Chronicles of the Virus Day 20
It is now almost a given that we are going to be cooped up until the beginning of May.
What is going to be a problem is money. Most of those who have had to go home have unemployment checks coming. Of course, they're not for the full amount they would have received if they had been working. Those who were the last told to stay home, such as my husband, are supposed to be paid in full by their employers, and make up the lost hours over the rest of the year. Up to that, fine.
The problem lies with those who work in the black. Those who maybe do a couple of hours work here and there, charge fifty euros, or twenty, or a hundred. Those aren't working and can't make up the hours later, nor do they have a relief check coming in. I know of one person who works well over eleven or twelve hours a day cleaning, especially in summer when all the summer people come to their second homes. That person works all in black, maybe making well over fifteen hundred euros a month without paying a cent in payroll taxes.
Like that person there are many all over Spain. Those people now have to live off their savings, if they have any. And when life begins again, they will have to build their client list again. The economy will look like it's been through a war.
Not to mention the small businesses that won't be able to handle the shut down. The other side of this mess will need a rebuilding of the job market, and workers will have to have more safety nets. Generosity can't all be left to the employers; some don't know what that is unless it's directed toward CEO's. Things also have to be made easier for those who work in black. Regulations should be softened, sick pay, vacation, unemployment benefits, and payroll taxes made more equal to salaried workers, so that a self-employed person doesn't find it easier to work in black.
I am in dire need of walking. I feel like I'm growing roots in my chairs. But I can't go for solitary walks in the woods. In the region of Murcia, the police are sending drones to the woods and areas bereft of people. When they see a person, they tell the person to go home, follow them, and the patrol shows up with a fine. I could understand if everybody decided to go to the woods and it was no longer solitary. But there is nobody there. If you encounter a squirrel, consider the woods a busy place. It must make some logic to someone.
Those who work from home also find that it's not always easy. Remember the BBC correspondent in Asia whose small children came waltzing into the room, and his wife racing after them? Well, this reporter found that reporting from home is not the same as being on a set. I bet she's seriously thinking about moving out after her father came in, pulling on a t-shirt as she was reporting from her parents' kitchen.
Everyone seems to be getting into cooking, since there's no going out to eat, and not that many places are doing take-out. A young man, a university student stuck in his apartment, most likely, decided to make a Spanish tortilla for his roommate. He goes to flip it over, and it comes out almost correctly. Until he goes to put it back in the frying pan to brown the other side. He had taken the frying pan off the fire (old electric stove), and he plops the tortilla directly onto the burner. I'm glad I wasn't the one to clean up.
But I do have to continue to clean the tile in the kitchen. I can't claim I have no time now.
Life continues.
What is going to be a problem is money. Most of those who have had to go home have unemployment checks coming. Of course, they're not for the full amount they would have received if they had been working. Those who were the last told to stay home, such as my husband, are supposed to be paid in full by their employers, and make up the lost hours over the rest of the year. Up to that, fine.
The problem lies with those who work in the black. Those who maybe do a couple of hours work here and there, charge fifty euros, or twenty, or a hundred. Those aren't working and can't make up the hours later, nor do they have a relief check coming in. I know of one person who works well over eleven or twelve hours a day cleaning, especially in summer when all the summer people come to their second homes. That person works all in black, maybe making well over fifteen hundred euros a month without paying a cent in payroll taxes.
Like that person there are many all over Spain. Those people now have to live off their savings, if they have any. And when life begins again, they will have to build their client list again. The economy will look like it's been through a war.
Not to mention the small businesses that won't be able to handle the shut down. The other side of this mess will need a rebuilding of the job market, and workers will have to have more safety nets. Generosity can't all be left to the employers; some don't know what that is unless it's directed toward CEO's. Things also have to be made easier for those who work in black. Regulations should be softened, sick pay, vacation, unemployment benefits, and payroll taxes made more equal to salaried workers, so that a self-employed person doesn't find it easier to work in black.
I am in dire need of walking. I feel like I'm growing roots in my chairs. But I can't go for solitary walks in the woods. In the region of Murcia, the police are sending drones to the woods and areas bereft of people. When they see a person, they tell the person to go home, follow them, and the patrol shows up with a fine. I could understand if everybody decided to go to the woods and it was no longer solitary. But there is nobody there. If you encounter a squirrel, consider the woods a busy place. It must make some logic to someone.
Those who work from home also find that it's not always easy. Remember the BBC correspondent in Asia whose small children came waltzing into the room, and his wife racing after them? Well, this reporter found that reporting from home is not the same as being on a set. I bet she's seriously thinking about moving out after her father came in, pulling on a t-shirt as she was reporting from her parents' kitchen.
Everyone seems to be getting into cooking, since there's no going out to eat, and not that many places are doing take-out. A young man, a university student stuck in his apartment, most likely, decided to make a Spanish tortilla for his roommate. He goes to flip it over, and it comes out almost correctly. Until he goes to put it back in the frying pan to brown the other side. He had taken the frying pan off the fire (old electric stove), and he plops the tortilla directly onto the burner. I'm glad I wasn't the one to clean up.
But I do have to continue to clean the tile in the kitchen. I can't claim I have no time now.
Life continues.
Courage, Maria! We also think it will be longer than this month that we are confined. Yes, the poor and those who have cheated on paying taxes are going to suffer the most. And afterwards, it will be a very different world, perhaps a much harder world.
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