The Business of Being Normal
During a pandemic, business owners and employees search for control in order to juggle social life, work and family.
Story by Emily Porter
The streets of downtown Bellingham, Washington stand quiet and desolate. Occasionally, the silence is disrupted by the hum of a car or a singing seagull flying overhead. The wind whistles through the alleyways and between businesses, only disturbing litter on the sidewalks. Left to right and business after business have signs hung on doors reading, “TEMPORARILY CLOSED.”
On March 25, all non-essential businesses were ordered to close to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
Once bustling with customers, WinkWink Boutique, now sits empty, like a quiet warehouse of products. Sex toys and educational books are visible through the front windows, and up until early May, a note rested on the door reading “Be back on March 31.”
WinkWink owner Jenn Mason used to live a life consumed by working at her downtown shop. Upon walking into the store, customers were greeted by a display of lingerie, sex toys and books showcasing a variety of sex positions. The back of the store was lined with dildos, cock rings, vibrators and more. Now, the glass door of WinkWink remains closed until further notice, and Jenn has been forced to move her business online.
“We have lost some amount of business,” Jenn said. “We have lost the ability to plan, the ability to see the long term, the ability to feel stability. I have completely suspended the idea that we will go back to normal. I don’t think there is a normal ahead of this. I think it will be a new normal.”
For Jenn, the new normal involves taking care of her 6-year-old daughter Luella Mason-Estes, who is non-verbal and non-mobile. Luella was born with meconium aspiration syndrome, in which a baby’s excrement gets into their lungs in the womb, making it difficult for them to breathe when they’re born. Jenn said normally, a caretaker cares for Luella when she is at work, but since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Luella has been the focal point of her days.
“I have lost a lot of ability in free time and autonomy. My daughter is not going to school and we’re not able to access childcare for her because of COVID-19 risk,” Jenn said.
While working on fulfilling online orders from her bedroom, Jenn has the stereo on listening to children’s music for Luella’s entertainment.
“Sex toy family delivery is sort of an odd family thing to do, but it gets us out of the house and the chance to talk,” Jenn said. With so much at-home time, she said it is strange to not have any time apart from her family, but said they make sure to take some alone time for themselves.
Nearly every day, Jenn visits the sex shop to wrap and package local online orders.
Jenn said she never pictured running an online store, but now, wrapping and delivering purchases fills her days. After locking-up the shop, Jenn fills the back seat of her Honda CRV with brown paper gift bags filled with lingerie, sex toys and activity books, all carefully wrapped with tissue paper. Most days, Jenn and her husband personally deliver orders to their customers, dropping off packages on porches and apartment lobbies across Bellingham.
“Sex toy family delivery is sort of an odd family thing to do, but it gets us out of the house and the chance to talk,” Jenn said.
Some days, Jenn said she is out making deliveries until 10 p.m., and she’s even had to fix a flat tire while in the middle of dropping off orders. Despite the road-blocks, Jenn said the new method has enhanced her relationship with her customers in ways she didn’t expect.
A couple of blocks away from WinkWink sits ANMLY cafe. Owned by Emile Diffley, it is a 1-year-old business striving to produce zero waste. Before coronavirus, ANMLY served piping hot breakfast burritos on chic white plates as customers waited up to an hour for a weekend brunch seat. Now, customers line up outside sitting on the bench directly under the ANMLY logo ready to collect their to-go lattes and burritos.
“We didn’t want [ANMLY] to be a take-away burrito shop,” Emile said. “That’s not something that I ever wanted to do.”
Emile shares an apartment with four roommates, only a short bike ride away from ANMLY. Since Governor Inslee announced the Stay Home Stay Healthy order, Emile said all five of them spend a lot of time together. He said it has been nice to have that personal connection with them. He had conversations with his roommates about boundaries during this time and said it allows them to enjoy each other’s company but trust what they are doing is safe.
This is a life many people, including Emile, never imagined. He said even simple tasks like going to the grocery store make him feel uneasy. Now, waiting in lines up to 20 minutes hoping there is still at least one roll of toilet paper left is a new reality.
“There is not the same human connection, and that has been really strange and lonely experience,” Emile said.
ANMLY has been forced to adjust from a leisurely cafe to a to-go coffee and food shop. Emile’s mission for the cafe was for it to be sustainable and produce delicious and beautiful food, but he has now lost an important part of the company.
“At first when it all started, you kind of have the ‘oh shit’ reaction, and you really have no information but at the same time all this information is bombarded at you,” Emile said. “I took this as an entrepreneurial challenge and experience and a way to be creative and innovative.”
As business owners, Jenn and Emile have faced setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are also facing new challenges.
L. Page, manager of the Queer Youth Project at Northwest Youth Services, usually offers training to adults who are caring for LGBTQ+ youth, but now, her connections to clients are through a computer screen.
“My role is to hold space for those parents to make sure they feel very supported and not ashamed or policed in any way,” Page said. “My job is to support and advocate for LGBTQ+ youth.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Page said she regularly talked at schools and reached out to youth to offer help and support. She said staying connected to her clients is challenging when some students do not have access to the internet or some are in an unsafe household and cannot use programs like Zoom.
“My heart just breaks for how isolated and alone they feel,” she said. “If you’re a trans kid and you don’t have access to social media regularly, and you are in a household where the adults who have power over you don’t accept your identity and maybe mistreat you because of your identity, that’s just toxic and destructive.”
Page said she is adapting to the current circumstances by using programs like Zoom to video-call her clients in the living room of her blue wood-paneled house. While on a video-call, she hopes her 10-month-old baby, Fern, doesn’t scream in the background, while her wife Kristin, a nurse practitioner, also virtually meets clients in their spare bedroom. Occasionally, their lab boxer mix, Opie will interrupt the video conference with a loud howl.
Throughout the day, Page said she and Kristin take turns caring for Fern. Normally they would hire a nanny while at work, but now for Fern’s safety they have been on full “Fern duty”. Until phase two, she and her wife cannot have a nanny.
“It has been really lovely to be home with (Fern),” Page said. “The downside is that Fern has not been able to see anyone close in her life.”
Whether a business owner or an employee, COVID-19 has caused these individuals to adapt to a new life and a new normal. As the Bellingham community continues to stay cautious, people are discovering new talents, new alternatives and new ways to continue business.
“I took this as an entrepreneurial challenge and experience and a way to be creative and innovative.”
As phase 2 draws closer Page is eager to continue face-to-face relationships with the kids she is most worried about. Page said, “I want to tell them how much I was thinking about them and sending them my care. I want to hear the stories of what they’ve been through, what they were thinking about and what they may have created. I want them to hear that they are an essential part of our big, resilient, compassionate and determined family of queer and trans folks.”
Unfortunately for Jenn, WinkWink is unable to open until phase 4. For now, she must continue adapting to the new normal and see what lies ahead.
As for ANMLY, Emile is hopeful for the future and will continue his to-go orders until the community is able to take steps towards reopening restaurants, stores and more.