In February, I left my husband after being married for 18 years. We were teen parents who managed to keep it together, and our three amazing kids are almost grown. We were a heck of team, but we put each other through too much. Now, add the coronavirus! Sometimes, I just want to go home…
Send questions about the office, money, careers and work-life balance to workfriend@nytimes.com. Include your name and location, or a request to remain anonymous. Letters may be edited. How to Teach a Lesson My name is spelled Christine. I don’t correct people when they type my name as Christina or Kristin but today I was addressed…
Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began, has announced an ambitious plan to test all of its 11 million residents for the virus in the coming days, a campaign that will be closely watched by governments elsewhere. The testing drive, which is likely to require the mobilization of thousands of medical and other…
One Minnesota hog farmer sealed the cracks in his barn and piped carbon dioxide through the ventilation system. Another farmer has considered gassing his animals after loading them into a truck. And a third shot his pigs in the head with a gun. It took him all day. These are dark days on many American…
It started with the front door. Adrian Gomez lives with his partner in Los Angeles, where their first few days of sheltering in place for the coronavirus pandemic proved uneventful. They worked remotely, baked, took a two-mile walk each morning and refinished their porcelain kitchen sink. But then, one night, the doorknob began to rattle…
Airbnb, born in 2008, famously disrupted the hotel industry. It stole market share, put pressure on hotel rates, inspired the creation of affordable brands and saw hotels across the spectrum create restaurants, bars and lobbies that channeled the local vibe. Airbnb’s recent layoff of a quarter of its work force indicates the financial strain the…
There is a scene in “The September Issue,” the 2009 movie by R. J. Cutler about the making of the biggest Vogue of the year, that features the magazine’s then editor at large, André Leon Talley, huffing his way around a tennis court with a Louis Vuitton tennis racket case, Louis Vuitton tennis towel, Louis…
Closed offices and restaurants. Shuttered stores and museums. Darkened schools and theaters. The current pandemic means that millions of Americans have lost their jobs or are working fewer hours. Those who are fortunate can work from home, or are slowly returning to work. Vocational psychologists, who study the links between jobs and mental health, say…
I need a floor lift for my son. Well, I actually need a floor lift for me because, at 11 years old and over 100 pounds, my son has outgrown my strength and ability to safely help him from the floor mat where we do his physical therapy to his wheelchair. As New York is…
Introverts have ruled the social-media era. Before isolation became the norm, my feed was full of knowing jokes about how good it feels to cancel plans and ignore phone calls, how horrible it is to endure small talk. “Where are the memes for people who actually like people?” I asked a fellow extrovert once. There…