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People Who Have Lost Their Job Because Of The Pandemic Share Their Stories

The global pandemic has not infected everybody. But this virus has already ignited profound supplemental impacts on the economic, familial, and mental lives of most people on the globe.

Stopping the spread of the virus demands the non-negotiable ethical imperative to push as many people as possible to remain in their homes.

This can take two forms: work from home, if your job allows it. If the nature of the work makes telecommuting impossible, the person is very likely laid off.

Statistics in news articles around this fact have already sharpened the intensity of that change across the landscape.

But firsthand accounts serve to shade in between the lines of that data. These Redditors humanize the numbers.

greensypoop asked, "People who lost their job due to this crisis what is your story?"

A Sacrificed Messanger

"F&B manager at a large hotel. GM and HR gave me a list of employees to call and inform them that they would all be furloughed."

"It was the hardest thing I've had to do in my life. I had to stop halfway through the list just to sit in my office and cry. I had to encourage grown men and women that everything would work out and be okay when I had no idea myself if or when it would be."

"I went to work this morning, worked my normal 10 hours, then I was laid off at the end of the day."

PM_ME_YOUR_TYLENOLPM

The Non-Material Demands of a Crisis

"I haven't been laid off, but I answer for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and we are having so many calls where someone is thinking about killing themselves because they were laid off. It's absolutely awful."

"I have no answers for these people, and I wish I had the power to provide for them."

-- prettysjwtbh

Relocation is Off the Table

"My wife and I live in New Zealand and had planned a two year working Visa in Toronto. We were supposed to leave in April, so we had obviously already handed in our notices of resignation to our bosses."

"Long story short, Canada shut it's borders and my boss has already hired my replacement."

-- Paranoid427

Everything on Hold

"Construction."

"The whole construction site was laid off, and with the way things are going, the company owner thinks it'll be at least a year before they consider hiring me back."

"Started 3 months ago, and that's at least 50 other people affected, just for this site. The company had several other sites that they laid off employees too."

"I'm just lucky I'm still living with my parents, and Dad works as online IT for the general public, so he's nice and busy."

-- termiAurthur

Rotten Timing

"Yeah i just got hired last week but i think that my first workday isn't gonna happen." -- jebbaok

"I hired three people a couple weeks ago; two servers and a host. I told them that I will reach out as soon as I can offer them training hours and then shifts. I got laid off a week later." -- thisonetimeinithaca

Reality Keeps Dreams, Dreams 

"I just finished my training as a flight attendant for a major European airline. It's been a dream of mine and I have been putting my love and energy into this training for the past months."

"I'm in Cancun right now and it's bitter sweet because it's absolutely beautiful here, but at the same time this was my last training flight."

"I'm now a fully trained flight attendant and yet no one knows when me and my other new colleagues will actually be getting our work contract since the airline industry is suffering a lot right now."

"I think I will cry when landing back in Frankfurt tonight, because I don't know when will be my next flight."

-- blackforestgirl86

Too Many People on that Stage

"Classical musician here. Every orchestra had to cancel concerts for the next 8 weeks. Unsure if any of the concerts will be reschedule."

"Many orchestras are waiting to see if the "act of god" clause will be applied. If that is the case, musicians will not be payed. Most summer orchestras are still programmed but there is high chance will be shut down as well."

-- elbrigno

Even the Lay Off Process is Impacted

"Just lost it about an hour ago. I'm a restaurant manager and they called me and told me to turn in my keys by the end of the day. I'm in quarantine and can't. They are sending me a UPS box so I can send in my keys and told me to file for unemployment."

"I never expected this to happen to me. I'm in shock idk what I'm going to do."

-- f*kyokarma

Multiple Year Ramifications

"My job as a barista was shut down for safety and because nobody is coming in, anyway. And my summer job (teaching kids how to swim at a sleepaway camp) is cancelled because the camp decided not to open."

"While I'm not in danger of losing my house or starving, I am now unable to afford to continue going to college next semester."

-- nonstopsobbing

A Necessary Collectivist Spirit

"They wanted a coworker and I to reduce our hours to half each, because they could only afford one of us and didn't wanna make a redundancy. In the end, I took the redundancy."

"I'm 21 and live at home, meals provided. My coworker is a 30 y/o homeowner with bills and an unemployed girlfriend. Him loosing half his income for me seemed wrong."

"Better me than him."

-- edmidgley

What's Best for Em

"I was a bartender."

"The bars and restaurants were shutdown. I was actually relieved because, not gonna lie, I was afraid of dealing with so many people and all the glasses. People would've just kept coming too if the state hadn't shut us down."

-- hurtsdonut_

Unnecessary, Though Understandable, Guilt

"My husband got laid off on Tuesday. He works about 3 minutes down the road from my work. He showed up at my work with tears in his eyes, apologizing to me for not doing good enough to be kept."

"He works at a car dealership as an auto technician, where they let go of four techs that day cause of decreasing business. They're letting go of more people this Saturday. My brother is a mechanic there, and is scared to lose his job too."

"They told my husband that when business picks back up, they "might" call and ask him to come work for them again."

-- Tazzybugg

When it's for the Best

"My mom works in vacation rentals doing housekeeping, she's 61, diabetic and has COPD, and lives in a state that has mandatory shutdown of all non essential businesses."

"When she was informed they'd be laying people off, but also staying open, she told them she's afraid of getting the virus and they laid her off so she could collect unemployment and continue to pay her bills while staying home safe."

-- Canadian_Neckbeard

Another Approach, Still Not Ideal

"I haven't lost my job, but my small software company instituted 30% paycut across the board. They say it'll be re-evaluated every month. Clients keep cancelling or postponing projects."

"So I'm good this month, but could easily lose it next month. I'm just happy they decided to cut pay instead of fire 30% of the workforce, so everyone can keep their health coverage."

"That and I'm not sure I wouldn't have been part of that 30%."

-- TummyDrums

Nothing to Advertise 

"I was laid off from my 5 year graphic design job, working for a screen printing and promotional products company. About half of our business involves schools, sports, and events."

"Obviously none of that is happening currently, so our business has stagnated. They are going to try to operate with a skeleton crew for the next couple months."

"The hope is to bring everyone back eventually, but I'm not optimistic."

-- wogwai

Ghost Towns Need No Fill-Ins

"I'm a substitute teacher. If you are aware that most schools are closing if they haven't already, then that should explain why all subs are now effectively unemployed."

"It's unlikely that schools will return during this situation, so yes, thousands of people are out of work just from that alone."

"Subs don't make salary, so any employee who is hourly or paid by day now needs to scramble."

-- codenteacher

An Untimely Family Industry

"I was laid off indefinitely from 2 different hourly paying line cooking jobs on Monday(~50hrs combined/week)."

"I helped clean out one of the restaurants Wednesday. We discarded a lot of stuff. I helped clean out all of the coolers and throw away A LOT of prepped food that people didn't/couldn't take home. Employees we're encouraged to take what they wanted; produce, dairy, meat, etc."

"The place is almost completely empty, it's surreal."

"My spouse was laid off indefinitely Wednesday. She manages a restaurant and is salaried w/ benefits (~50hrs/week). She was told that management will not be paid until the place reopens."

"Our family currently has no work or income. We have a young child. These are very uncertain times."

-- lzrkennyloggins

Left Scrambling for the Basics

"Wife and I both work in the restaurant industry. Both laid off unpaid indefinitely. She's a type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic, and we've got 2 young kids."

"We have no idea what we are going to do. Insulin and supplies were already killing us. The thought of not being able to get her insulin is horrifying."

-- ImNotScaredAtAll

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?