Five years ago today - the shut down started

[Just Jack]

'The most unusual day': How March 11, 2020, marked the start of the COVID era

[RiotAct]

A very dark time in our history. 

Edited 20 hours ago by RiotAct
Took out the 2nd part of my post since this isn’t PPP :)

[Sweats]

That was definitely the strangest time in history that i ever lived through........to this day, i still can't make any sense of it.

[Augie]

March 11 was the day the NBA cancelled games, and that seemed to touch home with a lot of people. Somehow things turned “real” in a hurry.  I’ll never forget going to the grocery store after that. You had to follow people to their car to get a cart, and there was nothing on the shelves but the stuff nobody would ever buy on purpose. It was surreal and the panic was palpable. That day was one of a kind in my life. 

 

Months later I mentioned that crazy day to one of the regular cashiers at the grocery store. I remember she checked me out that day. When I brought it up her eyes glazed over like she was reliving the trauma. She asked “you were there that day?”  Yes, I was and I’ll never forget it, either. 

 

 

EDIT:  That tells you how crazy that day was. Months later I actually remembered who checked me out that day and I remembered the fear in her eyes. That panic was unlike anything else I can think of. The closest  I can think of was the 2006 real estate collapse followed by the 2008 bank collapse. Nobody had any idea what was next. You could buy CitiBank at .50 cents a share. (I chickened out, of course.)  We wondered if the world as we knew it was going to end.  Crazy times. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Augie

[Gregg]

 I work for a wire and cable company (Okonite) so we were considered necessary since we deal with a lot of utility companies (PSE&G, Con Ed) as examples. I remember driving back and forth from home and work. Hardly anybody was on the road as everything was closed. Strange times indeed. 

[Steve O]

The TPC being in Florida didn't shut down until the 12th. First they said after Thursday's round there wouldn't be any spectators allowed. Then that changed and everyone was called off the course, tournament cancelled. Those that finished the round were paid something, don't remember what. Those still on the course didn't get anything.

Edited 17 hours ago by Steve O

[BuffaloBill]

It’s crazy to think 5 years have passed. 

[LeviF]

Took a job running money (think executive protection, not laundering lol) from Albany to Brooklyn. We were scheduled to go the day after NYS officially went to stay at home (March 23 or something). The business contracting us was "essential" so they sent us an email saying we were providing essential services or whatever. Think I saw one cop on the road the entire time. Maybe three other cars total. We cleared Westchester and made it from the Bronx to the Atlantic Center in Brooklyn in under 10 minutes. Might as well have been tumbleweeds on the streets of Brooklyn, it was deserted. Those of you who have been to the city know that it's never quiet, but it was dead silent that morning. Downright eerie.

 

Went back to my day job the next day and it was nuts. We actually had more work, though some stuff we started handling by phone and we didn't go back to the "office" unless absolutely necessary. But out on the streets it was the same as in the city, dead silent and it seemed like I was the only person out there sometimes.

[Simon]

Wife and I both got sent home from work and decided, frag it, let's head South for some sunshine.

Loaded up tents, kayaks, etc and went to do a week or two down in the mountains of GA, AL and then the FL panhandle.

I remember having to go to an Alabama Walmart for some supplies one afternoon. I walked in the front door and for about 10 seconds literally could not see a single other human being; no greeters, no cashiers, no shoppers, literally not one soul. Can you imagine walking into a Walmart and finding it empty? 

It was zombie apocalypse level creepy and I almost skipped the lunchmeat and instead went to sporting goods to grab a shottie.

We eventually ended up around Navarre and had the entirety of Gulf Islands Seashore nearly all to ourselves. About 4 days in they set up roadblocks and started tossing anybody that didn't live there. We managed to stick around a couple more days and then headed back; I remember on the way home my wife asking about what we would do if we couldn't get back into Pennsylvania. 

[Doc]

Worked for another 3 weeks and then was (thankfully) put on furlough for 2 months.  My boys were home for awhile, which was nice given the rest of the World at the time.

[teef]

god i hated it.  i remember talking to a colleague's wife that weekend prior about how we may have to shut down.  maybe for a week or two...take a short break and go back into it.  that monday we started talking to the staff about how we may have reduced hours coming up, and we may have to split days.  The next day, (tuesday) we were all at home, no longer allowed to work.  i just build my office months before, and i was panicked.  

 

i remember hearing that we could be closed until june, and thought that would be completely impossible.  we were out of work for 10 weeks after that.  i was stuck in the house with a 2 year old, a 5 year old, my wife, and no way to earn.  it was awful.  the profession still hasn't completely come back as there's still large staff shortages.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Time flies!!
 

I will never forget how the golf courses I played on in April/May 2020 or so took the flags out and put pool noodles in the hole, so you wouldn’t touch the flags or the hole and get COVID. Saved my life. 😀

[Just Jack]

I work in the healthcare field (hospitals and health care/nursing facilities), so we all had letters to carry with us in case we got pulled over or came across a roadblock, that we were essential and needed to be on the road traveling.  One facility we work with had brought in refrigerator trailers as a temporary morgue. We had a contract with the military because they were preparing to turn the Javits Center in New York City into a temporary hospital if needed, and we would provide some of the equipment. Another facility in Rochester that had been closed was being hurriedly remodeled/rehabbed for the expected patients being transported up from NYC.  

 

Staying in hotels was interesting, you could have a 100+ room hotel, and only 20 people staying there.  No free breakfasts, or if they still did, it was pre-packaged microwave stuff you would take back to your room.  

[US Egg]

My wife had two months to go with her chemo and radiation with her 2nd cancer showdown. Fun times.  

 

       

[BuffaloBill]

1 hour ago, LeviF said:

Took a job running hookers, drugs and cash (think executive pleasure, not laundry lol) from Albany to Brooklyn.

 

Fixed to better represent reality of your responsibilities…..

[SinceThe70s]

I remember the first time I went back to the office and looked at my page-a-day calendar and it was stuck on Friday the 13th. 

[Augie]

2 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

It’s crazy to think 5 years have passed. 

 

Somehow it feels like both yesterday and another lifetime. What a strange time. 

[Just Jack]

One of my wife's responsibilities for the hospital department she works in, was to buy the swag they give away when doing community outreach and presentations, and the order gets placed October/November for the following year.  So, in 2019 she placed her order of the usual pens, pads etc., except that year she decided to also get the little bottles of hand sanitizer. She had cases of it, thousands of bottles, in her office, when you couldn't find it in stores.  

[ExiledInIllinois]

Never missed a beat.  OT like mad... Most money ever made.  2 straight weeks on 12 hour shifts, 1 week off.

 

Business as usual.

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by ExiledInIllinois

[Mike in Horseheads]

I worked FT in the office for that whole experience as I was deemed essential (only time in my life lol).  So I had the letter in the car to give to the cops but never was stopped.  We had tickets for the end of the month Niagara Falls Ontario to see Kathleen Madigan  at the casino by the Hilton. Ticket master gave me a full refund no questions asked but the Hilton was kinda  jerks and i was like  i can't go be there if I wanted to the ***** border is closed.  smh