Item
Charlene Bethke, Oral History, 2021/05/06
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Charlene Bethke, Oral History, 2021/05/06
Description (Dublin Core)
Christine Bethke interviews Charlene Bethke. They discuss vaccinations, what Charlene’s career has been like as a public accountant, COVID fears, COVID guidelines, the news/media, social distancing, and dealing with anti-maskers/COVID skeptics in the workplace.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Home & Family Life
English
Pandemic Skeptics
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/06/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
04/20/2022
04/22/2022
05/14/2022
05/18/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
04/21/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Christine Bethke
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Charlene Bethke
Location (Omeka Classic)
53150
Muskego
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:45:52
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Christine Bethke 00:02
Okay, so today is April 21 2021, it is currently 6:27pm. And as of today, there have been 31,602,676 cases of COVID-19 in the US and 565,613 deaths. In Wisconsin, there have been 591,636 cases, and 6,718 deaths 26% of the population in the US has been fully vaccinated. Can you state your name? And do you mind sharing some demographic information such as race, ethnicity, age and gender.
Charlene Bethke 00:47
I'm Charlene Belsky, I'm 64 years old white and a female.
Christine Bethke 00:54
And then what are the primary things you do on a day to day basis.
Charlene Bethke 00:59
I am a public accountant. So I do a county tax returns during tax season, financial statements and miscellaneous other things the rest of the year.
Christine Bethke 01:17
How has COVID-19 affected your job and in what ways
Charlene Bethke 01:22
it has affected it a lot. Um, when it first started, we were panicked about how we were going to be able to continue to work. It was in the middle of tax season and there was still a lot to do. So they had sent out one of our office supervisors to try and find some laptop computers in case we got shut down. And they could not find any anywhere. So we didn't get shut down right away about a week and a half later, the order came out to be safer at home. And we had the choice of working at the office or working from our home and about a third of the people at work worked from home. And the rest continued to go to work. Most of the time. Um, it has been to very rough tax seasons because of COVID because they have been changing the laws in the middle of things. And last tax season was extended through July 15. So that was an extra few months that we were busy working, trying to help people get stay in business, get loans. This tax season and right in the middle of the year, they changed the law again and put it back to December 31. So we're redoing everything of tax returns or had to be redone. So been a very stressful year.
Christine Bethke 03:12
What kind of reactions were there in your workplace when they announced safer at home?
Charlene Bethke 03:18
Panic, there was a lot of panic. Because at first we didn't know if we were going to be regarded as essential or not. They didn't know how tax returns you're going to get done. At that time. We didn't know they were going to extend the deadline. So it was sheer panic by the partners especially. Um, it was yes, we are essential. No we aren't essential arguments about that there was, it just got very very stressful. And in most people took it with, in stride. And okay, this is what we have to do. We had to call in outside IT people to get our computers all set up to be able to work out of the houses and especially with privacy and having all the financial information that we have access to we had to make sure that was all covered. So it was a couple of weeks there were very hard.
Christine Bethke 04:23
And you mentioned that it was difficult finding computers to go safer at home. What was that experience like?
Charlene Bethke 04:31
They didn't know what was going to happen because they sent somebody out it's in our office manager out to one of the big box places. Tech, don't wanna, that sells a lot of computers thinking we would be able to just get we just wanted four or five more just to have backups in case people were going to be working from home and they'd like to have it on their on their computers. So that, for the privacy, and she came back and said, well, they don't have any except extremely expensive ones. So good luck. So they ended up having to use people's computers that they had at home. And again, setting up all these passwords and having our IT people having to fix that up. And then the few laptops that we did have went home with certain people, too. So it was different. Because who would ever thought it couldn't find laptops?
Christine Bethke 05:37
Yeah. Was it hard to adjust to a new way of working, working from home?
Charlene Bethke 05:43
So has there, was there any change in how people worked and how people reacted over the past year in your workplace?
Charlene Bethke 05:43
Yes. It was, was very difficult. Because I'm used to having a desktop with three monitors. And I was sent home with one of the laptops within little tiny monitor that we could split the monitor in half, but then you really couldn't see what you were working on. So it was very difficult. Eventually, we did get to bring, we brought home our own keyboards. And that helped a lot instead of just using the laptop. But it was still hard with only one monitor or one little monitor. And you weren't able to print at home. So anything you were printing was still being printed out at the office and anybody that was there then, but take it off the printers and put it in your office or in your space. And every three, four days you go in and collate and get things put away and grab a bunch of more stuff to bring home.
Charlene Bethke 07:03
Um, last year was a rough year. So we thought this year would be much easier. And it turned out to be actually much harder. So people have been a little more on edge this year, grumpier, I would say. There's been more talk of people that are getting tired and thinking of retiring, because it's been two seasons now of high stress.
Christine Bethke 07:38
So you yourself, were about to retire. I know, as this affected your thinking in that way, this pandemic,
Charlene Bethke 07:49
It's made me more confident about retiring. I have no doubt anymore, that I am going to retire. I just, it's just been a lot in the last few years. We also did move our office during this time.
Christine Bethke 08:06
What was that like?
Charlene Bethke 08:08
Um, very interesting. Our lease was going to be up this year, this May. And they were thinking of just remodeling. But once this all hit, and they realized how close contact we all are, it in, and they decided they wanted to move to. And they were able to move to another building close to where we are with the same owner. So we got out or at least a little bit earlier because we're just moving to a different building that they own. And we were able to design the building ourselves. So every person has their own office. So we don't have to be in contact with anybody where all get the door shut or open. But you're not right next to somebody with an a cubicle that there's no privacy or anything.
Christine Bethke 09:06
What kind of protocols are in place when you were moving offices? Are they sticking to COVID guidelines?
Charlene Bethke 09:11
Yes, in fact, they got even stricter, because we were moving to a new building we anytime we were not, not in our office alone, if we were in our office alone, we didn't have to wear a mask or anything. Once we were out of our office or somebody else came into our office, you had to mask up right away. And during tax season, they have always bought us lunch on Fridays. So we were very limited because they didn't want anything that everybody had to use the same utensil to dish out or anything even like pizza we couldn't have. So this whole tax season we've had box mostly sandwich lunches.
Christine Bethke 10:02
Yeah. How has the COVID pandemic affected your relationships with your coworkers?
Charlene Bethke 10:11
We don't talk as much as we used to, we don't meet like we used to, there'd be times where people would just be in the lunchroom together and you don't get to see anybody anymore. You, when you do have to talk to somebody you're like, at the door they're inside. Or, if you have to get close to again, you have to have your mask on. But it's not chit chatty, like we used to be. And we'll have group times together, it's pretty much work. And that's it.
