Item
Linda White Oral History, 2021/05/04
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Linda White Oral History, 2021/05/04
Description (Dublin Core)
This interview conducted with Linda White talks about how her job in the financial sector changed and the many challenges presented from working from home. The interview also talks about the challenges of being a mom and having multiple kids returning home under one roof and how the family adapted. The interview also gives an interesting perspective into the life of a mother who has a child working in the health care field at this time. Finally, the interview also talks about other new experiences and hobbies developed and how staying positive was important. This interview ended by talking about the vaccine and looking to the future.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Collecting Institution (Bibliographic Ontology)
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/21/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
06/01/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/04/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Nathaniel Langner
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Linda White
Location (Omeka Classic)
United States of America
Wisconsin
Altoona
54720
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:44:15
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
This interview conducted with Linda White talks about how her job in the financial sector changed and the many challenges presented from working from home. The interview also talks about the challenges of being a mom and having multiple kids returning home under one roof and how the family adapted. The interview also gives an interesting perspective into the life of a mother who has a child working in the health care field at this time. Finally, the interview also talks about other new experiences and hobbies developed and how staying positive was important. This interview ended by talking about the vaccine and looking to the future.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Nathaniel Langner 00:02
Okay, so today is Tuesday, May 4 2021, it is currently 7:20. There were 32 and a half million, or 32 and 500,000 million cases in the United States, whichever resulted in 577,000 deaths. In Wisconsin specifically, there have been 662,000 cases resulting in 7567 deaths on a brighter note, on 105 million people are vaccinated currently in the United States. So can you begin talking about where you're located currently, and then just give some like demographic information, your name, your gender, and just kind of things like that.
Linda White 00:50
My name is Linda white. I am a female a mom, I am in Altoona, Wisconsin, and see, what else did I need to tell you,
Nathaniel Langner 01:00
if there's like any other demographic information, if you want to talk about your ethnicity, or your race or anything like that?
Linda White 01:07
Just white, white, female, white single. Yep, that's perfect.
Nathaniel Langner 01:11
And then so what is your day to day look like currently, with COVID your day to day, like work, social life, anything like that?
Linda White 01:20
work has changed. That's been the biggest change and going into an office every day to work, I get to work from home, which has actually been a really exciting change. For me, I, I have always worked in an office and I always have been surrounded by a lot of people. It being a people person, myself, I always enjoy going to work. But at this point in time, we are all told to start working from home last April. And at first, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to work from home, because I like having the people around me and networking. But once I started working from home, I absolutely love it. And I recently just signed a document for work, saying that even if the COVID does go away, I want a permanent stay at home work position. Because I find I'm more efficient, more effective. And working from home has been a great opportunity, something that at first, I was very hesitant about and now I'm happy to know going forward, I can still keep this position at home. So
Nathaniel Langner 02:21
can you kind of start by describing what your job and like responsibilities are Exactly?
Linda White 02:26
Oh, yeah, I think going into much detail just because of privacy. But I do work for a bank. So I work for a bank here in town. And I do a lot of lending and processing and paperwork and documentation and process compliance stuff for. for that. So yeah, so
Nathaniel Langner 02:44
So how long do you think that transition? Kind of to feel more comfortable working at home where you start to realize you were more productive? Like, was there a gradual change? Or was it kind of like, sudden, like, when did you start to feel more comfortable at home? And?
Linda White 02:59
That's a great question. Because at first when I came home, I was kind of nervous about setting up my computers and my two big screens and just making sure that my technology and Wi Fi and everything at home was okay. And once I got it home and set up, like oh, this is gonna work, this is gonna be okay. But we weren't sure how long it was gonna last. So I set it up on my kitchen table and just thought, Okay, we're gonna see how this works for a while. Well, then I had two daughters in college. And guess what? Their housing shut down. And they both moved back home. So they're home then all of a sudden, and there's extra noise and commotion in the house. And they're doing schooling and they're doing zoom calls and people in and out. And actually what I did is I packed up my computer and went back to my office for about a month. I thought I can't don't want to work at home. There's too much commotion, too much interruptions all of a sudden. And then they're like, nope, everybody needs to work from home, but that when in time, one daughter moved to Rochester, Minnesota, and one daughter moved into her apartment in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And then my house got quiet. And I thought one thing I can't continue to do is have my work on my kitchen table. Because having my work on my kitchen table took away from family supper and family time and sitting and playing board games when the kids come in. So I'm like, had to set up a designated area. So work wasn't the center of our our kitchen and the center of our lives. So that help then when I moved back home back to working at home because I had to and it changed because the situation at home changed. And then because I was able to remove it from my center on my kitchen in my life and put it aside and just really dove right back into it and then realized we as work to they gave us office phones they helped us realize that this we needed to make this more of a permanent solution.
