Working during the Pandemic
Students’ experiences to shifts in work protocols due to covid.
CLEANING UP. Senior Jean-Pierre Mouloudj wipes down dumbbells at the Fremont Hills Country Club where he works as a cleaner and a receptionist on weekends. Photo by Tyler Wang.
May 27, 2021
During the pandemic, we’ve seen how businesses have adapted to the different rules that have been set in place in response to stricter safety precautions. Because of this, workers have had to change along with them. Here are a few things that Palo Alto High School students have said about their experiences in the past year:
“I would describe it [my job] being a lot more strict than before. We’re pretty strict about keeping one party in the store at a time, and having people social distance, when before it was kinda ‘just line up and grab a table after if there’s one available’ mentality.”
— Cameron Lee, senior (barista)
“When the pandemic really hit I actually stopped working for a couple months. But then my parents let me go back to work and everything changed so I didn’t get a gradual change. It was just one way of doing things to another.”
— Allison Yu, senior (barista)
“I had concerns about the start of covid, but my coworkers are all responsible, and we got vaccinated earlier which really helped with concerns.”
— Daniel Li, senior (barista)
“I am double vaccinated and everyone at the pool follows social distancing. I did not work pre- Covid. All I know is that this job was a couple times easier (before Covid) because I have to do things because of Covid precautions.”
— Jean-Pierre Moloudj, senior (cleaner)
“Before COVID, I was only working as a lifeguard for at least eight hours a week during the school year and 20 hours a week over breaks. It is slightly worse now because there is a lot of extra work in terms of managing the pool, reservations, and guest disputes.”
— Thomas Rimsa, junior (lifeguard)