Monday, April 24, 2023

Covid Chronicles. Chapter 29: Furloughed


Read chapter 28 here


Friday, April 24 
 

Andy received an email at the start of work yesterday that a conference call was scheduled for 1 p.m. The message offered no other specifics, but it nonetheless set a tone of gloom. On Wednesday, BRS Sports had let go – not furloughed nearly 100 regional sales representatives. Andy and Drew texted back and forth all morning, offering each other moral supports and trying to suss out the details based on what they were hearing, via texts and emails and phone calls, from other employees. 

“I hate the waiting,” Andy complained. And with good reason. “Why do they have to wait until the afternoon to have this meeting? I wish they’d just tell us now.”

JoAnna experienced a worse case of anxiety than Andy, as evidenced by her nonstop housecleaning from 10 a.m. until the early afternoon. Around 1:15, she walked into the family room, where I was sitting at my desk, a can of Pledge and dust cloth in hand, and announced, “Andy gave me a thumbs-down sign when I walked past him.” 

The good news – and that’s a stretch, of course – is that Andy is furloughed, not laid off, which means he’ll be called back to work when the business picks up again. According to the information provided during the phone call, that’s not likely to be until mid-summer. In the meantime, Andy will collect unemployment, which will make up for most of the income he will lose between now and then. 

A situation like this makes me think about young adults who don’t have the kind of family support Andy does. Welcome to the pandemic: Millennial’s defining moment.

Read chapter 30 here

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