Working During COVID-19

 

Losing My Jobs During COVID-19

This was not really a recent experience, but this all happened about two months ago during the summer before college. The summer after my senior year was pretty tough in terms of my jobs. I lost two jobs during that time because I worked in the restaurant industry. At the time, I was working at a restaurant called 151 Kitchen and Bar. Before the pandemic hit, I worked there for almost two years at that point. Yet, in Illinois, all the restaurants were forced to close down and many people lost their jobs including me. For me, it was not too much of a problem because to me this as not a career. I was working this job to save up some money for college, but for the people I was working with, this was their only source of income. 

151 Kitchen and Bar in Elmhurst, IL

So when the pandemic hit, it was pretty sad witnessing those who I had worked with have to worry about how they will pay rent. It was especially saddening to see the owner of the restaurant worry because her three restaurants all closed down simultaneously, losing all revenue and having to throw out all the product in the kitchen. 

Pazzi Di Pizza in Elmhurst, IL

After I was furloughed, I looked for other sources of money during the time so that I could continue saving up for college. At point, I applied for a job delivering pizzas at a place called Pazzi Di Pizza. After getting the job and only working there for about 3 weeks, a person in the kitchen got the coronavirus and the whole restaurant shut down for weeks. I was pretty saddened about this one because I truly enjoyed delivering pizzas. Being able to listen to music all day and getting a lot of tips from the frequent orders during lockdown made the job a pretty good gig. Eventually the job opened back up after a couple weeks, but for a while I really had nothing to do. Working was something that kept me busy during the isolation of being home.