Christine Bethke 10:48
Has that affected your mental health at all, not being able to chat with as many people?
Charlene Bethke 10:54
I think it has, I think it's gotten to where, again, you don't have that connection with people anymore, you're just in there, you're working all the time, you're not having any relief from it. You can be sitting around or standing around just talking. I mean, we used we have, we had, you have now five partners. And they each have their own little group. So we would, you know, stand around in the morning and just talk about things not even work. Which gets you more relaxed. Also not everything high stress. And then like on Friday, when we had lunches, we'd be in the lunch room. Talking to everybody now it's strictly grab your lunch, go back to your desk.
Christine Bethke 11:45
And you you've mentioned partners a couple of times, would you care to explain a little bit what that is?
Charlene Bethke 11:51
Well, we have, we're an accounting firm, and we have five partners that they own the business, they're the ones that own it, and then each of them have their own staff underneath them. And we also then have office people that work for all the partners. They do the reception is the office manager, who else do we have that works for everybody? Um, we have another girl that does typing if you need it. We do do still some typing, and copying and stuff like that. So they each kind of have their own little section area that they work in. We were all one big office, but just little staffs.
Christine Bethke 12:49
Did that separation help? Like keep people in groups, smaller groups, when you had to have to?
Charlene Bethke 12:57
Yes, you could tell when it first hit when when we started all getting back to the job because in, I stayed home for about a month. And then it just got to be too big of a hassle. I mean, it was just getting to be so hard with having to print things that we're not being able to just go to a file and pull something out and look at it. I'm having calls with my boss and then trying to get a hold of somebody else that's at home. It just got to be so I went back after a month. And I did have my own office. So that was another reason why I did well back. But it wasn't, you weren't getting together with everybody. You have one person or two people that you would talk to. But the group's you could see it was much, much quieter. People weren't just standing around talking, which I'm sure the partners liked. But it you do need some downtime, especially when you're working six days a week and all the long hours during tax season.
Christine Bethke 14:09
Yeah, sure. Yeah. How was tax season? I know you touched on it a little bit, but how is it different with being like longer?
Charlene Bethke 14:22
Well, last year, tax returns are due April 15. And then there's also corporate tax returns that some are due March 15. And some are due April 15. Last year, they extended everything till July 15. Which we thought was a good idea. And I mean it was but it also made people say "Oh, I have much longer to do it so I don't have to get my stuff in right now". So it stretched it out so much longer. So we were working the long hours much longer than we normally would have. And it just seem that that never ended. And then this tax season now, they and during tax season last year, they started the payroll program, the payroll Protection Program, which was a loan. Governor government was giving out loans. And if you follow certain rules you that loan would be forgiven. So, in the middle of tax season, we had to stop and help everybody figure out how much money they could borrow. Because there are as also stipulations, and how much you could borrow according to how much peril you had. And, and so in the middle of this, while we're working at home, we're also trying to do keep in touch with our [unknown word], our clients, helping them get these loans. And we would send out an email blast to all of our clients, two hours later, we'd have to send out a new one, because they they had changed things in it. So it was very confusing, and very stressful. Now, this year, they changed the law in on March 11 of this year, which is right smack dab in the middle of tax season, and they retroed some of these things back to December. So any tax returns that had any of the stuff that they did that were done already, we're either going to have to amend them, or if they hadn't been electronically filed yet. We had to redo them. I've had a couple of tax returns that I've had to redo two and three times, which is not helpful.
Christine Bethke 16:47
Sure not. So on that note, how do you have any thoughts about how local, state or federal government leaders are have responded? Whether that be work related or anything else?
Charlene Bethke 17:02
Um, they've been trying, I must say that, that they're trying. And the only problem is like last year, like I said, we would send out something, then all of a sudden they change it. I mean, there were days that we were sending out two or three emails to clients. And nope, forget what we told you. This is really what they mean. They were passing things and creating things without actually figuring out how it was going to work. And then as it would go along, they would figure out "Well, that's not the way it's gonna work, we got to change it, or it's got to be fixed somehow". So they tried their best, but they aren't accountants either. So they need more input from the accounting firms to actually know how some of this stuff works. And that was the problem this year, on having to have the law changed in the middle of the year, because they had they hadn't actually figured out something they worded it wrong. So the IRS was like, oh, no, you can't do that. So they had to actually go back and fix the wording on it. And it was, it's been a mess again. But they are. And I must say that once Wisconsin at least, once the Fed came out with corrections, Wisconsin almost immediately changed and followed, confirmed to the Fed, which Wisconsin does not always conform to what the Fed says. Now I have a client in Arizona, where they just came out on Monday with the new rules, which is actually after the tax deadline.
Christine Bethke 18:58
So it sounds like there's a lot of little things that like could have been done better, but for the most part.
Charlene Bethke 19:05
Yeah, I mean, nobody knew what they were doing. Honestly, this is not something that has ever happened before. It's never been even thought about. So they're trying to help the small businesses to keep them but it's not always following through all the way so they have to keep putting in little things to help it.
Christine Bethke 19:33
Switching topics now, how has COVID-19 affected you and or your family's day to day activities?
Charlene Bethke 19:46
Um, we have not gone anywhere. We always, always have taken a family vacation. I'm we're not a big family. There's only Me and my husband, and Christine. But we've always gone somewhere on vacation. And last year was the first year that we have not. But we did get things done around the house. So I guess that was a good thing. But we have not fun out we have, I realized one day that when I, we did actually do some, we went somewhere went to the store, I think it was just meant to store that all I have done for almost a year over a year is gone to work. And home from work. That's the only seen scenery I've seen. It's like we finally did after over a year go out to a restaurant. There was nobody else in the restaurant. But it was nice that we had already had one vaccine, so but it's been very quiet.
Christine Bethke 21:07
So you mentioned the vaccine. What was your experience like getting to like access to it understanding when it was available, making an appointment, stuff like that?
Charlene Bethke 21:18
It was I understood when I was it was my turn. I'm getting it, we signed up on a couple of websites, we heard nothing from either one of them. And then from a friend, we learned of a spot where you could get a vaccine, we went online right away that day. And we got one the next day. So it wasn't as, we got it relatively quick, actually. So it wasn't as bad. And now I have family members that their physicians, and are one of them. My mom, they had her physician called right away and had the appointment set up. And I think my one brother works for a school district. They said at one point they were eligible, they set it up for him to go. So he had no problems. Another brother of mine is a veteran and he goes to the VA. And they called him when he was able to enhance it. So none of them have had an issue getting any getting them. And I think thing was with us. We tried to get it as soon as we were eligible when everybody was trying to get them. So we probably we got it within probably three days of when we were supposed when we were eligible. So that's not terrible.
