment, you take it or leave it. Theoretically people in some priority groups can exercise somewhat more choice by going directly to a pharmacy, but in practice pharmacies don’t have any slots open.
Anonymous
Huh. In my state, I could tell you exactly what vax is at what location or how to find out.
Anonymous
Nope, that isn’t how it works in my state. If it did, I wouldn’t be posting here.
LaurenB
Can you all not be so coy? Can’t you just say what state is it so people have a sense what it’s like in different places?
Anonymous
I am the poster saying I know where to get what vaccine. I am in GA.
I know things are very different state-by-state, but I am getting skeptical of people having trouble with the process here because my friends say that they can’t find an appointment and then I can usually give them 3 convenient options within 15 minutes or at least tell them when and where to schedule within 24 hours.
We can’t give vaccines away outside the ATL metro area or among many demographic pockets within it, but we have a residency requirement.
LeeB
As a data point, I am in the SF Bay area. As of this morning there is literally nowhere within 2 hours of my home that has appointments available. The state of CA is sending higher amounts of doses to places with higher risk populations, but the problem is that a lot of the people in those regions won’t take the vaccine. In my area everyone wants the vaccine, so demand is very high. I’m hoping that supply increases in a few weeks, as we have been promised.
Sutemi
If you look for example on the CVS site it is starkly clear the differences between states. In my state there are dozens of locations and maybe one has availability, people are logging on at 3 am to get an opening. In other states there is wide availability and in some states it varies, with rural areas having more openings than cities.
high risk
Pre-vaccination, my risk of death from Covid was 4%. My earliest opportunity for a vaccine was the Janssen/J&J and that’s what I got. I might die of the condition that made me high risk but at least I won’t die of Covid. I am happy with that.
Anon
Such drama. How many people on this thread have put 5 seconds of research into the exact efficacy of any other vaccine they have taken? Or how many have just listened to the experts and followed that guidance, rather than suddenly becoming internet infectious disease MDs.
Anonymous
Actually, I do look at the risks and efficacy of other vaccines, I sometimes do request certain options (e.g., thimerosal-free flu vaccines), and I also request new vaccines that become available and are appropriate for me and my child, even when doctors don’t bother to offer them. I am not approaching the COVID vaccine any differently than I approach other vaccines. Doctors cannot be relied upon to stay up to date and make appropriate recommendations. For example, the chicken pox vaccine became available when I was in my late teens. I never had the chicken pox as a child. My doctor did not ask whether I’d had chicken pox or recommend the vaccine—she just assumed I’d had the disease like nearly everyone in my age group. I had to request the vaccine myself. Same with the flu vaccine until the past decade or so—it was not routinely offered and you had to demand it if you were not elderly.
AIMS
How do people feel about vaccine passports like the one NY just introduced? I’m theoretically for them as a way to 1) move forward and 2) encourage people to get vaccines but I can’t say it doesn’t raise some privacy tracking red flags for me. Like I don’t so much care that i need to be vaccinated to go to X or Y place, but I don’t like the idea of someone being able to easily track every place I visit.
Anon
I’m not familiar with the NY one but if you just flash a card the way you would flash an ID to get into a bar, I don’t see how you would be tracked by it. I do think any such program has to make exceptions for people that truly have a medical reason they can’t get the vaccine. They would get a card too that just said “medically exempt” or something to that effect.
Whether I think such a program is necessary will depend on how effective the vaccine is. If it keeps me from getting it, then I don’t care what the anti-vaxxers do and the program wouldn’t really have a purpose.
AIMS
My understanding of the NY zone is it’s a scannable bar code. Which necessarily means that there would be a list somewhere of every Broadway show I see, every sporting event I attend, etc.
Anonymous
No it doesn’t. It can be set to not store or to delete that data.
Anon
why is there no voter id but a covid bar code?
Anon
Huh??
Anonymous
You mean like Google can?
Anon
Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want even more companies and government entities tracking my every move.
AIMS
Also you can minimize how much/if at all you use google. A little trickier with a scannable govt ID.
