I started a new job this week.
This is my new desk. I call this my command center. It’s a low-key traffic control kind of situation. I process orders, answer phones, and text our customers when we have a pick-up station assigned to them. I do my best to keep everyone distanced, cycle through the table rotation (feels like a throwback to my restaurant hosting days). Then we sanitize and repeat.
I hope my boss is pleased with this work.
My boss is you. All of you. Our community.
You allow this work to happen and continue.
Editor’s note: Sarah Weaver is the co-founder of St. Petersburg’s Bandit Coffee Co., which has been serving the neighborhood since 2015. The shop is one of many local businesses hustling to keep doors open and create some sense of community, and continuity, as the coronavirus wreak havoc on our daily lives.
We’re doing all of this for you, as well as to keep our team going as long as we can. We’re figuring out new systems on the fly to keep you safe and provide you with your favorites. Sure, these things aren’t necessarily live-giving, but to hopefully give you a taste of life as normal, in a time when all is anything but normal.
Even if stay at home orders are enacted, we’re still considered an essential business. We take this privilege very seriously. We’ve added quarts of soup, loaves of bread, and other pantry provisions to our offerings.
Comforts of beer, wine, coffee, kombucha, CBD sparkling water, and cookies are a simple but treasured luxury these days. And all the while, your support from your purchases keeps a small business like ours going for as long as possible, and supporting our staff who also want to keep going for as long as possible.
Just over two and a half weeks ago, our café was filled with the bustling energy of our regulars, neighbors, visitors, and close friends. We have the joy of seeing most all of our close friends every day. The staff across the street at Casita and Baba are regular figures at our bar. Now, both businesses are indefinitely closed. Our once bustling corner of Central and 27th is quiet.
Our mornings used to be filled with hugs and high fives. I realize not everyone gets to see their best friends every single morning, every single day, but what a joy that was, and gosh, I took it for granted. Now, we touch fingers on opposite sides of glass, yelling “I LOVE YOU” and watch them take their drinks from a table in the parking lot, a good ten feet from the door. And after, we sanitize. Treating your friends like carriers of a deadly pathogen is the worst, but it’s exactly how we should all be acting right now.
I don’t interact with humans beyond our team and my partner through it all, my husband, Joshua. I haven’t seen my mom in 37 days. Josh and I are working 7 days a week. All that wish to continue to work with us, for all the hours we can give right now (2 shifts, 8-2 daily), they have been socially isolating with their households for at least 12 days now. I’m thankful for their sacrifices and dedication, but we’re a great team because we’ve ALWAYS gathered here for a mutually shared goal – to show up and to serve our community.
As I type this, my knuckles are slowly splitting and stinging. My hands and wrists are chapped, covered in a red, tight rash. Contact dermatitis, I’m told by Facebook groups with other food service workers who remain serving. I’ve yet to count, but I would bet I wash my hands nearly 100 times a day. I’m not complaining. It’s a very small sacrifice for a greater good. I still act as though I’m a carrier of something deadly. It’s the worst. But it’s all how we should be acting right now if we’re not quarantined at home 24 hours a day.
I’m not a life saver. I’m not a healthcare professional.
But this is one of the few times in my career that our decisions as individuals and as shop owners, can potentially benefit the greater public health. Or cause widespread harm.
If you’re an essential (or non-essential) business owner that’s still in operation – how can you create new systems for no contact and maximum safety? It’s time to challenge ourselves. Let’s rewrite our job descriptions. We’re no longer selling goods. We’re currently in the business of either doing good for our communities and staff, or otherwise risking harm for all.
Please write to your local and state leaders if you feel like they’re not doing enough to protect us. The collective us. If they’re not closing enough places, if they’re not making the language clear enough for mass cooperation. So many harm prevention measures currently lie in the hands of our elected officials. And that’s terrifying to me. Do your part, and then write to your leaders, since others unfortunately won’t do their part. Be the squeaky wheel.
Please also encourage your local businesses to enact contactless pickup and/or delivery (coming VERY soon for us) if you see them still letting folks inside their spaces or taking face-to-face orders. My hot take: if you’re not going to do this right for all, please don’t do it at all. We have the technology to make this work if we get creative and innovative.
I love my community, our team, and this chapter of my life with my whole heart. We can rebuild our businesses. We can rebuild everything we know and love. We cannot rebuild the health of others.
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This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2020.