Christine Bethke 22:54
Have you had any side effects from the vaccine?
Charlene Bethke 22:56
A very sore arm. We, I'm not gonna, I was nervous about getting it, but I knew I was getting it. That just was it's different. But it I had I had a very sore arm and actually tomorrow I go and get my second one. So I'll be fully done.
Charlene Bethke 23:21
Yay!
Charlene Bethke 23:22
Yes. Yay! To now then after a few weeks, we feel like we will be able to safely go out and actually go to a restaurant, that's not full, that is that is doing carefully doing things. But at least we have the opportunity then to.
Christine Bethke 23:45
Yeah. Has the COVID-19 outbreak affected how you associate and communicate with friends and family and in what ways?
Charlene Bethke 23:58
Well, I have I've seen my mom twice since the outbreak. Um, she's very, she's 86. She does have medical conditions. So last year for birthday in the summer. We got together and said outside spaced out. And then at Christmas time we went over and stood outside their patio to her patio door and talk to her that way. It's been hard but we know it's for the best. And as a family we've not been able we to get together like Christmas is very strange for all of us. We come from a big family. We always get together at Christmas and Thanksgiving. And everybody had their own. Everybody knew that this was the way it was going to be so it was hard. It was strange. It'll be nice. see everybody again this summer some time hopefully, I had a great nephew born that hopefully we'll be able to see this year, the summer time. So it's been rough, but you do what you have to do.
Christine Bethke 25:18
Have you been able to reach out to any services that have been able to help with the rougher difficult sides of the pandemic? Or any family?
Charlene Bethke 25:31
No, I mean, I haven't I mean, it's, that's just the way it is. And we'll get through it. And we see the end coming.
Christine Bethke 25:49
How are people around you responding to the pandemic, in your community?
Charlene Bethke 25:55
My community or at work?
Christine Bethke 25:58
I'm either one. Anyone your around.
Charlene Bethke 26:02
Um, at work. There's a lot of them that, especially at the beginning, did not believe that this was anything that it was just the flu, until their kids got quarantined and then it kind of hit home, there was been, a mask, uh, not liking them. And all of a sudden now, some couple of the partners have decided they're not going to wear masks anywhere, even though the building has said you have to wear masks. So starting to get I think people are just getting to the point of we need to, and a lot some of them might be vaccinated, I don't know. It's just getting to be, uh, difficult.
Christine Bethke 27:04
How does it make you feel when people around you don't wear masks or refuse to abide by guidelines?
Charlene Bethke 27:12
Um, I don't understand why they do that, that we were discussing, actually, today I was discussing with one of the people that I work with, is why is it so terrible? All you have to do you have your own office, if you're in your office, you don't have to worry about it. It's just walking to the bathroom, or coming in and out of the building. So a total of how much time in a day is that? But you still have to argue about it and fight about it. It's ridiculous. Is my opinion anyway.
Christine Bethke 27:52
Has the pandemic and maybe people's reactions, changed your relationships with anyone? Do you look at anyone differently?
Charlene Bethke 28:02
Yes. When this first started happening, there were a couple of people that I talked to regularly at work, and they they were totally jerks. They, they laughed about it. Their kids would cough at people and think it was funny and I have nothing to say or talk to them or anything with them anymore. Which is sad, but then it turns out then you see what they truly are.
Christine Bethke 28:38
Yeah. Good for good for you. Has anyone you known gotten sick during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Charlene Bethke 28:53
Nobody that I know my, another a different brother works construction. He is head of a construction crew and he has had to quarantine three, four times. At least that was at Christmas time. That's all since then. I don't know how many more times he's had to quarantine. But I have not. I do not. We've been pretty good at work. We are a smaller firm there's about 30 of us. But I know that my husband, there was an outbreak at his work. So those people like I know of, I'm not like friends with them or anything but but otherwise I don't. I've been lucky.
Christine Bethke 29:46
Was it how scary how nerve wracking was it? When you had that scare with your husband's work?
Charlene Bethke 29:55
Its, you worry about it to worry about and worry about him coming home. Now he wears his mask constantly at work. So you felt a little bit at ease. But when this first came out, I was petrified. That's why I started working from home because it was like, you got it, you're gonna die, it seemed like. And then as it went on, and you saw that, well, it's not, it's terrible. But not everybody that gets it is, is going to die. So you felt a little more. But there's still times when, especially like a few months ago when the rate was going was so high that so many people had it. When we would have meetings even though everybody had their mask on and we social distanced and everything you still wondered and worried about, could somebody have it? What if somebody and that was why they put a mask mandate in at work is that if one person got it at work, we would be shut down. And that would have been devastating. And if we weren't working for two or three weeks, we would never make it.
Christine Bethke 31:14
Yeah. So your opinions have kind of changed about COVID? Have you seen other people's opinions change?
Charlene Bethke 31:26
Yes, I've seen em go, uh, seen em go from not believing that this was anything but the flu, to their kids being quarantined. And this is serious and wearing a mask all the time to right now easing up a little bit. I mean, they still wear their masks when they leave our bill when they're out of our office area. But you can tell people are starting to ease up a little bit people are going to restaurants, a lot more people, their kids are playing sports now again. So it's back to trying to have a normal life even though it's not normal yet.
Christine Bethke 32:06
Has that change that changed opinion changing? Ideas? affected? Like how you? I think like Yeah.
Charlene Bethke 32:25
I think of like what they do. I mean, I'm still fine. Okay with them. I just don't want them to be close to me, if they come in my office, stay away from me, if I have to go and talk to you, because one of them is my boss. I'll sit over here on the couch, you sit over at your desk, and I wear my mask. And we, I mean, we still get along and but yeah, it worries me at times now. And I must say because I have the vaccine and I'm getting my second one tomorrow. That has made me feel a little bit better, too. I mean, I don't want to give it to anybody but you but then again, if you're not getting vaccinated, that was not my problem.
Christine Bethke 33:20
How would you how do you react when someone tells you they're not gonna get vaccinated? Do you have any opinions on it?
Charlene Bethke 33:28
Um, well, we did have we do have a guy at work that has said even though he's got asthma, he's not getting the vaccine because you don't know what's gonna happen. It's like, yeah, but do you know what's going to happen if you get the virus? So we've had we have had discussions on it. And then he came one day and said, you know, 500, I heard today that 500 people died from being vaccinated. And that was back when there was probably five, 6 million people, 7 million people vaccinated, like. Alright, you got 500 out of 7 million, 10 million. Well, what about those people? Well, what about all the people that have died from it? So we pretty much don't discuss that anymore.
