My Snafuzled Life: Covid-19 + Unemployment = Crazy times
Let me start by telling you a little about me.
I am a 45-year-old, college educated, Amer-Asian woman (my father is American and my mother is Korean). Happily married (most days) to a Chinese-American with an 11 year old daughter (who thinks she’s going on 16). I grew up in a military family, moving every couple of years to different countries…Philippines, Japan, Korea then finally to the Washington, DC area, which I have called home for almost 30 years.
COO
Most recently, I was a C-suite level executive for a prominent entrepreneurial Virginia-based restaurant group, brought on to strategically grow the company by creating system & standards and talent development to achieve high profitability, excellence and consistency. My upbringing was the backbone of what my entire career was based upon – structure, resilience, quest for excellence, and good old-fashioned hard work. I am proud of my career success, it wasn’t a straight road, lots of right turns and then finally a left turn that put me on my path. There are many female executives in the restaurant industry, but most fall in job fields within the HR, Training or Marketing departments, not Operations.
Over the years, I was able to streamline the company, increase profitability and gross sales, create a new vision through a five-year strategic plan, execute the plan with yearly strategic renewal, achieving the goals and most importantly, building a strong culture based team. Again, I am proud of the company’s accomplishments and my contribution.
Then a pandemic hit, Covid-19.
World turned upside down
I temporarily furloughed my entire team, including myself on March 14th, 2020. People cried…I cried…they had questions, lots of questions that I had no answers too. That was one of the hardest conversations I have had to have in my career. Don’t get me wrong, I have “let people go” before, many times, but I always knew it was the best for the company and for the individual. I could and would help them get new jobs, find new careers, or give them advice, when asked. This time, I didn’t know…didn’t know how long the restaurants would be closed, when they would come back to work or how they were to survive financially.
Pre and during Covid-19 was/is completely different for the company. We went from record sales & profitability with strong team ownership at the start of 2020 to furloughing staff, closing restaurants, and worrying about surviving.
Unemployment
I did what I think I am best at…I came up with a plan and tried to create order out of chaos. I took a deep breathe, swallowed my pride and applied for unemployment. Then I called my mortgage company to discuss defering my mortgage payment. The pit in my stomach grew with every step of this plan.
What kept me from feeling the hollow of my stomach was that I was just going to get through this difficult time for my company, my team and my family, I would be the rock. I convinced myself that I did these two steps to see how to do it, so I can answer the thousands of questions from my team, allow the company to get their financial footing (I am expensive) and gain some income until this was all over.
I continued to work 7 days a week, 14-hour days assisting my teams on how to navigate unemployment (getting unemployment – what a mess and advice on calling landlords/mortgage companies) while working in the one restaurant that remained open for the difficult road on executing a new “all to-go” restaurant model in an ever changing environment. I was focused on two things: to be there for my teams and to ensure the company made it through this crazy time.
Things changed quickly, it was not about consistency but quick pivoting, maneuvering with no notice, no plan or communication. Menu changes were executed with a day or an hour notice. It was stressful for all and cemented the fact that pivoting with no plan was a weakness for me.
Emotions were running high for everyone from personal safety to financial security, we all needed a little calm, I needed a little calm. Slowly, the hard-outer shell of my composure started to crack from all the unknown, unanswered questions from the team, too many days working and too many hours, it was burnout.
The other shoe…drops
People say that “you create your own reality”. I do believe we lead our lives down the path it should go when it needs to get there…but I always thought I knew my path and it was always clear to me…until now.
My position was deemed “non-essential”. The partners and I decided that they would divide my responsibilities amongst themselves & take a more active role in the company, which I completely understood and supported…or at least that’s what I told people when they asked.
It set in quickly…now what? That pit growing in my stomach is nauseating. My mind was running on overdrive…what are my next steps. Is anyone hiring? Everyone I knew furloughed or laid off their teams and making the same hard decisions.
I went from trying to be the rock for my team and the company, to being in the same proverbial boat. “NOW WHAT!” is all that was screaming in my mind. My head started to spin…how can this happen to me?
Now I have all the questions with no answers and no one to ask. I feel alone.
Transition
I worked for the company from home (limiting my interactions to the team) to allow a transition plan/list to be executed, aka a seamless separation, for about 2 weeks. To stay positive and on track, I kept repeat to myself, “I always finish strong and believe in this company”, until it becomes reality. Fake it until I make it, right?
My time at the company comes to a close. More and more questions began to form, is anyone hiring in the DC-area restaurant industry? What do I do?
I got snafuzled.
This is my journey, seen through my eyes and with my inner voice, as I work through my snafuzled life with a pandemic, stay at home order, racially charged protest & riots with no job, no prospects and lots of unanswered questions.
My journey will be different than yours but may sound the same…how I approach or overcome obstacles in my snafuzled life are my choices to get to my big, satisfying life and may not be yours. I cannot promise you an enlightened life through mine or a roadmap for your snafuzled life journey. All I can promise you, is that my snafuzled life will be authentic, written in my words (with grammatical errors), from my mind & heart, written to be shared, to be laughed with, and laughed at.
I can only promise you three things: me, myself and I.
What is your story? I want to hear it. Share your story.
#SNFZLD #Coronovirus #unemployment #restaurants #hiring