Nathaniel Langner 04:59
Yeah
Linda White 05:00
For everybody. And with that we brought home our office phones, my, my job was wonderful and gave us everything we needed. And then some and had IT support come to houses and homes and say, Okay, let's check it over, let's make sure work with your, your internet provider, make sure that it's fast is strong enough, everything that we need it. So that was really nice too. At first it was a band aid fix, because it all happened so quickly.
Nathaniel Langner 05:23
Yeah.
Linda White 05:25
Transition. And then I kind of went to how can we really make this successful with doing zoom calls and Microsoft Teams, you know, a lot of things went through our cell phones. But then again, like I said, they had a spring home, they assigned us each in a nice office phone now. So we are we have our direct lines from work now coming through that instead of through our house and through and through our personal lines. And then by setting up a separate space in my house, that that's my workspace, no one else can touch it. That's when I'm going to sit down and work and focus that's that helped to, and now just working through it and getting more comfortable with it. And I've been doing my job for a really long time, like 20 years, knowing it so well. And finding out that hey its really kind of nice being at home. So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 06:21
prior to COVID, was there an option for you to work at home? Or was it really pretty much everything based in the office?
Linda White 06:28
Um, that's a great question too, because probably about six months before COVID, they had just started exploring that, because some people were thinking about doing that, with a couple co workers who were out on maternity leave, they set them up as temporary work at home positions for a couple of my co workers who have children, and they're like, Well, if you want to come back part time, we we can set you up, you know, kind of untested, so they were testing it prior to COVID. But nothing was really in the in the works. And it just expedited, obviously with the situation with the pandemic. So
Nathaniel Langner 07:05
and then prior to COVID. Did you have any experience with like zoom? Or like teams? Or any like, was there any collaboration online for you? Or was it a lot of like, in person conversations that you were having?
Linda White 07:17
Um, no, because we have different branches in the state of Wisconsin, we would do a lot of, you know, virtual board meetings and things like that, or group meetings in different different areas. So we did do that in the office, but we do it so much more now.
Nathaniel Langner 07:34
Yeah,
Linda White 07:34
yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 07:35
Was that? Like, were there any, like really sudden changes or any, like confusion between people when you kind of had to do all your interactions through online? Or did people kind of had, like, a little bit of experience into it that made it easier?
Linda White 07:50
I like to think like, technology wise, I'm pretty good at it. A lot of my co workers weren't comfortable with it.
Nathaniel Langner 07:58
Yeah.
Linda White 07:59
What I found, people don't like to read, people don't like change, people resist change. And you could see the difference and sometimes the generation sometimes in people's attitudes, some people will, like Yeah, let's do this. Let's figure this out. Let's make this happen. Other people are like, how do I do this? What do I have to do? So the key was keeping a positive attitude, reading, finding out researching, and testing, you know, this can work that can work, what technology is going to be the best technology and we've started with Zoom we moved to Microsoft Teams. It's just testing and figuring out what's going to work the best so yeah, it's it's been interesting and you can see where some people thrive and some people struggle and but it's it's a lot of things we we started doing a lot more stuff electronically. So you know, or paper and documents and now just learning different programs in general.
Nathaniel Langner 09:03
So you just talked about you signed a paper and you're signed some documents to stay at home. Are other people moving into the like office again now or when did that transition began?
Linda White 09:13
Yep, a lot of people some people were elected to go back into the office depending on like to the position it with the bank too depending on your position, you know, if you're more with customers more forward facing, meaning to be in there, they opened the branches back up at the base so customers can come back in instead of just using the drive thru. Some people have done have done 50/50 work from home and then we also have set up satellite offices. We also some of us have been given laptops. So if we're traveling, we can access work through laptops, and then just just the different ways and uses of technology, from our phones to our laptops to iPads to you know I have two big beautiful monitors which I love. Really kind of picking and selecting what's going to work for each person and what style work they want to return to. So I feel very fortunate that the company I met, is forward thinking, and allowing people if they're successful at working at home and not the distractions. But like our company said, Yep, we want to come in and check your workspace want to make sure it's confidential, it's safe, it's secure. They did some people with with parents with children, you know, childcare would need to be set up if you had elder parents at home elder guarantee to be set up. And they did give us you know, hours of the day to be on the computer. And there is a little leeway in there. But again, keeping the business hours business hours and being accessable. At that time, but also having a little more convenience working at home, too. So.