Christine Bethke 34:24
Stay away from politics. Yes.
Charlene Bethke 34:27
Yeah. So it was a rough, rough year with the election and everything.
Christine Bethke 34:34
You want to go more into that if you're comfortable.
Charlene Bethke 34:37
No.
Christine Bethke 34:37
No, ok.
Charlene Bethke 34:40
We have a very, because we're accountants. We are very outspoken about people about who to vote for and who not to vote for. So you just kind of lay low and let them do their thing because a lot of the clients are, are also.
Christine Bethke 35:02
Makes?
Charlene Bethke 35:03
No jokes. If you don't agree, you just shake your head or say, yeah, you learn how to do those things.
Christine Bethke 35:13
What have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Charlene Bethke 35:17
I'm mostly the not social media. And that is the issue with the other person that I was talking about gets his information from social media. So, but he doesn't believe in the mainstream media. Well, how can you believe in one and not the other, you got to take both of them. Most of its been mainstream media or like CNN and things like that. Not social media.
Christine Bethke 35:51
Have you new sources changed during the course of the pandemic?
Charlene Bethke 35:55
Have my what?
Christine Bethke 35:56
Have you new sources changed during the course of the pandemic? Are you looking at different sources?
Charlene Bethke 36:02
Yes, I didn't, I never used to listen to like CNN in that. But now, almost every night before I go to bed I just kind of go online and see the headlines and see if there's anything new. And we watch more. I think we watch more news, where before we'd have it on but you really weren't paying attention. Now we have it on and you actually are listening to it. And then you get mad.
Christine Bethke 36:32
Has that affected you mental health like, the constant news cycle?
Charlene Bethke 36:36
Yes, the constant there are times when it's like, every leading story does not have to be the same thing. Every day, you don't have to tell us how many people have been vaccinated in Wisconsin, when it's only changing by 100,000, whatever. We can have a day where we don't have to have that as the lead in story. So yes, it is there are times and there were times when it was right around the election right after the election, and the virus was out of control. I was having very difficult time sleeping.
Christine Bethke 37:18
Um, in that sense, are there important issues that you think the media isn't covering or should be covering more?
Charlene Bethke 37:35
I don't, mean, they cover the virus all the time. Sometimes I think they may. I don't say overdo it, but they stress more things that are are going to I know they're trying to get people vaccinated, and they're trying to get people to realize this is important. But sometimes I think they go overboard. And that makes people think this is they're just saying these things. It's not real, because they go over and over it too much.
Christine Bethke 38:16
Are there any different things you wish they would cover? Any different ideas?
Charlene Bethke 38:26
I don't know. I mean, on the virus, it's like they cover I mean, they cover when people are out, they cover the vaccine, they cover the know maybe things that you could do a little bit more showing people. You don't have to be in this big group. But if you went and did this, or you could do things safely, instead of just saying you can do things safely, that probably would mean that maybe it would be helpful.
Christine Bethke 39:03
Are there any things not related to the virus you wish they would cover more? Maybe things not relate to the virus at all?
Charlene Bethke 39:17
Maybe some good things happening in the world. I don't know if there are any. But maybe that would be that would be nice to sometimes hear good news, not just everything about the war and the President and the ex president. And the, I mean, that's basically what's covered the president, the ex president, the virus, maybe we could have some fun things.
Christine Bethke 39:47
I think that would be nice. So as things are getting better in vaccines and the virus, what does a post pandemic world look like for you?
Charlene Bethke 40:03
hopefully going on a trip. And we're hoping by the end of the summer, we'll be able to take a road trip, not a long one, but at least somewhere where we can still distance not be crowded or anything but at least get out and go out for breakfast. That's a big one go out for breakfast. And come and see BMB [Blugold Marching Band]. We missed, we toast, so missed coming up and watching the band and have going to football games. And just everything with that. I mean, we were looking so forward to tell that like, all the BMB members, I'm sure, that is a big thing. Because we were so involved in high school, and then we started or fres-, as your freshman going and seeing the things and we had plans to do it. And then that's all of a sudden just cutting off. It's not even that gradual thing was just totally cut off. That we're really looking forward to.
Christine Bethke 41:22
So knowing what you know now, what do you think that governments or communities or individuals should keep in mind for the future?
Charlene Bethke 41:34
Um, believe that these things are real, take action immediately. Don't pretend it's nothing and it doesn't really concern anybody. And lie about things, come out and be honest and tell everybody. And maybe it won't get so political.
Christine Bethke 41:58
Is there something that you think individuals should keep in mind as single people?
Charlene Bethke 42:05
That they're just trying to protect you and trying to keep everybody safe. I mean, I just don't get why you have to. I don't understand why people. I mean, I understand people want to go out and they want to see people and they want to, but it's almost over just a couple, not that much longer get your vaccine, and it'll be even sooner.
Christine Bethke 42:35
So do you have positive hopes for the near future?
Charlene Bethke 42:39
Yes, you have to, you have to see that it's going to, a few months ago, I was not. But now Yes, I do see that. It could be near. It's not going to ever be normal. It's going to be a new normal. But I can see that we can be able to do things. We'll be able to get together as a family. We'll be able to maybe go on a small road trip, we'll be able to have a fourth of July. We'll be able to come up to Eau Claire and watch BMB.
Christine Bethke 43:17
Yeah, so what? What do you think the new normal will entail?
Charlene Bethke 43:28
Eventually, we'll end up being back to where we were because that's just how everybody is at right, at the beginning when pep-, now as we're going forward are still going to be spaced in they're still going to be limited like at baseball games. And that may be for a while. But hopefully eventually things will be back to maybe not as crazy as they were at times but everybody being able to do what they go places and meet people.
Christine Bethke 44:05
Is there anything we haven't touched on that you would like to talk about?
Charlene Bethke 44:18
No. Make sure you get your vaccine. No. Well, I do want to say though, I do think that the colleges I know there's been people that are upset that they didn't get spring break or that they and it's lousy. What's happened. It's always it's for all of you guys. But they were doing it to try and protect everybody. And they're doing the best they can because nobody's been through this. Things may have to get adjusted and hopefully next year everybody's going back and meeting people and doing things and that and in a year, everybody can never forget what happened but that they can enjoy themselves again.
Christine Bethke 45:20
Oh, well, unless there's anything else you want to talk about.
Charlene Bethke 45:28
Hmm, no.
Christine Bethke 45:28
No? Okay.
Charlene Bethke 45:29
I think we've covered a lot.