Anonymous
Not really.
Cat
I’m curious what the privacy policy is. Like – if the app only verifies your identity and vax status, and then the store only knows “yes this person is vaxxed” but the information doesn’t flow the other way (aggregating somewhere) I’m a lot less fussed about it.
Anon
I just don’t trust any tech company to actually not collect that data.
Curious
Tech here! We follow the laws (like GDPR). I wouldn’t trust an unregulated tracking system as far as I could throw it, but if it had legislative regulation on privacy I’d be pretty comfortable, especially if it was for a big geographic area (e.g. GDPR was powerful because almost no one is going to pull out of the EU market; instead, they’ll find a way to comply, and that benefits everyone).
Ellen
I do not know what GDPR is, but I disagree if it means we have to share our personal lives with everyone on a bar code. Who’s idea was this anyway? Cuomo? If so, I wonder if Cuomo was thinking things through when he came up with this.
Anon
Congratulations to the people who have figured out a way to monetize this. I started a deep spring cleaning and definitely don’t need to spend $10 on a piece of plastic junk to clutter my house forever. My vaccine card is on my fridge and after my second appointment I’ll probably put it with my birth certificate and passport, just so I’ll know where it is. I can’t imagine these cards being used for travel verification or anything like that, they’d be so easy to forge. You could easily just print one from your home computer.
Anonymous
Yeah why is this $10? It probably cost $0.01 to make.
anon
I heard on my local news that Staples is laminating vaccine cards for free.
NYNY
Nice that Staples is doing that, but you shouldn’t laminate the card. There are additional slots on it in case we need to get boosters for the variants or annual shots like the flu. If you laminate, you’ll have to get another card for follow-up shots, if they happen.
Anonymous
I have a yellow fever vaccine card that’s just a piece of paper and probably easy to forge, but I still need to show it for travel to certain countries. Though I suspect for this they’ll get slightly techy and figure out digital vaccine passports.
pugsnbourbon
That’s capitalism, baby (finger guns)
kk
Anybody feeling like shopping? I’ll be attending a couple bridal/baby showers in the next few weeks, looking for a floaty floral dress with 3/4 or long sleeves, that might be comfortable through bloat/early 2nd tri bump. I’d be willing to spend around $200 for something great, and usually love tuckernuck, tory burch, and rebecca taylor, but could be convinced to be more boho/reformation for something great
kk
updating that these are masked, outdoor celebrations, that’s why I’d like long sleeves, and would prefer knee- or midi- length. and- not trying to look like I’m wearing a beach cover up!
AIMS
I recently got the Smocked Floral-Print Fit & Flare Midi Dress for Women at old navy and love it (link is too long).
I know every pregnancy is different but I would have been comfy in it thru month 7 or more in both my pregnancies.
Cat
It’s not floral, but I’m eyeing the Thomas Mason sh-rtdress at JCrew.
Cat
To add – this particular option looks like the waist isn’t too nipped in re: growing bebe. the sash actually holds the fabric together.
Anon
There was a post in the morning thread about someone who worked with her ex and it was not going well. Anyone have other stories of dating coworkers to share?
I used to think it was always a definite no. But I’ve seen several happy marriages come out of the workplace. I’m also a bit older and I feel like a true connection with another person is harder to come across than a good job. So my perspective has changed. I also work in a field with tons of men and it is definitely the only place outside of app dating I would meet someone IRL.
Work also seems like a way to get to know people slowly and in a safe environment (I mean, before you would start dating)– you can see how they handle stress, how they communicate, how they form relationships. And yet, of course, it could all be SO BAD if it doesn’t work out.
Thoughts? Good/meh/horrific coworker dating stories?
anon
No personal stories, but from my observation — when it’s good, it’s very good; when it goes bad, it is horrific. Usually more so for the woman.
Cornellian
I think it usually ends poorly for the more junior/expandable person, who is often the woman. But I agree with OP that it’s a good way to get to know someone in a no-pressure gradual way.
Anonymous
Yeah I know a lot of people who met their SO through work and I know only 1 couple where the man’s career was the one that took a hit.
