2020 has been a hectic year due to Covid 19 causing businesses to shut down and forcing the entire world to self-quarantine. Many Patriot students either had already been working or started working during quarantine to help provide for their families or even just earn a little extra cash.

Covid-19 created a lot of new rules employees are forced to follow in order to work and get paid.

Patriot junior and Chick-Fil-A employee, Sophia Passa, said, “While I was working, I had to wear a mask at all times, wash my hands as I enter the building, go outside, or handle food. When I clocked in, I had to answer two questions, have I been in contact with someone with Covid-19 or have I had it and I had to get my temperature checked.”

Working right now presents unusual challenges for employees because of the state mandated rules. Many students said customers didn’t want to follow the rules that were in place.

Senior Harrison Bosch, worked at Velocity Wings during quarantine and he said, “I had to deal with lots of customers that didn’t want to follow the rules and I was constantly telling people to put masks on and moving people to different tables because they would sit too close to other customers.”

Many students didn’t really mind working during quarantine, junior Malorie Upperman, who works at Mission BBQ and she said, “I didn’t really like wearing the masks while I was cooking but I liked making money” which is what most students who were interviewed said.

Although the Coronavirus has been a significant concern over the past few months, it wasn’t the only one. Senior Andrew Safo, stated, “At Walmart we had to lock down the store during the protests and barricade the doors with shopping carts”. Protesting was also occurring during the pandemic which made it even harder for some businesses to open and function.

Many Patriot Pioneers managed to work jobs and make money while staying safe during a global pandemic and the Patriot community continues to work together to stay safe while online learning during this hard time.