COVID-19 ravaged all of the world and affected many people’s lives. It shut down businesses and forced everyone to quarantine. Now the lockdown has lifted and people have started to work again, but what exactly changed from the initial lockdown to the present with things opening back up? Here are some people who worked during the pandemic and shared what exactly changed in their line of work. 

Christy Rhoades, a hairstylist, said that her job has been impacted by the pandemic because she has to clean constantly.

“Well men wear their hair longer, the wait is longer in between haircuts since we have to sanitize everything,” Rhoades said. “People who come in are more talkative, we have to wear a mask obviously, we’re not allowed to do beards anymore, and we can’t have a waiting room like we used to.” 

Marc Lemle works as an auto mechanic and has also had to adjust.

“I do vehicle maintenance, and we used to be able to drive the customers, we used to be able to give them handshakes and just in general have more interaction with them,” Lemle said. “What changed is we had to take our temperatures in the morning, wear rubber gloves while working, sanitize customers’ vehicles, and obviously wear masks around the shop.” 

MHS junior Nathan Rhoades works as a landscaper & lawn maintenance worker.

“My job is hot in the summer and takes a lot of energy out of you from being in the heat all day and it’s cold in the wintertime,” Rhoades said. “Everyday there is always something different, mowing and trimming bushes to digging holes and planting trees and plants to shovelling rocks or mulch for flower beds. The only thing that changed was that we had to wear masks when we went into stores and not really interacting with people too often.”