Anon
I so agree with this. I’ve worked for a lot of years and have seen so many relationships begin in the workplace – whether dating situations or affairs – and then when they go south, it’s always the woman who loses out. She has to be transferred to another unit, usually at a lesser title, or she needs to just leave the company because it’s clearly over for her. Either with severance or with nothing (which in a couple of cases was responded to with a fat lawsuit, and good for those women!)
anon
+1 this was my story. I ended up having to leave the job of my dreams because of a workplace relationship (we were both equals, no power dynamic at play) that went awry. I still think about it now, 15 years later, not because of the guy (grateful I dodged that bullet) but because I can see now how that job was by far the best job I’d ever had, with the greatest possibility for advancement and overall happiness, and I lost it because I chose to get into a relationship with someone at work. I try not to think about it too often because it makes me sad. It can work out very well (I know many happily married couples who met at work). But as the PP said, when it goes badly, it can be disastrous.
anon
I’m sorry, 4:13. :(
anon
aw, thank you anon @4:37. I tell this story not to warn people from workplace dating, necessarily, but more to get them to think about how they would feel/react if the relationship were to end, and what the consequences might be over the long term. That’s never something people want to imagine when they’ve first meet someone they like, but unfortunately since most relationships do not work out, I think it’s especially important to consider in the context of one’s job/career.
anon
I got a summer job at the company where my then husband worked. We started dating and have been married 21 years. This was back in 1998-1999. Since it was just a summer job, it was less risky b/c if we had broken up we wouldn’t have been working at the same place.
Lilau
I work in a place where it’s both encouraged and prohibited. Meaning, the company loves to celebrate company families and spouses but you absolutely have to disclose the relationship and someone has to get transferred out of the other persons’s department, otherwise it’s a big problem. So people keep it really close to the vest until it’s official, but their are tons of employees married to other employees.
Also, it works out pretty well for people career-wise. One friend ended up keeping all of his mamanagment benefits and pay while taking an essentially entry level attorney job in another department. Meanwhile, his partner stayed and got a big, deserved promotion. On the other hand, one managing attorney in another department has dated so many younger paralegals that our office had to scramble to find good places for them all. He keeps breaking their hearts but they end up with better paying and more interesting jobs so maybe it’s not a total loss.
Lilau
Sorry for the nesting fail!
MagicUnicorn
This sounds like a sitcom waiting to happen.
Anon
I met my husband at work. However, he didn’t make his move until I had announced I was leaving to go to law school, so there was less risk if it didn’t work out.
Anon
My company’s family tree is a wreath. Everyone is dating, or ex, or married to someone from work. It’s messy, messy, messy. It’s also very misogynistic, in that the male managers tend to run through the young/pretty advertising women like socks, then cheat/dump and get promoted with back-clapping and side smirks.
My husband is a teacher, and our mixed-job marriage is practically unheard-of in his social circles. Teachers almost universally marry teachers around here, presumably due to having similar views regarding the benefits and trade-offs (summers off, low salary ceiling, etc.).
Vicky Austin
Heh, my parents are teachers and worked down the hall from each other for most of the last decade. And all their friends are teachers married to teachers. I don’t know what it is about teaching!
Anonymous
A senior person in my department had a pretty obvious affair with a younger, junior person. It caused more problems for everyone else than it did for the two people involved.
Anon
I’ve only dated two people post-college (married to the second one). Both worked at the same place I worked, but I didn’t work WITH them. The first one was a place I was only working for a summer after college before going to grad school, but we dated for many years after that. My now husband also worked at the same place I worked, but it was large and we almost never saw each other at work. Based on that, I certainly think it can be a good place to meet people, but much better if you date people you don’t actually see much at work. I think it almost always ends up being worse for women if things end badly.
Anonymous
I think it’s fine if you work in different departments or otherwise have different trajectories. I dated an IT person in one of my prior firms. It didn’t work out but it was fine for as long as I worked there. I know several associates who have dated, as long as they’re in different departments it doesn’t really matter. If you’re in a position to write someone’s review then I think it’s unethical to date that person. I know several women staff members who married an attorney and it worked out poorly for all of them; even if the relationship worked out they still lost their careers.
