David Veda, General Manager, Tavola Della Nonna, Upper West Side, NY
From the NY Post Article: “Meet the New Yorkers who lost their jobs because of coronavirus“
Veda was making $90,000 a year at Italian restaurant Tavola Della Nonna. Losing his job means he can’t support his wife, Mira, 52, his 17-year-old daughter, who is recovering from a 102-degree fever, and his 22-year-old son. He has $350 in the bank and a $3,000-a-month rent due on his two-bedroom apartment in Rego Park, Queens.
“I have tried to get unemployment for three days in a row. The website crashes and then they want you to call in order to complete your application — and good luck with that. I haven’t been able to reach anyone at that number. There is a busy signal or a recording that the call volume is too great.
“I don’t think we’ll ever go back to where we were, for sure. We will phase back in. We will cure the disease, some will go back to work, but movie theaters, sports arenas, restaurants will not open right away. For restaurants, it will be months before full blast, and there will be businesses that will never reopen because they are on the edge.
“We just have to come to that realization, and the longer we wait, the worse it will get. Shutting down the country, it’s just a fact. The government can’t be our father and mother. We can’t be on their nipple forever.”