04/22/2020
Corona virus Shelter-in-Place Day 31
My Personal Corona virus Disaster Story... (Long Post)
For a lot of us, the corona virus is just a pain in the ass and started in the middle March.. Most of us are just stuck at home (for the most part) as we continue to run out for food & anything else we “need”.
I personally have been, and therefore includes my family, been greatly affected by the virus since November. Let me explain...
You see, back in October, the “Check Engine” light came on in my work truck. If you know me, you know I know a lot about cars. I plugged in my engine scanner & it returned a code for “Cylinder 2 Miss-fire”. The truck seemed to run fine, so I cleared it. It came back a couple of weeks later.
Lil & I had scheduled the week of Thanksgiving for vacation & I made an appointment to have the truck repaired that week (assuming it was something simple).
The dealership called me on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week to tell me it wasn’t something simple. On the following Monday, they informed me it needed a new “Cylinder Head” as cylinder 2 had a burnt valve. This was to be the first of many missed weeks of scheduled work.
Two days later on Wednesday following Thanksgiving, I was informed that Chrysler was having difficulty securing a cylinder head for my repair, and the current date to receive one was JANUARY 5, 2020! I called, & I screamed many, many times to no avail.
Turns out, China makes the part, and as news has slowly leaked out since then, they were already having massive sick outs in their factories in December, causing the significant delay of my part.
In early December, I was informed that there was a change in the expected delivery date and the part was now expected on January 9th. Great, just great.
I should mention a couple of things. Lil & I had saved for a rainy day, & now it was raining pretty good. In late summer, I scheduled a much needed Hip Replacement for late January, figuring I’d be stuck in the house in the winter anyway. As it was my right hip, I booked off 4 weeks as I wouldn’t be able to drive.
Chrysler told me I could rent a truck, & after contacting Enterprise, DHL, & Pensky, I was informed that there was not a box vehicle with wheels that wasn’t rented by either FedEx or Amazon. Great, just great
The part actually arrived on January 8, a day early. The dealership, trying to surprise me by having the truck back together by the 9th, rushed it, and it leaked radiator fluid when they were done. Unfortunately, it was leaking from the engine block, and they had to take it apart and start all over again.
I picked up the truck late Monday, January 13. The bill was just over $7,000! One of the smartest things I ever did was to get the extended warranty, which is something I rarely do. So it only cost me the $100 deductible. I have now missed 5 weeks of scheduled work.
I started work on Tuesday and noticed a slow oil leak after only my second stop. Great, just great. The dealership took an appointment for Friday, I checked the oil regularly, and worked Wednesday & Thursday.
On the following Wednesday, January 23, I had my hip replaced. Out for another 4 weeks, but at least I didn’t have any customers scheduled during this time.
By February, 11, I was walking pretty good with the help of a cane. The Corona virus was hitting the news on a regular basis.
I went back to work Tuesday, February 18, and racked up 4 much needed weeks of work. Being nine weeks behind, I scheduled anyone I could if they were near where I was going, & this made for four awesome & much needed weeks of income.
Over the weekend of March 14, the guidelines about social distancing and not gathering in groups greater than 10 crushed the following week. This was quickly followed up by the shelter in place, non-essential workers were to stay at home on March 23, which crushed the following week.
So now we (Lil too) have been out another 4 weeks. For the record, as of this week, there have been 22 weeks since Thanksgiving. I have only worked 7 of those weeks, & two of those were hardly worth it. I have missed 9 weeks of scheduled work due to the Corona virus.
Lil & I both applied for the PPP on day one & were eventually approved! I give a huge amount of gratitude & thanks to and Scott V. in particular for making that happen. HOWEVER, the PPP was only set up to cover 2.5 months of income. If we tighten our belts a little we could stretch it for 3 months, starting this month. So, if things aren't really back to “normal”, and I’ll be specific to “income normal”, (I don’t care if I have to wear a mask & gloves in public for the rest of my life) things are going to get really dicey for us come July.
I imagine, there are many who, even though they haven’t been hit like me since Thanksgiving, didn’t have a rainy day fund, didn’t get a PPP and are in dire straits NOW.
The kids found out yesterday, that for the remainder of this school year, the school will be closed.
Stay safe… & may this be “over” sooner than later...
