By Alexis Randall
I wasn’t so concerned about the virus at first, at least not until Delta College closed down and classes started going online. Delta was the Fort Knox of school closures and I know I said to some people: “Delta wouldn’t close until there was someone in the school with the virus.”
I was wrong.
This virus was clearly more serious business than I thought it was. But, I wasn’t overly worried about it, as I had taken online classes before and McDonalds – the place of my employment – was running fine. Then McDonald’s shut down our lobby to takeout only and mostly ran drive-thrus, which picked up stressful rushes that we didn’t have the capacity for.
This isn’t the worst; every time I ran out to pick up groceries for family meals, the stores were packed; and believe me, there was no social distancing. The only bearable lines were self-checkout, and luckily I had few enough things to use it.
When I browsed through the aisles, there were no toilet paper, eggs, bleach wipes – which my mother had been incessantly asking for – bread, and most of the canned soups or ramen. I did, however, find myself a plant friend for these quarantine days to comfort myself.
As the closures and quarantine continued, the rumors of my job shutting down for a couple weeks grew, which is concerning. Like Delta, I see McDonald’s as the last stand when it comes to severity, not to mention my hands cracking from all the hand washing. It’s scary because I need money for future schooling or car repairs, etc., and in the midst of all this panic I try to navigate my online classes figuring out what’s changed and when it’s due.
The other growing concern that has affected me is bringing it home to my dad, as he has health issues that puts him at higher risk for death from COVID-19, such as coronary artery disease, his age and his smoking. He’s been working from home, but my mother and I leave the house regularly and interact with people for our jobs.
I now find myself talking to my co-workers and mom for updates and telling them: “This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” We all just nod knowingly, waiting for the next update that will send people into the next frenzy.