Anon
I made a general comment above but
My former workplace head of office had an affair with an underling. Everyone knew about it. He was married, she wasn’t. He left his wife and they moved in together. She had to transfer to another position so that she wasn’t in his line of report, which was a downgrade. He got promoted, and they moved together to the new city, where she had to take an available position there that was another downgrade. They broke up while they were there. He came back to a nice equivalent job and got back together with his wife. She had to leave the company because they had no equivalent position for her back in our city.
The way this was discussed around the office was that she shouldn’t have gone for a married man. It was all her fault. Apparently men can’t help but fall into any available vag that’s offered up.
Anon
I met my husband at work. We have been together for close to two decades now. We worked together for just a couple of years after dating. We were both pretty low level at the time, no reporting issues, and were super young at the time.
I realize this could have gone very south. Also, this was before online dating was really a normalized thing, so I think that plays into this somewhat. Like, meeting at work was one of the ways a lot of couples met probably more so than now (?).
Jeffiner
I met my husband at work, and its great for us. We still work together after 14 years. My company is huge, and has lots of couples, siblings, and parents-children. At one point my boss’ partner was on our team. It was gossip fodder for us, but people move around a lot in our company, and I assume they had discussed the transfer before agreeing to it. The relationship was fully disclosed to HR, and a 3rd party was appointed to handle raises/promotions. I didn’t see any special treatment, but it was fun that she had no qualms about calling him out on managerial BS talking points in meetings.
anon
Repeat offender. First time was great, I was on my way out already from the job and so was he. We dated for about 6 months working together, another 2 years after the fact. We remain friends. Second time, horrifying. We met at a conference, started dating. About 6 months later I had the option to join his workplace (a huge promotion for me and he really encouraged me to do it). Started the job, learned some unpleasant things about him, he broke up with me two weeks later. I ultimately left that job for other reasons, but it was UNPLEASANT AND TRAUMATIC. Basically I think the risk is too high because when things go sideways they go sideways badly.
anon a mouse
Met my husband at work. We worked in different departments but it was a small company and we all socialized together. I found out after we hooked up that he was secretly dating ANOTHER coworker and trying to extricate himself from that fling. There was about a 2-month period where I felt like a total idiot and worried that he was just working his way through the office, but it worked out okay. We will hit 14 years of marriage/18 total together later this year.
bellatrix
My first job out of college was the night shift in a newsroom – read, lots of inter-office dating, because most of us had no way to meet other people. Lots of marriages made in that office. So it isn’t always a terrible idea. But for me, it was not a rousing success. I went out with a few guys from work, and it was fine while we were together, less so after it was over. (The worst one was hard because he told me “you’re the kind of girl I could fall in love with,” then said he wasn’t ready for a relationship, then moved in with another co-worker less than 6 months later. I did not handle it well AT ALL, but now I realize how much of a bullet I dodged.) 20 years later, my advice would be, think about how you handled your worst break-up. If you had to leave the room whenever that person was around, or if you burst into tears frequently, then you have to consider which you value more – the job or the possible relationship.
Anon for This
So many stories! My current firm has at least 4 married couples (three attorney couples and one partner who married his assistant). The attorney couples are all roughly at the same level.
We also have a partner with a huge book of business (divorced) who is having an affair with the senior associate on his team. She is super nice and approachable and helpful. And he is . . . not. But the rest of us never have to deal with him because everything goes through her. Sometimes I feel bad for her but then she literally lives with him, presumably of her own free will. And to be fair, he seems to think she walks on water. Technically she should not be working under his direct supervision under our HR rules, but everyone is ignoring that because (1) it is so much easier to have her on his team and (2) he would probably quit and take his $$$$ elsewhere if they tried. I have absolutely no idea what would happen if they broke up.