Christine Bethke 45:32
I think we need to thank you for doing this. Thank you for agreeing to do this. It'll be very helpful for the future to have these. So thank you.
Charlene Bethke 45:43
I hope so.
Christine Bethke 45:45
Okay, I'm gonna end the recording if you want to stick around.
Charlene Bethke 45:49
Okay.
Okay, so today is April 21 2021, it is currently 6:27pm. And as of today, there have been 31,602,676 cases of COVID-19 in the US and 565,613 deaths. In Wisconsin, there have been 591,636 cases, and 6,718 deaths 26% of the population in the US has been fully vaccinated. Can you state your name? And do you mind sharing some demographic information such as race, ethnicity, age and gender.
Charlene Bethke 00:47
I'm Charlene Belsky, I'm 64 years old white and a female.
Christine Bethke 00:54
And then what are the primary things you do on a day to day basis.
Charlene Bethke 00:59
I am a public accountant. So I do a county tax returns during tax season, financial statements and miscellaneous other things the rest of the year.
Christine Bethke 01:17
How has COVID-19 affected your job and in what ways
Charlene Bethke 01:22
it has affected it a lot. Um, when it first started, we were panicked about how we were going to be able to continue to work. It was in the middle of tax season and there was still a lot to do. So they had sent out one of our office supervisors to try and find some laptop computers in case we got shut down. And they could not find any anywhere. So we didn't get shut down right away about a week and a half later, the order came out to be safer at home. And we had the choice of working at the office or working from our home and about a third of the people at work worked from home. And the rest continued to go to work. Most of the time. Um, it has been to very rough tax seasons because of COVID because they have been changing the laws in the middle of things. And last tax season was extended through July 15. So that was an extra few months that we were busy working, trying to help people get stay in business, get loans. This tax season and right in the middle of the year, they changed the law again and put it back to December 31. So we're redoing everything of tax returns or had to be redone. So been a very stressful year.
Christine Bethke 03:12
What kind of reactions were there in your workplace when they announced safer at home?
Charlene Bethke 03:18
Panic, there was a lot of panic. Because at first we didn't know if we were going to be regarded as essential or not. They didn't know how tax returns you're going to get done. At that time. We didn't know they were going to extend the deadline. So it was sheer panic by the partners especially. Um, it was yes, we are essential. No we aren't essential arguments about that there was, it just got very very stressful. And in most people took it with, in stride. And okay, this is what we have to do. We had to call in outside IT people to get our computers all set up to be able to work out of the houses and especially with privacy and having all the financial information that we have access to we had to make sure that was all covered. So it was a couple of weeks there were very hard.
Christine Bethke 04:23
And you mentioned that it was difficult finding computers to go safer at home. What was that experience like?
Charlene Bethke 04:31
They didn't know what was going to happen because they sent somebody out it's in our office manager out to one of the big box places. Tech, don't wanna, that sells a lot of computers thinking we would be able to just get we just wanted four or five more just to have backups in case people were going to be working from home and they'd like to have it on their on their computers. So that, for the privacy, and she came back and said, well, they don't have any except extremely expensive ones. So good luck. So they ended up having to use people's computers that they had at home. And again, setting up all these passwords and having our IT people having to fix that up. And then the few laptops that we did have went home with certain people, too. So it was different. Because who would ever thought it couldn't find laptops?
Christine Bethke 05:37
Yeah. Was it hard to adjust to a new way of working, working from home?
Charlene Bethke 05:43
So has there, was there any change in how people worked and how people reacted over the past year in your workplace?
Charlene Bethke 05:43
Yes. It was, was very difficult. Because I'm used to having a desktop with three monitors. And I was sent home with one of the laptops within little tiny monitor that we could split the monitor in half, but then you really couldn't see what you were working on. So it was very difficult. Eventually, we did get to bring, we brought home our own keyboards. And that helped a lot instead of just using the laptop. But it was still hard with only one monitor or one little monitor. And you weren't able to print at home. So anything you were printing was still being printed out at the office and anybody that was there then, but take it off the printers and put it in your office or in your space. And every three, four days you go in and collate and get things put away and grab a bunch of more stuff to bring home.
Charlene Bethke 07:03
Um, last year was a rough year. So we thought this year would be much easier. And it turned out to be actually much harder. So people have been a little more on edge this year, grumpier, I would say. There's been more talk of people that are getting tired and thinking of retiring, because it's been two seasons now of high stress.
Christine Bethke 07:38
So you yourself, were about to retire. I know, as this affected your thinking in that way, this pandemic,
Charlene Bethke 07:49
It's made me more confident about retiring. I have no doubt anymore, that I am going to retire. I just, it's just been a lot in the last few years. We also did move our office during this time.
Christine Bethke 08:06
What was that like?
Charlene Bethke 08:08
Um, very interesting. Our lease was going to be up this year, this May. And they were thinking of just remodeling. But once this all hit, and they realized how close contact we all are, it in, and they decided they wanted to move to. And they were able to move to another building close to where we are with the same owner. So we got out or at least a little bit earlier because we're just moving to a different building that they own. And we were able to design the building ourselves. So every person has their own office. So we don't have to be in contact with anybody where all get the door shut or open. But you're not right next to somebody with an a cubicle that there's no privacy or anything.
Christine Bethke 09:06
What kind of protocols are in place when you were moving offices? Are they sticking to COVID guidelines?
Charlene Bethke 09:11
Yes, in fact, they got even stricter, because we were moving to a new building we anytime we were not, not in our office alone, if we were in our office alone, we didn't have to wear a mask or anything. Once we were out of our office or somebody else came into our office, you had to mask up right away. And during tax season, they have always bought us lunch on Fridays. So we were very limited because they didn't want anything that everybody had to use the same utensil to dish out or anything even like pizza we couldn't have. So this whole tax season we've had box mostly sandwich lunches.
Christine Bethke 10:02
Yeah. How has the COVID pandemic affected your relationships with your coworkers?
Charlene Bethke 10:11
We don't talk as much as we used to, we don't meet like we used to, there'd be times where people would just be in the lunchroom together and you don't get to see anybody anymore. You, when you do have to talk to somebody you're like, at the door they're inside. Or, if you have to get close to again, you have to have your mask on. But it's not chit chatty, like we used to be. And we'll have group times together, it's pretty much work. And that's it.
Christine Bethke 10:48
Has that affected your mental health at all, not being able to chat with as many people?
