Quarantine Stories (8)

Teamwork and Technology.

My relationship with technology has always been a little rocky. I am known for constantly misplacing my phone and suffering at the hands of autocorrect. I am, however, blessed with some live-in technical support in the form of my children. I still frequently sign into the wrong Zoom meeting and cannot for the life of me use the “share my screen” option for story time with the little ones. I did, however, figure out how to adapt: I set my story slides up and send them to Darcy to share for me. Teamwork is important.

Jumping into the Virtual World.

For the first time ever, I am working independently and virtually. It has been quite a learning experience to say the least. I am actually pretty impressed at all of our ability to adapt as a staff.

I have never been one for social media. I have had a Facebook page that acted more like a news update from friends and I rarely post or spend much time on it. I still don’t quite get the whole Twitter and Instagram thing and still call the ‘#’ symbol a pound sign and not a hashtag.

Even though the Firehall isn’t open (and won’t be until at least June 30th), we’ve been busy trying to learn and adapt to our new reality. With our new work environment forcing us to learn how to use new technologies, we discovered that, “Hey, we could probably use these tools for programming!” And so OSCA’s programming staff embarked on a new adventure: virtual programming. We (Sarah Cybulski, Darcy Middaugh, and Katherine Boisvert) thought we’d share some of the fun and some of the challenges we’ve faced since starting this new version of programming.

Before health and safety restrictions were imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Marilyn Dib worked Monday to Friday, 8 hours a day. Or at least, that’s how she remembers it. As Operations Manager of Cedars & Co. her working hours are not always framed by a typical working week. After COVID-19 restrictions were imposed, however, Marilyn’s hours changed dramatically. She now works 7 days a week, from 7:00 am all day until to 2:00 am. Keeping track of what’s in stock, what’s flying off the shelves more quickly than usual, searching for suppliers that have either closed or paused due to shortages, and making sure that staff and clients are well-protected have become a round the-clock job.

COVID-19 crept up on us late in 2019 like fog on little cat feet but then it grew into a perfect storm. I was largely oblivious to its danger until almost mid-March. I have gone back through my calendar and compared personal events to a pandemic timeline to better understand how and when the coronavirus became the centre of our concern. I am aware that as a retiree with a pension and a good house, my experience is much different from that of a front line worker, or someone unemployed or homeless. With those qualifications in mind, here is how COVID-19 crept then leapt into my life in the past several months.

Like many restaurants and businesses in Old Ottawa South, Oat Couture has found a way to continue to serve the community during the lockdown. With strict measures in place, they continue to be open 7 days a week from 7am until 8pm for takeout and delivery (with Montgomery's Scotch Lounge liquor depot items available from 9am until 8pm).  

My original plan for my 41st birthday was to have our babysitter watch the kids so we could celebrate by playing board games at a pub with a group of neighbourhood parents. When I asked my kids how we should celebrate instead, they suggested we have a 'Fancy, Pool, Costume Party', a tribute to a Mo Willems "Elephant and Piggy" book.