Anon
Met my spouse at work. We were in different departments, so never actually worked together (although did end up working on the same floor for a while). I insisted on taking it very slowly (lots of happy hours, lunches, getting to know you type stuff) before getting physical. We also didn’t share with anyone until we had moved in with each other, and surprisingly, very few people noticed. It would have sucked if we had broken up, but I think I could have mostly avoided him and it wouldn’t have affected my career.
Anonymous
At my last job I dated two co-workers. The first one ended after a couple of months, and we worked together well for the next five years. Still one of my closest friends. The second one was different in that he moved to a different office shortly after we got started, and that was certainly for the best — we were so obsessed with each other in the first couple of years that we could not have worked side by side well. That relationship ended after a few years, and again, other than the first week after the break, things were fine.
I work a lot. I occasionally make forays onto the apps, but realistically, I am as likely to meet a potential BF at work as I am anywhere else. I would not rule it out categorically.
PickleWitch
Don’t laminate your card if it has a sticker on it. Some of those are printed thermally, and the heat from the laminator will render it illegible.
A better solution is to make sure it’s entered into your medical record with your PCP, make a copy, and keep the card in a safe place.
Anonymous
I got this free when I got my vaccine.
Anonymous
My cat is only happy on my lap. But my laptop needs to be on my lap.
Anon
Let kitty be in lap and put laptop on pillow next to you! That’s what I do. It gives me screen a little height anyway.
Anonymous
I love this level of support thank you
Anon
Having a kitty in lap also means you can’t get up so…you must work :)
Anon
Kitty’s needs rule in my house. My cat might be the most spoiled being on the planet.
anonypotamus
You clearly have not met my dog!
aBr
As long as the cat is not on your laptop, I count it as a win. Cosigned, my cat makes typos in my briefs.
Horse Crazy
My cat keeps walking over my keyboard and hitting certain keys that make the whole keyboard freeze, so I second keeping kitty off your laptop!
Anonymous
I had this struggle with my lunch today. Kitty wanted to be on my lap with his head on my plate while I ate.
Anon
Good vibes for my Hinge coffee date this afternoon! I’m getting nervous!
Anon
Good luck! Have fun!!
Anonymous
Have fun! :)
Senior Attorney
VIBES!!!!!
Anon
When you working moms had middle schoolers, what did you do in the summer? They have aged out of some camps (and now view camps as for babies) and they have made great strides this year cooking (!) for themselves or finding kitchen food. There aren’t really other kids in our neighborhood their age and they are slightly too young to do anything but mothers’ helper work sporadically. After this wretched year, I’ve signed them up for some outdoor camps on a lake nearby, but have 8 open weeks. I am thinking of I get the high school kid down the street (too young to drive, so no good work opportunities) to come by around midday to supervise any lunch cooking and get them to walk to the library to do their summer reading, we may just call that fair.
Kids could legally be alone in my state (first summer that has been the case); I’m thinking with a lunch visit of a few hours, they’d only likely be alone 2 hours after the last parent leaves (offices are reopening) and 2-3 hours before an adult returns home. And there would be a large barky dog home with them. Kids have phones and have sense not to open the door and can see through the peephole in case it is the neighborhood sitter.
Cat
Starting as a 12yo middle schooler, I babysat other children in their homes when their parents weren’t around. Your plan sounds fine to me!
AIMS
+1
Vicky Austin
I would have been fine with that plan as a middle schooler! I was in charge at that age, but my parents were teachers so that was for random workdays throughout the year, not several weeks of summer at a stretch.
Anonymous
We have a couple swim and tennis clubs in town (they are not run by the town but the cost/vibe is the same-$2k joining fee and $1600/summer per family, includes all lessons and teams). Middle schoolers are allowed unattended. I drop mine there at 8:30AM and pick them up at 4pm or later if they want to stay (or I meet them with dinner). They have swim lessons, tennis lessons, and bum about with friends all day. Both are on the tennis team too so they have practice and sometimes matches, though most matches are early evening and weekends.
