Hospitality, Humbled

Hospitality, Humbled

It seems like only yesterday I was occupied with the hustle and bustle of a full-time job and a social life. I struggled to find time to do laundry,  grocery shop and keep up a meal plan, let alone this blog! 

Yet here we are, on week three of isolation, with mind-numbing amounts of time, a regular sleep schedule, and not nearly enough to do. 

I write to you now from the comfort of a very worn-in sweater stained with flour and baking battle scars. I have found a way to survive these strange times, but the answer is not simply scones and loaves.

When the subject of quarantine or isolation is discussed, it is usually spoken of with an air of negativity. With choices removed and our social and civil liberties seemingly limited, it is easy to be swept away by the dark undertow. I count myself among the lucky ones. My employer was one of the first to lay off, giving my coworkers and me the ability to apply for Employment Insurance prior to the hordes of Canadians that would follow suit . At the time, business levels had reached such a low, we were finding it wasn’t financially viable  to be scheduled—a reality for many working in the hospitality industry in times of economic stress. 

We and others in the hospitality sector are currently awaiting the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which promises to replace the need for the Employment Insurance.Our industry has been hit especially hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. In Canada alone, the 1.7 million people working in this industry have seen catastrophic layoffs. For the first time ever, we all have the night off, but nowhere to go.

Our industry is a social one. From the coffee shop before work, our coworkers, the 20 new guests we serve to the decompressing sips at the local watering hole after: our love of people and hospitality drives us. We’re all at home now, reckoning with what is the most devastating hit to our industry. We don’t know if or when we can return. It’s for this reason that I ask you, your friends and family to stay home. There are a lot of people who are putting their lives on hold right now to slow this pandemic’s reach and flatten the curve. For those of you who continue to work during this time my heart is with you. Frontline workers in hospitals, grocery stores and other essential services are heroic, to say the least.  Then there are those who do not have the luxury to work from home. The manufacturing and construction industries respectively are not given the option.

 My boyfriend, luckily, is able to work from home. It’s fortunate for our income, if a little less fortunate for my brain that lives through a 40-hour-a week conference call…. trust me when I say we both can’t wait to get back to work!

I’m trying to see the positive in all of this and I invite you to do the same. I think it’s an ideal time (for those of us who can) to rest, breathe, and most of all, to bake! Take some time to work on the little things that you never had time for. Now, I’m not saying that during this time you must be productive. If there is anything this life halting crash has taught me: it’s that our patriarchal, capitalistic society has fooled me into believing for so many years, to measure your worth by your productivity. If you want to write a novel, hey, that’s fantastic! But don’t stress yourself out anymore than you already have. Personally I’ve been pushing myself to write more. A friend told me that we could all do with some laughs, so if that’s my civic duty, I believe I can do my part.

Whatever you do, keep your head up and look out for one another. 

We’re stronger together, and safer apart.. 

Stay hopeful,

Evan