A lot about relationships is being able to see each other in person and have that kind of intimacy — like holding hands and things like that — but I think you can somewhat capture that through FaceTime, talking a lot, and just sharing what happens in your day. I don’t go outside often, but every now and then, I go on walks with my neighbor, and it’s pretty fun. It normally takes me an hour to get to work, but it takes only 30 minutes or less now because the highways are just completely empty.

Where do you work?

I work at a nursing home as a waitress. I work where my mom works because she’s a social worker, which is how I learned about the job, and I’ve been volunteering there since I was 6. I really wanted the money, so when they offered the job, I was ready. So I do have a lot of experience dealing with elders. Before this job, I actually dealt with them more in person through volunteering in activities. But now I’m usually in the kitchen, which isn't very face-to-face unless they come in to ask for yogurt or something.

The way the kitchen works is that, since I’m new and younger than everybody, everyone else deals more with the food making and preparing most of the time. That’s a bit more advanced than I could deal with because I’m not a chef and don’t have food industry experience. My job is mostly just when the tray line happens, I’ll put the trays on or call the orders. Then I’ll organize everything — like trays and silverware — just the boring things. But it also means that I’m the one who’s out in front of everything, by the doorways and the entrance, where people will come if they need help. So I’m always the person who has to deal with complaints. There’s this one woman from activities, who is in the building next to ours, and she always asks for juice. But the juice machine is always broken, and I rarely know how to deal with that, so I’m usually just running around trying to find juice.

They have very specific demands for what they’re served for breakfast and lunch. A lot of the time, I’ll get yelled at about cooking eggs over easy, even though I’m not in charge of that. I guess it’s a good lesson on how to deal with difficult people because you always have to be polite. They’re always in the right, no matter what. You just have to be as helpful as you can, and sometimes that means listening to them and nodding.

There are a lot of codes you have to follow because everybody there is at high risk. Most of them have autoimmune disorders or things where they need oxygen machines, just a lot of things that involve respiratory illnesses, which is exactly what [coronavirus] is. You have to take a lot of precautions when you’re handling their food, which is all I do. I have to wear gloves and a mask at all times. I have to wash my hands all the time. The dining room isn’t open right now, so I just bring food to the residents’ doors instead. We’re not allowed to be in contact with them.

There is this one lady who’s [sort of] like my boss. She tells me what to do most of the time. Her name is Jennifer, and she’s in her 20s or younger. It’s nice to have someone who’s somewhat in my age range because most of them are just adults. She’s been so helpful. I’ve learned about hard work. It’s not office-type work; it’s more cleaning, getting down on your hands and knees, wiping things down, and walking all the time. It’s definitely taught me a lot about manual labor and how hard that is. It’s given me a lot of respect for people who are in their 50s and 60s and still do blue-collar work. I’m 15, and by the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I only work two days a week!

My boss is very big on having common sense. She doesn’t like it when people ask useless questions without thinking first. So sometimes I won’t know where things are, and I’ll just stand there for five minutes looking around. I don’t want to ask someone because I feel like I should be able to figure it out on my own. But I’ve learned that that’s not always helpful. It is important to think before you ask questions, because asking unnecessary questions all the time wastes other people’s time. Also, it’s good to communicate, and if you don’t clarify things, you’ll never learn.

I’m the only person who speaks only English in the whole facility. Most of the languages spoken are either Tagalog or Spanish. I think that’s really interesting, because I’m definitely learning a little bit about the languages. It’s good not to be constantly surrounded by people who do the exact same things as you. It’s important to be surrounded by people of other cultures.

What’s it like working in a nursing home during COVID?

With the coronavirus right now, I have to get tested every two weeks at work. I had to get a TB (tuberculosis) shot twice and a physical. I did have a background check done. I had to get a working license and submit all of my bank statements so they know where to deposit my checks. I had to go through training for sexual harassment, fraud, elder abuse, and so on and so forth. All that took about two weeks before my job started.

When my job started, there were a lot of organizational things. It’s mostly just about calling the orders. It takes a while to learn how to do that because everything has codes. It’s like, low potassium means give them a banana, or CCHO means no sugar, and NAS means low salt. It takes a while to learn this.

I’m not really worried because we’re cautious about being around each other. So far, there haven’t been many cases at work, and I feel like everybody’s been safe. I don’t know how any of us could get [sick]. They have a lot of different protocols for handling food, a lot of handwashing, and checking your temperature. People are usually allowed to visit loved ones, but not right now because of COVID. I have to wear a mask for a long time at work, and I think the people who refuse to wear masks on an everyday basis are pretty selfish and ignorant.