Charlene Bethke 10:54
I think it has, I think it's gotten to where, again, you don't have that connection with people anymore, you're just in there, you're working all the time, you're not having any relief from it. You can be sitting around or standing around just talking. I mean, we used we have, we had, you have now five partners. And they each have their own little group. So we would, you know, stand around in the morning and just talk about things not even work. Which gets you more relaxed. Also not everything high stress. And then like on Friday, when we had lunches, we'd be in the lunch room. Talking to everybody now it's strictly grab your lunch, go back to your desk.
Christine Bethke 11:45
And you you've mentioned partners a couple of times, would you care to explain a little bit what that is?
Charlene Bethke 11:51
Well, we have, we're an accounting firm, and we have five partners that they own the business, they're the ones that own it, and then each of them have their own staff underneath them. And we also then have office people that work for all the partners. They do the reception is the office manager, who else do we have that works for everybody? Um, we have another girl that does typing if you need it. We do do still some typing, and copying and stuff like that. So they each kind of have their own little section area that they work in. We were all one big office, but just little staffs.
Christine Bethke 12:49
Did that separation help? Like keep people in groups, smaller groups, when you had to have to?
Charlene Bethke 12:57
Yes, you could tell when it first hit when when we started all getting back to the job because in, I stayed home for about a month. And then it just got to be too big of a hassle. I mean, it was just getting to be so hard with having to print things that we're not being able to just go to a file and pull something out and look at it. I'm having calls with my boss and then trying to get a hold of somebody else that's at home. It just got to be so I went back after a month. And I did have my own office. So that was another reason why I did well back. But it wasn't, you weren't getting together with everybody. You have one person or two people that you would talk to. But the group's you could see it was much, much quieter. People weren't just standing around talking, which I'm sure the partners liked. But it you do need some downtime, especially when you're working six days a week and all the long hours during tax season.
Christine Bethke 14:09
Yeah, sure. Yeah. How was tax season? I know you touched on it a little bit, but how is it different with being like longer?
Charlene Bethke 14:22
Well, last year, tax returns are due April 15. And then there's also corporate tax returns that some are due March 15. And some are due April 15. Last year, they extended everything till July 15. Which we thought was a good idea. And I mean it was but it also made people say "Oh, I have much longer to do it so I don't have to get my stuff in right now". So it stretched it out so much longer. So we were working the long hours much longer than we normally would have. And it just seem that that never ended. And then this tax season now, they and during tax season last year, they started the payroll program, the payroll Protection Program, which was a loan. Governor government was giving out loans. And if you follow certain rules you that loan would be forgiven. So, in the middle of tax season, we had to stop and help everybody figure out how much money they could borrow. Because there are as also stipulations, and how much you could borrow according to how much peril you had. And, and so in the middle of this, while we're working at home, we're also trying to do keep in touch with our [unknown word], our clients, helping them get these loans. And we would send out an email blast to all of our clients, two hours later, we'd have to send out a new one, because they they had changed things in it. So it was very confusing, and very stressful. Now, this year, they changed the law in on March 11 of this year, which is right smack dab in the middle of tax season, and they retroed some of these things back to December. So any tax returns that had any of the stuff that they did that were done already, we're either going to have to amend them, or if they hadn't been electronically filed yet. We had to redo them. I've had a couple of tax returns that I've had to redo two and three times, which is not helpful.
Christine Bethke 16:47
Sure not. So on that note, how do you have any thoughts about how local, state or federal government leaders are have responded? Whether that be work related or anything else?
Charlene Bethke 17:02
Um, they've been trying, I must say that, that they're trying. And the only problem is like last year, like I said, we would send out something, then all of a sudden they change it. I mean, there were days that we were sending out two or three emails to clients. And nope, forget what we told you. This is really what they mean. They were passing things and creating things without actually figuring out how it was going to work. And then as it would go along, they would figure out "Well, that's not the way it's gonna work, we got to change it, or it's got to be fixed somehow". So they tried their best, but they aren't accountants either. So they need more input from the accounting firms to actually know how some of this stuff works. And that was the problem this year, on having to have the law changed in the middle of the year, because they had they hadn't actually figured out something they worded it wrong. So the IRS was like, oh, no, you can't do that. So they had to actually go back and fix the wording on it. And it was, it's been a mess again. But they are. And I must say that once Wisconsin at least, once the Fed came out with corrections, Wisconsin almost immediately changed and followed, confirmed to the Fed, which Wisconsin does not always conform to what the Fed says. Now I have a client in Arizona, where they just came out on Monday with the new rules, which is actually after the tax deadline.
Christine Bethke 18:58
So it sounds like there's a lot of little things that like could have been done better, but for the most part.
Charlene Bethke 19:05
Yeah, I mean, nobody knew what they were doing. Honestly, this is not something that has ever happened before. It's never been even thought about. So they're trying to help the small businesses to keep them but it's not always following through all the way so they have to keep putting in little things to help it.
Christine Bethke 19:33
Switching topics now, how has COVID-19 affected you and or your family's day to day activities?
Charlene Bethke 19:46
Um, we have not gone anywhere. We always, always have taken a family vacation. I'm we're not a big family. There's only Me and my husband, and Christine. But we've always gone somewhere on vacation. And last year was the first year that we have not. But we did get things done around the house. So I guess that was a good thing. But we have not fun out we have, I realized one day that when I, we did actually do some, we went somewhere went to the store, I think it was just meant to store that all I have done for almost a year over a year is gone to work. And home from work. That's the only seen scenery I've seen. It's like we finally did after over a year go out to a restaurant. There was nobody else in the restaurant. But it was nice that we had already had one vaccine, so but it's been very quiet.
Christine Bethke 21:07
So you mentioned the vaccine. What was your experience like getting to like access to it understanding when it was available, making an appointment, stuff like that?
Charlene Bethke 21:18
It was I understood when I was it was my turn. I'm getting it, we signed up on a couple of websites, we heard nothing from either one of them. And then from a friend, we learned of a spot where you could get a vaccine, we went online right away that day. And we got one the next day. So it wasn't as, we got it relatively quick, actually. So it wasn't as bad. And now I have family members that their physicians, and are one of them. My mom, they had her physician called right away and had the appointment set up. And I think my one brother works for a school district. They said at one point they were eligible, they set it up for him to go. So he had no problems. Another brother of mine is a veteran and he goes to the VA. And they called him when he was able to enhance it. So none of them have had an issue getting any getting them. And I think thing was with us. We tried to get it as soon as we were eligible when everybody was trying to get them. So we probably we got it within probably three days of when we were supposed when we were eligible. So that's not terrible.
Christine Bethke 22:54
Have you had any side effects from the vaccine?
Charlene Bethke 22:56
A very sore arm. We, I'm not gonna, I was nervous about getting it, but I knew I was getting it. That just was it's different. But it I had I had a very sore arm and actually tomorrow I go and get my second one. So I'll be fully done.
