High school is the time we think about our futures and jobs. Most high school students end up working during their high school years. Now with the pandemic approached upon us, what is working like? 

I, Alana Finger, have been working during covid for 4 months now. Jimmy John’s Lenoir city has just opened, and it was all during the pandemic, so I haven’t worked in the norm of things. I, personally, don’t have a problem when working at this time. So let’s look at some of the funs and dones of working during covid.

Funs: Seeing mask fashion in adults and adolescents, more people needing jobs (which isn’t great for them, but can be great for business!), and overall, knowing that our employees and customers are together in trying to get through this hard time. 

Dones: Less business, hard to read lips, muffled voices, anxious work habit, excessive cleaning (which is also a good thing), and social distancing in a small store.

Jimmy John’s is quite a small store, so we don’t have the ability to social distance behind the counter. We have blocked off sections of the store for a safer eating space. Some customers end up hating our restaurant for not wearing masks and some are happy to eat and have their masks off in a socially distanced environment. The store hasn’t put restrictions on masks unless an employee has been exposed. In that case, we would all have to be quarantined, so some of us make sure to take precautions enough to be able to keep our coworkers safe as well. At this point, there aren’t many employees to be able to have everyone quarantined. Most of us work at different shifts, and we all take precautions to make the workspace clean.

It’s hard to tell if there’s less business because of covid or being a new store, so I couldn’t give you statistics based on sales. I can say that I hope it’s just being a new store. The business is doing pretty well, but we always strive for better.

I guess a bit of me is wanting to promote Jimmy John’s by writing this article… so eat at Jimmy John’s Lenoir City! In all seriousness, stay safe and keep clean for all for our sakes. Essential workers, good job. People are suffering losing jobs or having to have jobs, so make sure you show some love.

Alana is signing off!