Service Industry

How Covid-19 has Affected Restaurant Workers

As tourist season gets going on the Outer Banks, restaurants scramble to balance consumer demand and their own safety. Dylan Ownes is a seasonal cook at an Outer Banks Restaurant called The Bonzer Shack. Ownes speaks about how things are different this summer – more orders, more hours, and fewer staff. Produced by Jocelyn Ratti….

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Outer Banks Bridge Closures Continue to Affect Businesses Weeks After Opening

The Outer Banks had a unique opportunity to completely shut off travel during the North Carolina’s statewide shelter-in-place order; only residents were allowed on and off of the islands. While this helped contain the spread of COVID-19, it also affected local businesses. Harvey Hess, general manager of his family-owned restaurant Capt’n Franks, and Christine Davidson,…

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Whiteville’s Pizza Village Shifts its Business Model During COVID-19

Jennifer Hall and her partner Ron have worked at Pizza Village in Whiteville, North Carolina for 32 years. The two had just taken over the restaurant when restaurants across the state shut down. Hall says they  had to make changes – taking orders outside, ordering more paper products, assigning parking spaces to customers “in line”…

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Not Finished Yet

The service economy and the people that work in it have their Hurricane Florence story. The project was produced by a community journalist as part of the Narrative Arts‘ Resiliency Media Fellowship in Wilmington, North Carolina. To host a screening of this and other films in the series contact us at info@workingnarratives.org.

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Grocery Store Clerk Discusses Progression of Covid-19

Chris Lamoreaux is a grocery store cashier in Morehead City, NC. Lamoreaux lives with his mother, who has an autoimmune disease. After work, Lamoreaux now self-quarantines in his bedroom. The national PPE shortage means that no gloves are available to Lamoreaux for handling customer cash at his register. Broadcast from the Working Narratives studio, this…

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Fast Food COVID-19 Special

A fast food manager in coastal North Carolina discusses how her team has put their health and safety at risk during the coronavirus pandemic – to serve milkshakes and french fries. She says her team feels unsafe and scared, and their concerns aren’t being taken seriously. Broadcast from the Working Narratives studio, this series compiles…

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Hair Salon Owner Discusses COVID-19

Le’Shawna Brunson-Smith says the stimulus bill won’t be much of a help making up for the incoming she’s losing during the coronavirus. Brunson-Smith is the owner of Ladies Hair Design on Castle Street in Wilmington, North Carolina. Since Governor Cooper ordered the shut-down of hair salons, she’s been out of work. To make up for…

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Instacart: Lifeline for Neighbors

Rebecca is normally a grade school teacher second, but with schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, she’s delivering groceries for Instacart. Broadcast from the Working Narratives studio, this series compiles community stories about COVID-19 from coastal North Carolina.

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COVID-19 & Unemployment

Yasmine is a single mother living in coastal North Carolina. Since her restaurant closed, she’s been out of work – but she’s making the most of her time with her daughter. She reflects on how her day-to-day has and will continue to change in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s changing up her routine at…

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COVID-19 & being a Grocery Store Clerk

Chris Lamoreaux speaks to toilet paper mayhem and other patterns happening in this small-town grocery store during the coronavirus pandemic. Lamoreaux, 47, is a cashier at the local Food Lion in Morehead City, North Carolina. Morehead is a small, coastal town that has seen and prepared for deadly hurricane seasons – but nothing like this. …

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