Nathaniel Langner 10:55
And then you talked about, like the monitors and the phone, did you start with like the two monitors? Or is that like, do you think as you stay at home, your office space will continue to grow during this time? Or do you think
Linda White 11:06
I don't want any more than two giant monitors
Nathaniel Langner 11:08
But do you think that's like really helped in your productivity, like being able to get those resources from your company?
Linda White 11:14
Yeah, I definitely think so. I work for a very, very good company who puts their employees at the top of their game, and they want their employees to succeed. So the company succeeds. I mean that they've told us, you know, let us know if you need pens or pencils, or post it notes. So that that's really nice. I mean, that's something that they wouldn't have to do, but they do need
Nathaniel Langner 11:34
working in finance. Do you think it's still confidential at home? Do you feel like it's like set up still, like, protect customers at the same level as they did when you were at work?
Linda White 11:45
Absolutely. We have a really, really strong IT department. We have rules and regulations that we have to follow, you know, locking your computers, we have tokens and passwords and so many different things to sign in and sign out of it's not just oh, hey, your computer's on. There's there's layers and layers of protection. Yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 12:05
Perfect. And then do you have anything else you want to talk about employment? Or would you like to move towards family life because you brought up that like having two daughters returned home? Would you like to move towards that now?
Linda White 12:15
Sure yup we can do that.
Nathaniel Langner 12:16
Okay, so how was that transition for your family? Like when COVID started, like people coming back from like, another state even, like how, just like talk me through like that experience because that's, like, different from other than, like, probably a student or someone else without children.
Linda White 12:32
I think it was hard on everybody. Um, my, my oldest son had graduated college, and didn't get the job that he had wanted and went to college for and had to move back home. So that was a hard transition for him. My daughter, my middle daughter, was a senior at Winona states as studying nursing, ready to take her nursing boards and she had signed a contract to work at Mayo and Rochester was supposed to be up there in May of 2019. And she was devastated in April when they said, you know, we're shutting down we're not going to take new nurse techs. We're just her that was her world crashing you know, she made it through college and three and a half years. She was excited to leave Winona go work at Mayo, and you know, grow and all of a sudden the whao halt, she had to move back home. You know, no one wants to back home after being out at three and a half years of college and thinking forward thinking she was going to be graduating college going to work at this great place. And then all of a sudden Wow. COVID head and you can't come nurse for us. She had a job as a CNA back home. But then the nursing home she was working at as a CNA said we're cutting all our staff we're making this very minimal. We don't need you. So here's someone who went to nursing school had to move back home which she wasn't happy about. Had to pick up a job at Menards just totally devastated upset, not happy to be back home, you know missing her college friends ruining her last semester of college world was flipped upside down. And it wasn't hard for her it was hard for us. And all as I can do as a mom was pray for her. God, let's open these doors back up for her. And then you know, I told her you got to choose and she needed the job she needed to work. So she took the job at Menards which they were good to her and she got in and started working right away and that kept her busy and keep your mind and her body busy. And then still finishing her classes. And then prayers were answered and in July 1st Mayo called then she moved back to Rochester you know is two month delay but she got her nurse tech job and has been moving forward ever since. So that was exciting. Yeah, my youngest daughter Melissa was a freshman at UW Eau Claire, and I think it hurt her the most. Um, she didn't want to come back home, she was just making friends in her dorm, she was just experiencing clubs and activities. And, you know, just figuring it out what college was like and what college is supposed to be and, you know, going on campus, making opportune meeting people. And then all of a sudden, I think she was probably one of the last people to move out of the dorms to move back home. And that's hard. That's a hard transition, just getting your wings and having them clipped. And, um, going on online classes. I think that's been the hardest thing. And then now her sophomore year of college, everything has been online. And it takes more time for all these students to study more, read more. It's a whole different world. It's a whole different learning curve. They're missing opportunities on campus. They're missing connections. She's very fortunate that she has a job that she's had for a number of years at Culvers. And that's been her social and her friends and her group that's kept her connected. You know, she had opportunities with TV 10 on campus where she was going to do some sideline reporting for the Bluecoats football games, but didn't get to happen because the football games didn't happen. So that's, that's tough. As a mom, I just sit back and I, she's, she's thriving, she's happy. It's not the college experience that her older brother and older sister had. But everything happens for a reason. And she's doing great straight A's and happy as can be right now. So
Nathaniel Langner 16:42
Thats great to hear
Linda White 16:43
she's surrounded by good people.