It’s honestly one of the best perks in town and has a 8 year waitlist. We got on it when my oldest was 2.
anon
I’m 40 and want to join this club …
Anonymous
Um Im 40 and it’s for adults too! It’s for families :-). The lessons and stuff for the kids are daytime and adult night
Anon
OP here — we HAD that, but due to COVID we were limited to one 2-hour slot a day and had to sign up by name and members only last summer (for contact tracing / capacity limits). This year, we may get guests, but limited slots (for some supervision, there was a morning tennis camp they could go to and then walk over to the pool for the hot part of the day). Maybe in 2022, when they will be not such a judgment call (hopefully; could be Bigger Kids; Bigger Problems).
Anonymous
As a parent I did a combination of instructional camps, either to advance their skills in a particular hobby or to try out a brand new thing as a way to try it without committing to like a year of lessons. These are generally a half day. Carpool with friends usually.
When I was a child we had swimming and tennis lessons running once a week all summer so we got out of the house and did some physical activity at least twice a week. Plus a few chores like weeding garden or putting away laundry to keep us occupied.
Anon
I don’t have kids, so I might not be the best judge, but if your kids are the type that like feeling independent, this seems super reasonable. I certainly had no problem being alone at that age and was actually babysitting little kids most of the summer, though I know times have changed on that. I don’t think you’d even need a babysitter every day, though it might help keep them from just watching tv or video games or whatever they’d do on their own (you know your kids on this one). There’s no reason they’d need to cook- you might want to limit it to microwaving and assembling sandwiches, etc. to avoid risks there. You could always do a quick lunchtime call or zoom check in with one parent.
Anonymous
I am thinking we will do something similar but with a visit by one of the grandparents at lunchtime. I know things are different now-a-days, but me and my younger siblings were always home all day long during the summer by the time I was in middle school. We mostly watched MTV and sometimes played outside in the backyard haha.
anon
That sounds like a good plan, actually. I’m going to be in this situation next summer and am dreading it. I’m hoping to find a teen with a driver’s license who can basically serve as a chauffeur for going to the pool and other spots outside the neighborhood.
Anonymous
My kid was perfectly safe on her own at age 12, but could not be relied upon to do anything other than lie in bed playing video games all day. We did a combination of sleepaway camp, shipping her off to stay with relatives, sports and science day camps, serving as a mother’s helper for a relative, and a handful of days home alone. Once or twice I let her come in to work with me, study at the conference table in my office, and then walk into town by herself for the afternoon.
Anon
I would love my kids to do that, but with COVID kids can’t come up to my office even, much less stay a while. Lobby only. And no grandparents (in a hotspot, would require plane travel). All things to look fwd to in the future (and many parents still don’t carpool outside of local relatives, so we are SOL on that front still).
Waah.
Anonymous
It just sounds boring. Do you belong to a pool they can ride bikes to?
Anon
Probably controversial, but I let my kids stay home alone for most summer days once they were middle school aged/old enough for that to be legal. They hated every summer camp I ever sent them to for the entirety of their elementary school lives and it was so frustrating to pay all those $$ and add the summer camp drop-off to my commute to have them then complain about it. They were much happier at home and they understood the ground rules. Nothing bad ever happened. They bickered with each other, of course, and I got lots of calls saying “MOM, he said this, she did that, etc” but they were tons happier.
We had a week vacation at the beginning of summer and a week at the end, and I saved PTO days to take the occasional Monday or Friday off to drive them to the beach or up to the state park. Overall they remember all this fondly.
Of Counsel
Middle school (and early high school) I generally did not leave my daughter home alone all summer. Not because it was not safe but because she would have been bored out of her mind and would have spent the entire summer watching TV and playing video games. I generally split it between 2-3 weeks visiting family, vacation with me, two sleep away camps of her choosing, and various other camps (usually theater or art related; I often set it up so we split carpool with another family and then one of the moms would let them hang out after camp) – which usually ended up being around 4 weeks.
If there was a partial week (so for example the last day of school was a Tuesday or she got back from visiting her grandparents in another state on Wednesday) she stayed home alone.
