Since things are somewhat getting back to a new normal. If things get worse, we can all sleep soundly with the fact that we are prepared.

The first shutdown was not great for anyone. Schools closed, businesses folded, the economy was in shambles. Now for those who did have the unfortunate experience of losing their job to a disease, they had a little vacation.

This is where I come in. I had to work the grueling months of the big shutdown for a good amount of money. I had been working with Sugarfire Smokehouse since October when they first opened. Now with their cafeteria style dine in you wouldn’t normally see me handing you food. I was tucked in a room way in the back of the restaurant. The dish pit wasn’t the most fun experience, but it paid well and that’s all that mattered. I cleaned pots, pans, containers and many messy trays. And, it was like that for around five months and it was a typical after school job experience. Unfortunately, being in a global pandemic isn’t good for business. 

When Covid was largely a thing in China, with very few cases here, we continued to remain open with a few minor tweaks. We were pretty well staffed and business could have never been better. As cases raised more and more in the U.S. more and more, familiar faces disappeared off of the schedule. Then, on March 13, we left for what we assumed was spring break. I went into work the following Monday, and over the weekend, we had closed in all dine in areas and only was permitting take out orders. I clocked in, stayed for five minutes, and was sent home because I was not needed for that day. I went a week without working, when I received a text from my boss asking if I could come and pick up a shift. That one shift turned into a grueling experience over the next two months. 

Given the fact that we were making less money than we had hoped, the shifts we sliced in half. So, that involved me going in at most five days a week, but not to say I didn’t have time on my hands. It was a strange thing. Masks had to be worn clock in and clock out and we had to give people food from their car. We were short staffed to the point where, on top of dishwashing, I was making food at the same time. Believe me it was not fun for anyone. And then, that’s when our spring break extended a large amount.

Eventually, I too was cut from the schedule. I had made a substantial amount of money in the month since shutdown has started, So I had nothing to do but do school work. I had no income and way too much free time to spend isolated and alone from the world.

 Eventually things did get better. When cases went down, we reopened the dine in and I was able to come back. We did have to wear masks at all times and had to distance our tables. And it has remained like that since then.

It was one of the most bizarre experiences of the short time I’ve been alive. It was hard work and it didn’t go unnoticed, but it is something that will be ingrained in my mind for the remainder of my life