New Orleans began its first phase of “reopening” this past weekend. Thanks, but no thanks. I am not ready for this change.
Working outside, not going in public, still getting sunburns like before the apocalypse.
Right now, it seems that a lot of people going out in public don’t share the same sense of self-preservation and crippling anxiety that I do. For that reason, I made no changes to my habits this weekend. We are still stocked up on groceries. I still hung out at my house. I delivered some postcards and disinfected the packaging and stood far away and wore a mask and shouted to a friend from a safe distance to catch up.
I encourage you - no, beg you - to think twice before you rush out, even as you try your best to be safe and supportive. Take some of the burden off of those who are being brought back to work into unsafe conditions against their will, or who are going willingly but are nervous and want to stay safe. Don’t be a part of the crowd if you don’t have to be. Despite what protesters would have you believe, your human rights are not being violated because you have to wait for a haircut.
These animals are all staring at you and judging you for misbehaving during Phase One. (From Things That Geaux - I’m sold out but you can still get it from River Road Press).
You can still suppot from afar. You can get takeout, you can tip outrageously, you can call your representatives and ask for them to provide stability to the restaurants you love.
I think it’s important we pause and remember we are all facing impossible choices; it might be easy to judge the decisions of business owners; you might tell them it is irresponsible to open, irresponsible not to open, irresponsible to pay their employees if unemployment would be better for them, irresponsible not to pay them so they have to live off the government dime.
Instead of judging the intentions of these business owners based on these surface-level qualifiers, you may have to search a little harder for where their heart lies. Time will tell us who is taking care of their employees, and who is exploiting them as expendable for personal gain. Keep in mind that the PPP has put them in an impossible place - where the government is holding their aid hostage unless they screw their own employees. There are some businesses who will be doing their best to act in their employees’ best interests, and that decision will look different for different businesses. In the words of Turkey and the Wolf’s owner Mason:
The [PPP] is also designed so your staff makes at least 75 percent of what they made before. The loan is 2.5 times payroll, but you can calculate payroll three different ways. Each way results in a different number, which leads to a different loan size. Unemployment from the federal government is $600 a week, plus whatever your state offers. In Louisiana, that adds up to $847 a week. For some restaurant workers, going back to work could mean making less than unemployment. A lot of businesses I’m talking to are committed to matching unemployment because not doing that just sucks. It’s not the employees’ fault that there is a better financial option for them than returning to work. I’m glad there is one. But it just presents a unique issue with the bill, which was meant to get people off unemployment. No one wants to take a pay cut to go back to work and risk their health.
It seems that resources are being pulled together, at least in New Orleans, to track which businesses should be supported and which shouldn’t - which bosses are like Mason and considering the needs of their employees as one of the most important factors in the decisions they’re making, and which aren’t. I’ll share them when I have them, if they seem reliable.
I hope I’m wrong to be so cautious; there is nothing I want more in the world than for us to be able to safely move about and awaken from this coma. But data coming in from the rest of the world seems to paint a darker picture. I”m just trying to be ready.
Here’s something soothing and lovely for you to enjoy. I recommend doing some deep breathing while you watch.