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My wife, son, and I went to Sweet Tomatoes every Friday night for years. They had great salad and soup bars, reasonably priced. We knew the employees at our local restaurant and they were always friendly and helpful. My son moved to Phoenix earlier this year and found a Sweet Tomatoes there, a link back to home (we live in Albuquerque). He received this announcement in an email today and was shocked and saddened to the point of tears. Now 97 restaurants are closed for good and 4400 employees are unemployed. Because of our fond memories, this one has a special poignancy.
My son said, “I don’t know a single person who’s gotten the coronavirus (he’s 23). But this is personal. Is this the ways things are going to be from now on? What’s the point of going on?”
I didn’t have a good answer.
For all those screeching about staying at home, social distancing, face masks, and the rest of the rigamarole, maybe give at least a thought or two towards those 4400 Sweet Tomatoes people (yes, they’re real humans, although maybe not part of your social milieu) who don’t have jobs, who now join 30+ million who also don’t have the jobs they had two months ago.
