Normal People Are Confessing The Early Pandemic Decisions That, In Hindsight, Were A Colossal Mistake
As much as the phrase annoys the crap out of me, the earlier phase of the coronavirus pandemic was undeniably "unprecedented times." Unfortunately, not all decisions that were made during this time were the best.
CBC / Via giphy.com
I was reminded of our collective missteps when redditor u/PM_ME_URFOOD asked the internet, "In hindsight, what decision made in the pandemic is coming back to bite people in the ass?" And, well...mistakes were made:
1."The number of people who filed for unemployment who did not actually qualify and are now getting overpayment notices with the 30% penalty fee is wild. I'm talking owing between $20,000 and $36,000 in overpayments."
"The worst offenders claimed $750 a week for up to 52 weeks, and now with a 30% penalty."
"Being in the Army, basically anyone will tell you: If the government overpays you, set that money to the side. It’s not yours, and someday in the future when you’re having a real bad day, they’re gonna come around asking for it. The government always gets its money."
2."Deciding not to buy a house right at the beginning."
The Guardian / Via giphy.com
3."Not refinancing their mortgages when the rates were at 2.5%."
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"We somehow managed to make three lucky decisions in the past five years: bought our first house in 2018, refinanced at 2.5%, and bought a new car in 2020 — less than six months after we bought our car, the lots were empty."
4."I remember so many stories about men who had secret families or affairs and lived double lives for years...until lockdowns started. They'd maintained two separate lives under the guise of lengthy 'business trips' for years, and now that everyone had to work from home, the jig was up."
"I work in family law. The pandemic pushed us to max client capacity by June 2020, and it is not slowing down."
5."Not letting road crews fix roads in their social bubble."
6."Encouraging retirement for older employees, especially airline pilots. A big reason there have been so many issues with travel in 2022 is that back during peak pandemic times, a huge chunk of pilots were pushed to retire. Now travel is back at prepandemic highs, and airlines are looking around like, 'Hell...who's gonna fly the planes?'"
"I'm still waiting for the pilot shortage to reach levels that they'll pay for flight school. I would love to be an airline pilot, but $100,000 for flight school is a bit too much."
7."Eating as if I never had to eat in front of other people again."
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8."Buying a pet they couldn't afford to keep once the pandemic 'ended.' Lots of animals are in shelters or euthanized because of this."
9."Putting sick older people in nursing homes with healthy people and keeping them in there."
"I worked at a veterans home, and that's exactly what happened. The patient went to the hospital, came back, refused to be tested, and ended up having COVID. A nurse caught it from him, and soon after, the entire hallway was dead from COVID."
10."A bunch of people in my area decided to buy houses in rural areas under the assumption that they'd be working from home forever. Now a lot of workplaces are hybrid or fully back in person, and all those people are stuck with long commutes, while less wealthy people in rural areas are being priced out."
"A bunch of New Yorkers in my company own houses in Florida that are sitting empty, and they can’t sell because Floridians can’t afford them."
11."Closing outdoor spaces at the same time as schools. I’m sorry, the park is closed? Hiking trails are closed? National parks are closed? Why?!"
"Everything was closed, people's mental health was going downhill, and they closed the most low-risk places possible that were also somewhere that could help with stress. I live in a fairly small city too; it wouldn't have been crowded even if more people than usual were using it.
"I'm still mad when I think about it."
12."My friend found an aboveground pool on clearance for $199 at Lowe’s right as the pandemic was starting. She texted me that there were several left and I should hurry and go get one. I was too cheap to go buy one. I regretted that decision every day for the next year."
Starz / Via giphy.com
13."A marked increase in alcoholism."
"I am a hospice nurse and was working in nursing homes when it all started. Just drank more and more. I kept it up, and one day I got admitted to the hospital. I had lost 30 pounds, the result of vodka as meals, and I almost died.
"Long story short, I no longer drink, I am grateful to be alive, and I gained about 35 pounds back because without alcohol, all I wanted was candy."
14."Not getting household spending under control THE SECOND I was out of a job but still on the hook for an expensive lease. All those new hobbies were fun, though I’d now much rather have savings than rudimentary gardening knowledge."
15."Owning a pool became extremely expensive during and 'after' the pandemic. A bucket of chlorine tabs that would last all summer used to be $80. They went up to $250 at its peak, if you could even find them. Keeping my outdoor, in-ground pool balanced and algae-free was horrible. I had to use whatever chemicals I could find and order online because everything was out of stock and marked up in price. I ended up moving recently, but I had plans to fill the pool in next year."
"A chemical factory that was responsible for like 20% of the national market's chlorine (they did other pool chemicals, too) burned down during the pandemic.
"I heard about it first thing in the morning that day and told my dad, who has a pool, about it, and he stocked up. He had to buy some chlorine toward the end of the pool season, and he was shocked at the price."
16."I heard a terrifying statistic that domestic abuse reports dropped during COVID-19. It’s terrifying because victims were isolated from their friends and family and trapped with their abuser, so there was no one to report on their behalf."
17."Not getting adult braces. I never imagined we'd be wearing masks for three years. I could’ve had perfectly straight, pearly teeth by now."
18."All of those selfish idiots who bought pallets of hand sanitizer and toilet paper to sell at a markup and then were left without sales and still have those pallets in their garages."
What other decisions made earlier in the pandemic are we now paying the consequences for? And what personal decisions did you, your family, or your friends make that have come back to bite you or them in the ass? Let us know in the comments.
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
