"[We are] implementing a temporary furlough of the majority of our store employees. This notice is to inform you that your position is included in this furlough."
By now, everybody's lives have been affected by the rising pandemic of the novel coronavirus, better known as COVID-19. With the first known case in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019, it felt as if it was not going to affect anybody's lives in the United States. As time progressed, there were talks about how there were a growing number of cases in the United States and how everything was kept organized and isolated.
Finally, things took a turn and the number of cases worldwide surged. COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11 and panic truly broke out in the world. In the time span of a few weeks, the new social norm is to stay inside every day and practice social distancing. The theme parks across the country made public announcements stating that they would be closed until the end of the month and people began panic buying in grocery stores.
I work at an international outlet a few minutes away from Disney World and instantly there were questions about if and when we would close - as businesses took the liberty to close on their own, the question then shifted over to when we would close and how long we would be closed for. In a day's notice, the company I work for decided to close its stores for two weeks and released a public announcement telling the world about how despite the fact their physical stores are closed, they are taking care of their employees by still paying them through the closure.
Everywhere I went on social media and many people I spoke to were frazzled at the concept that their employer will no longer be paying them or they were fired completely. Friends of mine who worked in the parks were laid off and those who worked with the school district had no idea if they would get paid. I felt lucky to work for an employer that would still provide a form of income despite the fact that we had to close. So I happily stayed at home social distancing but soon the two week time period was coming to an end and the number of cases in the United States was not slowing down. Counties began ordering stay-at-home orders through the middle of April and it became clear that we would be closed longer than we had anticipated.
Messages from my general manager assured us that everything would be fine and she would let us know any updates whenever she heard anything but ultimately, she know as much as we did when it came to when we would open again. Unease began to grow between my coworkers as we wondered if we would still get paid considering how silent our company has been until finally, we get an email announcing that in a few days, we would be furloughed and no longer be paid.
Suddenly, the billion-dollar retail company that assured the public that they were paying their employees let everybody know by email that this would no longer be the case. There was no big public announcement but of course, there were talks on social media about how outrageous everything is. The questions that flooded my friends and a high percentage of the country started flooding me as I began to worry about how I will be able to pay for my bills without any source of income. The email encouraged us to file for unemployment but that process was seemingly unsuccessful due to a state website notorious for crashing and leaving people waiting hours just to fill out a few pages just to not be able to load.
Talks of the stimulus bill skyrocketed as it was passing through parts of Congress began to ease some people but a very large demographic of the country is still left to worry: college students that are claimed as dependents. There is a lot of uncertainty about how and when this entire fiasco is going to end. I am fortunate enough to not have to worry about paying rent as I still live at home but there are still things I personally pay for that are up in the air. I am still unsure how some of my professors are going to finish out the semester online in school and every day is simply waiting to figure things out. Right now is truly a time where I ask myself "well now what?" as I wait to get answers just like everybody else.
