To be honest, I've lost track of how long Covid-19 has been around. We live on the Johnston County/Wake County border, and sometimes it's like we're straddling two different worlds. If I do anything with Raleigh friends or shop in Raleigh or Cary, it's masks on, hand sanitizer everywhere and people keeping their distance. My Raleigh friends are just now getting to the point where they want classes or group meetings to be held in person, and even then they are being extremely cautious.
And then there's my town, which now seems to be evenly split. There's those who still wear masks but have decreased the social distancing, those who wear masks but no longer social distance, and now we're starting to see people ignoring the mask mandate all together.
When I go to church or shop in Johnston County (our church is in JoCo) you wouldn't know there was a pandemic happening at all. No social distancing, almost no masks, though I do see a lot of hand sanitizer being used.
But even though people are getting out about and starting to say "Life must go on, virus or not" things are not normal. Empty shelves continue to happen in stores (though we still have an overabundance of items compared to many countries). The craziest thing to me is all the "help wanted" signs EVERYWHERE. I'm reminded of my college days where I left high school and had searched for jobs for 6 months before I finally got one and then went to the big city where jobs were everywhere. I chose to stay in Nashville one summer with two friends simply because there was an abundance of jobs there. The three us of rented a one bedroom apartment in a lady's basement and I worked 70+ hours every week all summer. But even the, I don't remember restaurants or stores closing because they couldn't get help.
So these are the hiring signs I've seen up this week alone in places I've been or walked past:
US Post Office, Garner - carriers. sorters, clerks
Hudson's Hardware - Full time and part-time
Carolina BBQ - all positions
McDonalds - $600 signing bonus
Bojangles - up to $15 hr
Food Lion - both Garner locations
City BBQ
Sheetz Gas Station
Agri-Supply
IHOP
Target - $15 hr and up
Dollar Tree
Five Below
and the city of Raleigh announced yesterday that they will not be running the Christmas Polar Express this year because they do not have enough personnel...they are 80 workers short, and 70 of those would be used to operate the train and winter activities.
Wake County Public School System is also over 100 people short for its substitute teachers roster. My sister, who lives in a different state, told me even if a family member tests positive for covid, she and her fellow teachers were told unless they themselves tests positive they still have to come to work because there's not any replacements for them.
If it wasn't for the fact I want to be free to travel to Alabama and help out Mom and Dad as needed and I know I'll need two weeks during the holiday off, I would apply for a part-time job. It almost seems crazy not to do so right now. I imagine there are many other people in my situation who know it is best for the household for someone to be at home managing things, but it also seems a little crazy to see so many positions open and not help fill them. I've seen numerous posts on social media about the reasons behind people not working or returning work. I do know several people who switched careers during the shut down, but I don't know anyone who was working and is no longer working, minus two people who lost their jobs because they refused to take a vaccine.
I don't know if this is a continuation of the strange days we are in, or if this is simply our new normal. Time will tell.
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