Support Staff
05/18/20
By Laura Kelton
Photo by Garrett Sweet.
So, do you want the good news? Or the bad news?
Let me start by saying that laughter is what has carried me through the last 57 days of unemployment. There are bouts of laughter when I let my mind take a step back and bask in the uncertain terror of the state of our world (and our industry), and there are often moments of forced laughter when I watch this skit to remind myself that this bizarre state of being is real. There is also a lot of laughing at myself because I should know better than to overcommit (at least by now).
For those that don’t know me, I’m a bit of a workaholic with a need for plan and an appreciation for operating procedures. However, my manual for quarantine seems to have gotten lost in the mail. And along with that, whatever semblance of sanity I had stockpiled during a restaurant opening. So I guess we will start with the good news.
The good news is that I have recently found a home with a team of leaders who wanted to operate a restaurant with the common goal of creating a healthy working environment for employees. Restaurants are cyclical, or so I believe. If you can provide a healthy working environment for your team, they will provide the guests with an exceptional experience.
The bad news? We closed our doors three weeks after our official opening. There is nothing that will take the wind out of your sails like not having enough breeze to fill them in the first place. Initially, it was my new normal to just pivot from one situation to another. We had just opened a restaurant and when the shelter-in-place order was announced, were ready to do it again. We were exhausted. We were also resilient. But as the dominoes fell all around us in no particular order, it was clear that resilience wasn’t the answer for any immediate relief.
And as I reread the statements I’ve made up to this point all I can think is, “oh, wow, that is very ‘woe is me’,” but yeah… that sounds about right. And frankly, I’m one of the lucky ones. I was able to file unemployment without question and have had nothing stand in my way to allow the government to support me during this time. I have a home that I love and share with like-minded people and I have the support system I need. What’s really hard is expressing that gratitude and not feeling like I should keep it a secret because I feel like an exception to the rule.
However, I’ve learned that I can be equally grateful for my situation and yet devastated by what I see happening to my friends and colleagues. The hardest part of having time on your hands is figuring out how to process the grief you see on a daily basis. I don’t think that a lot of people realize how many people in our industry are still struggling to get government assistance, even those that “should” have easily qualified.
What I know isn’t seen by those outside of our industry is the weight of guilt held onto by so many folks in our industry who still have jobs, who are trying to justify keeping their jobs and still finding ways to support the majority of their friends whose futures are uncertain. It’s the night owls who now rise with the sun and don’t know how to assimilate to this “normal” life that many of us shunned for so long. It’s the inability to provide service for guests so we take care of each other. It’s the gifts of groceries and masks and cheese just because. It’s learning to set boundaries or express to your friends that you’re too sad to get out of bed today.
During my 57 days of unemployment, I haven’t taken a new class or learned a new skill set, but I have become so much more gentle with myself. Whether or not “work/life balance” exists is still a mystery to me because so much of what we do is personal and if it weren’t, I doubt many of us would continue to fight for this industry. What I do know is the more time I spend quieting my mind, the louder the big ideas get. And that’s the point, right? Resolving and redirecting energy spent on self-critical evaluations or grief and channeling it towards something that can make a difference. There is something very serendipitous about life when you begin to listen to yourself.
So, I did what my friends and I tend to do in the wake of a crisis, and started to organize and fundraise. With the help of our Support Staff team, we were able to build out a resource guide, officially launch a website and begin to raise money for Chicagoland hospitality workers that were most at risk. It’s not an easy feat and is a bit terrifying some days. It is equal parts excitement and heaviness when you realize how much you can help and how many folks are desperately in need. Learning a lot about the non-profit world during the COVID-19 crisis has been overwhelming at times, but an excellent exercise in patience and the many different forms that leadership can take.
To anyone out there that is angry about what our industry looks like right now - good. You should be. Please start to use that to find solutions. I can’t get across in words that just because you don’t view yourself as a leader doesn’t mean you aren’t one. Being a role model or a leader isn’t about having all of the answers or being perfect, it’s about being real. And we really need the voices in our industry to start screaming from the rooftops about the necessity for change. Change in the way we take care of our people in every realm from pay to benefits to uniform requirements. We have no where to go but up from here, but it will take all of us to make that happen.
RECIPE: STRAWBERRY LEMONADE
What you’ll need:
3 large lemons
2 1/4 cups white sugar (divided)
2 cups strawberries
3/4 cup water
Citric acid
Salt
THE INGREDIENTS
Peel three large lemons, removing as little pith as possible, and place all peels into a jar or sealable container. Save the remainder of the lemon to juice later!
Add 1/4 cup white sugar to the container, seal, and shake well. Set aside.
Wash and chop 2 cups strawberries and put into a different jar or sealable container.
Add 1 cup sugar to the container, seal, and shake well.
Let lemon peels and strawberries sit overnight (or roughly 12 hours), shaking occasionally if desired. Both containers should begin to show a higher liquid content as time goes by.
Add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a saucepan over low heat and frequently stir to dissolve all sugar.
Then add all of the contents of the strawberry container and lemon peel container to the saucepan, stirring to dissolve and incorporate any remaining sugar crystals. You can turn up the heat to speed up the process but it will change the flavor of the syrup! I add a pinch of salt and citric acid to make the flavors pop, but neither are necessary.
Strain the syrup off of the fruit pieces (you can dehydrate and candy these if you’d like!)
Juice the peeled lemons and strain off the seeds and pulp.
THE DRINK RECIPE
1 1/2 oz Strawberry Syrup
1 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Add to a Collins glass, add ice, top with water or soda and stir well.
If you’re using water, you can also shake it all in a cocktail shaker or mason jar to incorporate.
I added some Fino Sherry and a splash of Suze to mine, but this recipe works well on its own or with any base spirit or wine.
After growing up in Louisiana, Laura Kelton moved to Chattanooga, TN where she established her bartending career at chef-owned and operated Easy Bistro & Bar. Kelton moved to Chicago in 2014 to further her career, working with Bonhomme Hospitality at Bordel and Fulton Market Kitchen before joining the Heisler Hospitality team. After assisting in the launch of Queen Mary Tavern, she went on to be Head Bartender at Bad Hunter, then moved up in the ranks, serving as General Manager at the acclaimed Sportsman’s Club for two years. After setting down her shaker tins for a while last year, she worked as a Spirits Sales Consultant with Heritage Wine Cellars and co-founded Support Staff, a non-profit aimed at bridging the gap between the hospitality industry and mental health professionals. Most recently she has taken the position as Beverage Director at Mundano in Lincoln Park.
Laura Kelton worked on this piece with Won Kim, the Quarantine Times Monday editor. Every week, Won selects a Chicagoan to share a commissioned creative response to the pandemic.