Charlene Bethke 23:21
Yay!
Charlene Bethke 23:22
Yes. Yay! To now then after a few weeks, we feel like we will be able to safely go out and actually go to a restaurant, that's not full, that is that is doing carefully doing things. But at least we have the opportunity then to.
Christine Bethke 23:45
Yeah. Has the COVID-19 outbreak affected how you associate and communicate with friends and family and in what ways?
Charlene Bethke 23:58
Well, I have I've seen my mom twice since the outbreak. Um, she's very, she's 86. She does have medical conditions. So last year for birthday in the summer. We got together and said outside spaced out. And then at Christmas time we went over and stood outside their patio to her patio door and talk to her that way. It's been hard but we know it's for the best. And as a family we've not been able we to get together like Christmas is very strange for all of us. We come from a big family. We always get together at Christmas and Thanksgiving. And everybody had their own. Everybody knew that this was the way it was going to be so it was hard. It was strange. It'll be nice. see everybody again this summer some time hopefully, I had a great nephew born that hopefully we'll be able to see this year, the summer time. So it's been rough, but you do what you have to do.
Christine Bethke 25:18
Have you been able to reach out to any services that have been able to help with the rougher difficult sides of the pandemic? Or any family?
Charlene Bethke 25:31
No, I mean, I haven't I mean, it's, that's just the way it is. And we'll get through it. And we see the end coming.
Christine Bethke 25:49
How are people around you responding to the pandemic, in your community?
Charlene Bethke 25:55
My community or at work?
Christine Bethke 25:58
I'm either one. Anyone your around.
Charlene Bethke 26:02
Um, at work. There's a lot of them that, especially at the beginning, did not believe that this was anything that it was just the flu, until their kids got quarantined and then it kind of hit home, there was been, a mask, uh, not liking them. And all of a sudden now, some couple of the partners have decided they're not going to wear masks anywhere, even though the building has said you have to wear masks. So starting to get I think people are just getting to the point of we need to, and a lot some of them might be vaccinated, I don't know. It's just getting to be, uh, difficult.
Christine Bethke 27:04
How does it make you feel when people around you don't wear masks or refuse to abide by guidelines?
Charlene Bethke 27:12
Um, I don't understand why they do that, that we were discussing, actually, today I was discussing with one of the people that I work with, is why is it so terrible? All you have to do you have your own office, if you're in your office, you don't have to worry about it. It's just walking to the bathroom, or coming in and out of the building. So a total of how much time in a day is that? But you still have to argue about it and fight about it. It's ridiculous. Is my opinion anyway.
Christine Bethke 27:52
Has the pandemic and maybe people's reactions, changed your relationships with anyone? Do you look at anyone differently?
Charlene Bethke 28:02
Yes. When this first started happening, there were a couple of people that I talked to regularly at work, and they they were totally jerks. They, they laughed about it. Their kids would cough at people and think it was funny and I have nothing to say or talk to them or anything with them anymore. Which is sad, but then it turns out then you see what they truly are.
Christine Bethke 28:38
Yeah. Good for good for you. Has anyone you known gotten sick during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Charlene Bethke 28:53
Nobody that I know my, another a different brother works construction. He is head of a construction crew and he has had to quarantine three, four times. At least that was at Christmas time. That's all since then. I don't know how many more times he's had to quarantine. But I have not. I do not. We've been pretty good at work. We are a smaller firm there's about 30 of us. But I know that my husband, there was an outbreak at his work. So those people like I know of, I'm not like friends with them or anything but but otherwise I don't. I've been lucky.
Christine Bethke 29:46
Was it how scary how nerve wracking was it? When you had that scare with your husband's work?
Charlene Bethke 29:55
Its, you worry about it to worry about and worry about him coming home. Now he wears his mask constantly at work. So you felt a little bit at ease. But when this first came out, I was petrified. That's why I started working from home because it was like, you got it, you're gonna die, it seemed like. And then as it went on, and you saw that, well, it's not, it's terrible. But not everybody that gets it is, is going to die. So you felt a little more. But there's still times when, especially like a few months ago when the rate was going was so high that so many people had it. When we would have meetings even though everybody had their mask on and we social distanced and everything you still wondered and worried about, could somebody have it? What if somebody and that was why they put a mask mandate in at work is that if one person got it at work, we would be shut down. And that would have been devastating. And if we weren't working for two or three weeks, we would never make it.
Christine Bethke 31:14
Yeah. So your opinions have kind of changed about COVID? Have you seen other people's opinions change?
Charlene Bethke 31:26
Yes, I've seen em go, uh, seen em go from not believing that this was anything but the flu, to their kids being quarantined. And this is serious and wearing a mask all the time to right now easing up a little bit. I mean, they still wear their masks when they leave our bill when they're out of our office area. But you can tell people are starting to ease up a little bit people are going to restaurants, a lot more people, their kids are playing sports now again. So it's back to trying to have a normal life even though it's not normal yet.
Christine Bethke 32:06
Has that change that changed opinion changing? Ideas? affected? Like how you? I think like Yeah.
Charlene Bethke 32:25
I think of like what they do. I mean, I'm still fine. Okay with them. I just don't want them to be close to me, if they come in my office, stay away from me, if I have to go and talk to you, because one of them is my boss. I'll sit over here on the couch, you sit over at your desk, and I wear my mask. And we, I mean, we still get along and but yeah, it worries me at times now. And I must say because I have the vaccine and I'm getting my second one tomorrow. That has made me feel a little bit better, too. I mean, I don't want to give it to anybody but you but then again, if you're not getting vaccinated, that was not my problem.
Christine Bethke 33:20
How would you how do you react when someone tells you they're not gonna get vaccinated? Do you have any opinions on it?
Charlene Bethke 33:28
Um, well, we did have we do have a guy at work that has said even though he's got asthma, he's not getting the vaccine because you don't know what's gonna happen. It's like, yeah, but do you know what's going to happen if you get the virus? So we've had we have had discussions on it. And then he came one day and said, you know, 500, I heard today that 500 people died from being vaccinated. And that was back when there was probably five, 6 million people, 7 million people vaccinated, like. Alright, you got 500 out of 7 million, 10 million. Well, what about those people? Well, what about all the people that have died from it? So we pretty much don't discuss that anymore.
Christine Bethke 34:24
Stay away from politics. Yes.
Charlene Bethke 34:27
Yeah. So it was a rough, rough year with the election and everything.
Christine Bethke 34:34
You want to go more into that if you're comfortable.
