This is a fictional story. All names, places, and viruses are used fictitiously. Resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, past or present, are intentional.
If you haven’t read from the beginning, please start at Chapter 1 here.
***
Due Date: 119 days away
“I’m under no obligation to pay anyone if you don’t work.”
Chris let it hang in the air for a second.
“In all honesty, that’s as simple as it gets. My commitment to you and everyone in this room is to keep us working. And quite frankly, I don’t see much changing for us over the coming weeks. We’re going to have the work. We’re not going anywhere.”
Tom nodded like he understood, but his heart wasn’t in it. I knew that wasn’t the answer he or, for that matter, anyone in the room wanted to hear.
“Anyone else?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, what about these guys who are out with the virus? Dale and Brandon?” Travis never hesitated to share what was on his mind. “I worked with Brandon last week. What are we doing about them? When is Brandon coming back to work?”
“Brandon will be back Monday,” Chris said.
“Has he been tested? I heard he hadn’t.” Travis stopped leaning against the wall.
Travis was scheduled to work with Brandon when Brandon texted me that morning. I immediately called Travis and told him that Brandon had been exposed to someone with the virus. I didn’t know the rest of the details until after I spoke with Travis.
What I learned afterward was this. Brandon had been at a party with a friend. The friend got sick a couple days after the party. The symptoms pointed to the virus: coughing, sneezing, fever. Brandon’s friend was able to get tested and was waiting on the results. In other words, Brandon was exposed to a friend who might have the virus.
I told Chris the rest of this but hadn’t told Travis. Chris didn’t elaborate on Brandon’s situation either, probably because the timeline stretched back further than we originally thought. The party was a week before Brandon called out.
“I don’t have control over who is tested and who isn’t,” Chris said. “There are too many variables. If anyone shows symptoms, they need to stay home. If not, we have the work.”
Travis shook his head. “That’s going to be a problem for me. If people are coming to work, and they’re not even tested?”
“And I get that.” Chris oriented toward everyone in the room at this point, not just Travis. “This is a personal decision each of you will have to make. If you don’t feel comfortable being here, don’t feel safe, there’s no shame in that. No one will hold it against you.”
“Don’t mean to be difficult. I have a kid. I just… you know how it is.”
Chris didn’t continue any further.
“I do have one more question,” Tom said. “Let’s say we do, for whatever reason, decide to take time off for this, can we use our vacation time if we have it? Or, how does that work?”
“Yes, you can see where this is going,” Chris said. “Everyone has a different amount of time left, but yes, you can use your vacation time, or personal time. I’ll pay you for it.”
Chris scanned the room one last time.
“Thank you all. You’re free.”
I immediately texted Liz. I knew she’d want to know.
“The meeting was okay. It was good to get us all together and talk about it. Nothing new that I didn’t already knew. Chris just said we’re going to stay open and working as long as we have the work.”
She texted back, “How long is that?”
We didn’t know for sure. Assuming none of our new customers canceled or postponed their installs, we had at least a month of projects in the pipeline, maybe a month and a half. I figured most businesses would want security now more than ever. Many of them were functioning on limited hours and would need the protection while they were closed. I texted Liz my guess.
“Do your technicians know that?” she asked.
“Not really,” I wrote. “Chris said we have the work. He said anyone who isn’t able to work, won’t be paid unless they have PTO. That was the big deal from the meeting.”
“How did everyone take it?” she texted back.
“I’m sure some of the techs wanted him to say that if we have to shut down for a while, he’d continue paying everyone. Even if we could pull that off as a company, if it came to that, I’m sure he wouldn’t say it until it got down to it. Right now, we need everyone to keep working.”
I set down my phone and got back to work.
Liz replied a couple minutes later.
“Yeah, I think it’s understandable. It’s not like you are in large groups. Hopefully, everyone will just stay home if sick, even if no PTO.”
I shot an email up to ask how much time I had left. I hadn’t used any yet for the year, so I knew it had to be a lot. I wanted to confirm it.
I texted Liz again after that, keeping it positive.
“At least it’s not like some companies that are having meetings like, ‘We’re closing now. You are on your own.’ That’s the meeting we could have had today.”
