My life hasn’t changed much yet, even with all the restrictions on movement and gathering. I’ve canceled one of my book club meetings that was going to happen this Thursday (March 19), but that’s about it.
As The Detail Conductor I work from home, except for 15 hours a week that I spend working in the Gnosis Natural Health office. There it’s business as usual. So just like every other week, I work at home on Mondays and Fridays, mostly stay home on weekends, and travel to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The main difference has been that busses and trains have had few travelers.
We all have different food staples. As a Mexican, it’s rice and beans for me, but the supermarket I went to was wiped out of those yesterday. And of course there was no toilet paper. This afternoon I’ll head to Chinatown for a few things.
My dad lives in the Bay Area, where they’ve been “sheltering in place,” which means everybody stays home unless they work in medical or similar. I’m comfortable with that since he’s 83 years old. My dad also does well psychologically with isolation and is active on email. Still it’s disturbing to think they’re being monitored to make sure they stay home.
I do worry about Chicago adopting the shelter-in-place tactic. I don’t have what it takes to stock up on weeks’ worth of necessities: a car to carry that stuff, the cash to buy it, a membership to a Costco or Sam’s Club. Many of us in the inner city, especially in my neighborhood of Rogers Park, carry groceries home by foot or CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). We don’t have much disposable income to drop on an emergency. And we can’t easily get to the areas where the big box stores live, with the exception of Target. Target is the only big box store that has permeated Chicago’s north side, with mini versions of its stores.
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| I guess I shouldn’t have ordered that kitchen timer. |
You might think I’d be okay with cash flow since my business model is that I give remote support to businesses, and work from home. But if I’m ordered to stay home, I’ll only be able to partly support the office I work in, and that will take a big bite out of my weekly income. Congress is discussing direct payments to Americans so we can financially weather this, but since I’m not on anyone’s payroll and I’m my own employer, I don’t know if that would include me. I really hope Chicago doesn’t order sheltering in place.