Senior Attorney
Reporting back from this morning: I finally did the Small Annoying Thing and it took, like, 15 minutes. Not counting the time spent tossing and turning about it over the past few weeks.
Repeat after me: It is SO much easier to To the Thing than to worry about Not Doing the Thing! When will I learn, man?
Anon
I haven’t learned yet either, SA
How are the kitties?
Senior Attorney
Heh they’re hilarious. They have taken to doing wind sprints in the hallway outside our bedroom in the middle of the night.
Anon
Do they let you snuggle them yet?
Senior Attorney
Not yet but they don’t run away every time we approach so I’m calling that progress. I feel like we’re on the verge of a breakthrough.
Anon
Yesterday was grim and wet in my neck of the woods. In a rare moment, I did ALL the Small Annoying Things. This made me feels so upbeat and motivated that I have been a beast at work today. Just Do the Thing.
anon
For the past couple of months, I’ve noticed that I wake up with really achy feet. Not a sharp, stabbing pain, but the overall achy feeling you have after you’ve been walking around an amusement park all day. It eventually goes away, but it makes for a very slow start in the morning, which is my preferred time to exercise. I’ve been wearing supportive shoes around the house to lessen the fatigue, but it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference. What could be going on here? I’ve read up on plantar fasciitis, but the symptoms don’t seem to match. Yes, I probably need to see the doc, but I’d like to have something more to suggest than, welp, my feet ache and hurt.
Anon
I had something similar and for me it was due to lack of iron. My blood test has showed it was low so I started taking some and it has gone away. I also had increased foot cramps as well.
Anon
Arthritis. I messed around with a podiatrist for years on this, and because it was in the mornings she insisted it was PF, even though the pain was my entire foot and not the heel. It’s arthritis. Read up on it.
anon
Well, s!!t. That’s what I suspected by didn’t want to hear.
Jeffiner
Try pointing and flexing your feet several times before getting out of bed, to stretch your muscles. If it is PF, that might help. If its not, its at least more info for the doc.
Anonymous
I had this and it became so severe I had to go to physical therapy for it. Fixed with 6 weeks of PT. Doing the stretches for planters fasciitis and metatarsalgia helped, along with stretching my calves multiple times a day. I also strengthened my entire posterior chain with weight lifting to help fix it.
Anonymous
Huh. I have a genetic foot issue that presents a bit like PF. I usually get a flare-up at least a couple of times a year, but I haven’t had a single one since I started lifting and drastically strengthened my posterior chain. Food for thought.
Anon
I posted last week about my new-to-me adopted rescue dog.
It’s a blast having him around, but holy toddler, batman! It really is like having another child. He has to be supervised or in his crate. There is no middle ground. (He’s a chewer)
Anon
You are so right with the toddler analogy. Mobility without judgment. Enjoy enjoy enjoy! (But I am not sure if I will ever adopt a puppy or young dog again.)
Anon
He’s five years old. I believe he is a forever chewer. Ugh
Anonymous
Yes haha! Our rescue is a little over a year now and it is like having a giant toddler who is both faster and stronger than me (he is an 80 pound German Shepherd/Husky mix.) He chews on everything (masks, shoes, sunglasses, napkins, the WALL, etc) that is within his reach but thankfully has left the furniture alone. We send him to doggy daycare a few times a week just so he can get tired out. We also go to the dog park often since he loves other dogs. I am a runner and run with him but it is not enough to tire him out.
Chris
If you bike try a bike tow leash dot com. I can’t walk far enough or fast enough to wear out my English lab.
surfnwrite
I’m very annoyed that this card won’t fit in my wallet. I mean really really annoyed. Look at the card! They could easily have made it wallet-sized. Now I have to plan every day, do I need my card? If so, where will I put it. Can I just take a picture with my phone and use that? Grrrr….
LaurenB
You don’t need to plan “every day.” You’ll need it on certain occasions that you’ll know about in advance, much like a regular passport.
Senior Attorney
I’m keeping mine in my checkbook. I know most people probably don’t carry checkbooks any more, but I never got out of the habit, so.