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I own a tiny gift shop next to a beautiful state park. My whole livelihood (& identity: I am the 4th generation to own a business started in 1964) is wrapped up in people coming from other places (usually far more populous ones) to here and interacting with them face-to-face.
My store is small enough and I am particular enough about our customer service that I& #39;ve (we& #39;ve) never employed anyone. We are truly a family business, which makes it easier to not be worried now about maintaining a living for employees I don& #39;t have.
My business has been mine/ours for long enough that the concerns of many younger small tourist businesses are not ours...our overhead is far more manageable, and the cost of living here in a rural area means dollars stretch further than they would elsewhere.
Running this business, selling T shirts to tourists, usually families whose generations I watch grow, is who I am. It defines me in ways that make me cry just thinking about it. And yet, as worried as I am about paying bills and keeping my family from getting sick...
I don& #39;t want to be a place where people could get sick. I don& #39;t actually want to open. What keeps me up at night is the thought that someone could get sick, or even worse get sick and die, because I allowed disease to fester.
I don& #39;t know how to balance an open economy with keeping people healthy. I don& #39;t have a solution. But I can& #39;t imagine being more concerned with profit now than with making sure my customers survive to buy sweatshirts and marvel at our surrounding natural beauty in the future.
I don& #39;t have a way to end this thread. I have great privilege. I have convinced my parents to stay home. I have the materials to make masks. There is plenty of food in my pantry, fridge, & freezer. I have internet, things to entertain, a snuggly puppy, & friends.
And yet, I want to tell people to not visit my place of business, once we have the legal go-ahead to be open. I want them to stay with their families, stay in their homes, and have a thought for the people who might get sick. Wear a mask for others.