Charlene Bethke 34:37
No.
Christine Bethke 34:37
No, ok.
Charlene Bethke 34:40
We have a very, because we're accountants. We are very outspoken about people about who to vote for and who not to vote for. So you just kind of lay low and let them do their thing because a lot of the clients are, are also.
Christine Bethke 35:02
Makes?
Charlene Bethke 35:03
No jokes. If you don't agree, you just shake your head or say, yeah, you learn how to do those things.
Christine Bethke 35:13
What have been your primary sources of news during the pandemic?
Charlene Bethke 35:17
I'm mostly the not social media. And that is the issue with the other person that I was talking about gets his information from social media. So, but he doesn't believe in the mainstream media. Well, how can you believe in one and not the other, you got to take both of them. Most of its been mainstream media or like CNN and things like that. Not social media.
Christine Bethke 35:51
Have you new sources changed during the course of the pandemic?
Charlene Bethke 35:55
Have my what?
Christine Bethke 35:56
Have you new sources changed during the course of the pandemic? Are you looking at different sources?
Charlene Bethke 36:02
Yes, I didn't, I never used to listen to like CNN in that. But now, almost every night before I go to bed I just kind of go online and see the headlines and see if there's anything new. And we watch more. I think we watch more news, where before we'd have it on but you really weren't paying attention. Now we have it on and you actually are listening to it. And then you get mad.
Christine Bethke 36:32
Has that affected you mental health like, the constant news cycle?
Charlene Bethke 36:36
Yes, the constant there are times when it's like, every leading story does not have to be the same thing. Every day, you don't have to tell us how many people have been vaccinated in Wisconsin, when it's only changing by 100,000, whatever. We can have a day where we don't have to have that as the lead in story. So yes, it is there are times and there were times when it was right around the election right after the election, and the virus was out of control. I was having very difficult time sleeping.
Christine Bethke 37:18
Um, in that sense, are there important issues that you think the media isn't covering or should be covering more?
Charlene Bethke 37:35
I don't, mean, they cover the virus all the time. Sometimes I think they may. I don't say overdo it, but they stress more things that are are going to I know they're trying to get people vaccinated, and they're trying to get people to realize this is important. But sometimes I think they go overboard. And that makes people think this is they're just saying these things. It's not real, because they go over and over it too much.
Christine Bethke 38:16
Are there any different things you wish they would cover? Any different ideas?
Charlene Bethke 38:26
I don't know. I mean, on the virus, it's like they cover I mean, they cover when people are out, they cover the vaccine, they cover the know maybe things that you could do a little bit more showing people. You don't have to be in this big group. But if you went and did this, or you could do things safely, instead of just saying you can do things safely, that probably would mean that maybe it would be helpful.
Christine Bethke 39:03
Are there any things not related to the virus you wish they would cover more? Maybe things not relate to the virus at all?
Charlene Bethke 39:17
Maybe some good things happening in the world. I don't know if there are any. But maybe that would be that would be nice to sometimes hear good news, not just everything about the war and the President and the ex president. And the, I mean, that's basically what's covered the president, the ex president, the virus, maybe we could have some fun things.
Christine Bethke 39:47
I think that would be nice. So as things are getting better in vaccines and the virus, what does a post pandemic world look like for you?
Charlene Bethke 40:03
hopefully going on a trip. And we're hoping by the end of the summer, we'll be able to take a road trip, not a long one, but at least somewhere where we can still distance not be crowded or anything but at least get out and go out for breakfast. That's a big one go out for breakfast. And come and see BMB [Blugold Marching Band]. We missed, we toast, so missed coming up and watching the band and have going to football games. And just everything with that. I mean, we were looking so forward to tell that like, all the BMB members, I'm sure, that is a big thing. Because we were so involved in high school, and then we started or fres-, as your freshman going and seeing the things and we had plans to do it. And then that's all of a sudden just cutting off. It's not even that gradual thing was just totally cut off. That we're really looking forward to.
Christine Bethke 41:22
So knowing what you know now, what do you think that governments or communities or individuals should keep in mind for the future?
Charlene Bethke 41:34
Um, believe that these things are real, take action immediately. Don't pretend it's nothing and it doesn't really concern anybody. And lie about things, come out and be honest and tell everybody. And maybe it won't get so political.
Christine Bethke 41:58
Is there something that you think individuals should keep in mind as single people?
Charlene Bethke 42:05
That they're just trying to protect you and trying to keep everybody safe. I mean, I just don't get why you have to. I don't understand why people. I mean, I understand people want to go out and they want to see people and they want to, but it's almost over just a couple, not that much longer get your vaccine, and it'll be even sooner.
Christine Bethke 42:35
So do you have positive hopes for the near future?
Charlene Bethke 42:39
Yes, you have to, you have to see that it's going to, a few months ago, I was not. But now Yes, I do see that. It could be near. It's not going to ever be normal. It's going to be a new normal. But I can see that we can be able to do things. We'll be able to get together as a family. We'll be able to maybe go on a small road trip, we'll be able to have a fourth of July. We'll be able to come up to Eau Claire and watch BMB.
Christine Bethke 43:17
Yeah, so what? What do you think the new normal will entail?
Charlene Bethke 43:28
Eventually, we'll end up being back to where we were because that's just how everybody is at right, at the beginning when pep-, now as we're going forward are still going to be spaced in they're still going to be limited like at baseball games. And that may be for a while. But hopefully eventually things will be back to maybe not as crazy as they were at times but everybody being able to do what they go places and meet people.
Christine Bethke 44:05
Is there anything we haven't touched on that you would like to talk about?
Charlene Bethke 44:18
No. Make sure you get your vaccine. No. Well, I do want to say though, I do think that the colleges I know there's been people that are upset that they didn't get spring break or that they and it's lousy. What's happened. It's always it's for all of you guys. But they were doing it to try and protect everybody. And they're doing the best they can because nobody's been through this. Things may have to get adjusted and hopefully next year everybody's going back and meeting people and doing things and that and in a year, everybody can never forget what happened but that they can enjoy themselves again.
Christine Bethke 45:20
Oh, well, unless there's anything else you want to talk about.
Charlene Bethke 45:28
Hmm, no.
Christine Bethke 45:28
No? Okay.
Charlene Bethke 45:29
I think we've covered a lot.
Christine Bethke 45:32
I think we need to thank you for doing this. Thank you for agreeing to do this. It'll be very helpful for the future to have these. So thank you.
Charlene Bethke 45:43
I hope so.
Christine Bethke 45:45
Okay, I'm gonna end the recording if you want to stick around.
Charlene Bethke 45:49
Okay.