You can sit in the conference room all day long and no one comes in to talk to you. But if you walk the warehouse floor with them, they might. People are worried about family in New York. They are worried about taking the virus home from work to frail parents or young children they care for. They fear for loved ones in other countries where international travel has been stopped.
When they speak in Spanish, I pick out the words familia, trabajo, and infermo.
I talk with one man, wearing a respirator, who explains that he has been protecting his sick mother, who lives with him, from the rest of his siblings. But now he himself might have been exposed to the virus at work - last week.
What if I've actually been exposing her to it this whole time while trying to protect her?
He is worried about panic in the streets and a complete break down in civility between people. I try to bring him back to right now, using a calm voice, to his next breath. One full inhalation and one full exhalation. Deal with one minute and then the next minute - one thing at a time. I tell him this while I'm actively urinating.
When they speak in Spanish, I pick out the words familia, trabajo, and infermo.
I talk with one man, wearing a respirator, who explains that he has been protecting his sick mother, who lives with him, from the rest of his siblings. But now he himself might have been exposed to the virus at work - last week.
What if I've actually been exposing her to it this whole time while trying to protect her?
He is worried about panic in the streets and a complete break down in civility between people. I try to bring him back to right now, using a calm voice, to his next breath. One full inhalation and one full exhalation. Deal with one minute and then the next minute - one thing at a time. I tell him this while I'm actively urinating.
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