Covid Chronicles. Chapter 66: 3-Month Furlough and Counting

Read chapter 65 here

SPLASH PAD AT LAKEVIEW PARK IN MIDDLETON: 

CLOSED FOR THE SEASON DUE TO COVID

Photo by Retiring Guy

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 

“Do you think Andy is getting enough exercise lately?” JoAnna asked me recently. “He’s been playing video games a lot.” 

“He still plays a lot of disc golf,” I replied, implying a ‘no’ answer. “Now that the weather is cooler, he’s out 3-4 times a week.” 

Increasingly, our shared concern, however, is Andy’s employment status. Since being furloughed in early May, he has received no news of any plans to resume operations. At that time, employees were told it was likely to be mid-July. Well, here we are a month later and Andy is still wondering if he even has a job to go back to. 

“You should reach out to your supervisor and see if you can find out what’s going on,” I have encouraged him on at least two occasions. 

In fact, if I were in his shoes, I’d be direct about it. 

“At what point do you think the company will bring people back to work?” 

Based on what’s happening in college sports, I’d say not anytime soon. Certainly not in an office environment and not likely to be done virtually either. 

A number of colleges and even more high schools have scrubbed fall sports from their schedules. Since Friday, rumors have been increasingly swirling over an imminent vote by presidents of Big 10 schools to cancel fall sports due to Covid concerns. Middleton High School,-- all of the Big 8 conference schools, in fact -- have already done so. Karen and Dave’s granddaughter, a standout on the girls’ golf team, was deeply disappointed with this decision. And I sympathize with her. You’d think sports like golf and, perhaps, cross country would be acceptable options during a pandemic. Relatively easy to make adjustments to insure social distancing. Plus they’re both lifelong activities. Lots of people golf and run well into their retirement years. 

No games and no official practices means no need for specially designed jerseys and other sportswear and equipment, which is the foundation of the BTS business model. Without orders from colleges and high schools, there is no need for salespersons and sales support staff, the latter being the category to which Andy belongs. And now that the Big 10 and PAC-12 have announced the cancellation of fall sports, the dominoes will start to fall faster. And that means a further delay in Andy’s retuning to work with his current employer. Another reason why it’s time for him to move on. (I shudder to think how many people are living through this same dilemma, especially those without an adequate support system.)