Out of a Job and Feeling Lonely
Soma, a lingerie store in the Summit mall in south Reno, was the store she was working at until non-essential businesses were forced to shut down. She went from having to cut her hours to being completely out of her job in one day.
“At first they cut our hours to like 12 hours, and then the day after my boss sent a group text. That we were closed, and at first we were being paid through March and then that’s when they closed all non-essential businesses, all through April. Now, I’m ‘doordashing’ but that’s not consistent--they’ll send you an order but you have like 30 seconds to accept it. But there’s days where you won’t get that many orders, and other days you will,” she said. (For those not familiar, DoorDash is a San Francisco-based on-demand prepared food delivery service)
With the UNR campus having to also close down due to also being deemed non-essential, Calazada struggles not only financially but also socially. She’s also had to deal with new challenges of classes going all online.
“My professors are still trying to figure out how to administer these tests because they don’t want them to be open-book,” she said.
Calazada says she has been making the best of efforts to stay positive and watch out for her mental health.
Zoom not an Ideal Replacement
While her professors have made efforts to have students still have that daily interaction with others in their classes, she says it still feels lonely as most of the students in her classes choose to turn off their cameras or microphones.
She’s grateful for having the sessions though. “I haven’t been really having contact with people like I should, I guess it’s nice even though it's just for an hour,” she said.
As the days keep on going and people all over the world are forced to make compromises, Calazada tries to closely monitor those around her, including her family.
“They try to hide their worry so they don’t worry me,” she said. “My mom is still worried but she tries to hide it. And my dad is in denial, but even when he’s outside he still is careful and tells me to ‘be careful.’”
Calazada says it’s important to look forward to some sort of normalcy up ahead. She says she has plans for her delayed birthday party.
“I’m going to the lake, and BJ’s. I was supposed to go on my birthday so I could get my pizookie (a skillet cookie), but then social distancing happened. So yeah, I’m going to the lake, BJ’s, the arcade...and oh yeah dancing. I was supposed to go dancing on my birthday, since I haven’t gotten to dance in a while,” she said.