Nathaniel Langner 16:45
That's wonderful. So at the beginning as a family, how did you guys kind of come together to like, go from all spread out to like not drive each other like crazy? I guess like having an online school you have to work simultaneously like how did you kind of find a balance as a family?
Linda White 17:04
I dont think we ever did
Nathaniel Langner 17:05
Or was it just like making [inaudiable]
Linda White 17:08
it was it was kind of a constant little struggle because then we're all like, Are you kicking me off the WiFi who's on the WiFi you know, one daughter set up her workstation in her bedroom, at a desk one daughter set up a station next to me at the kitchen table. We everybody What time is your zoom call today I'm going to close the door keep the dogs from barking. It was kind of a three ring circus because then they were all home. Their friends were back home from college. So they were coming. They were going they were all three working jobs. My son was working at Kwik Trip and working overnights. Amanda was working at Menards going in at 6am I said we had all three shifts covered because Zach was on the night shift at Kwik Trip Amanda was on the am shift and would go in at 6am at Menards and then Melissa would work at Culvers in the middle afternoon. So it was like a three ring circus I didn't know if we were making breakfast lunch or dinner who was doing you know laundry machine was constantly going and as a hard transition for me also and they were all gone and they were all back home implosion right. So but because they all miss each other and they all love each other it was also kind of fun to see them all come back together and to hear their conversations and to see you know what they were doing, you know, I didn't know what all this was and how it was affecting them and just watching them manage their time, their days. And everybody just kind of pulling back together as a family unit as to where they were each at and what was going to happen and it was a crazy hectic schedule but they are all there for each other my kids have always rallied and supported each other. So that that was good, but hectic not gonna lie but crazy fun and glad they're all back out on their own again
Nathaniel Langner 19:08
kind of going off of like the work it was at the family and at home you just kind of like try and keep that silver lining Would you agree with just like trying to stay positive and being able to adapt? And then I guess you can kind of expand so everyone's leaving the house or how has it changed kind of coming into like when I'm interviewing you today is a lot different than probably if I interviewed you a few months ago like how is like your household began changing yet again with like the vaccine and just like more opening less restrictions getting the job at Mayo stuff like?
Linda White 19:40
yep, so um, Amanda has stayed in Rochester at Mayo and she moved from nurse tech to registered nurse and ended up getting her dream job and has been working up there and has her seeing her as a registered nurse and hearing what she's experiencing From the COVID unit and COVID floors, and that kind of helped all of us understand the COVID shot, and she was probably one of the first ones to get her first and second dose, I had a health scare through the COVID. And with that health scare, it actually made me healthier because working from home, I could get up stretch exercise and have a little more flexibility and actually get my health back in order and have less stress. So went through a lot of stress, less stress, get healthier. And then, with my youngest, she's just learned to kind of be resilient, I guess, is the great word. And manage time management has been a huge lifesaver on her part. And just really digging deep for all of us as to where we are where we want to be. And also makes you really love and value, you know, a hug from your kids walking in the door, or my parents who are 78 and 83, being able to give them hugs from that first initial. Here, we're running out of toilet paper and Kleenex and sanitizers dropping off that but not being able to hug your parents to seeing my parents hug their grandchildren again. You know, it really makes you realize who's important in your life, too. So it was it a good thing? Was it a bad thing? There's pros and cons to all of it, because I think it brought the people who you want in your life even closer. And then it also helped to kind of block out the noise and the clutter and what's really not important, you know? So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 21:48
that was really good. So kind of going off of like stress, you talked about your work environment, do you think coming home was is is it less stressful working at home, being able to wake up and stretch and kind of like, do your day a little more free than
Linda White 22:03
I can really focus on my work, and not get pulled in. I help a lot of people at my job not get pulled in so much. So I can really focus on myself, which has been nice. You know, I think that that's been the key to just getting up moving around. The other thing that's changed I think the most and last year is going to church. I'm happy to say we're back to church, it's it's we started wearing masks in our church, but you know, church, church changed, Sunday afternoons changed. So Sunday mornings, routines have changed, but with our faith, we've all made it through this so.
Nathaniel Langner 22:43
and then you talked about your daughter being a nurse at Mayo and like the COVID clinics. So I think a lot of like interviews and probably perspectives of nurses have been heard. But how is like the mother of a nurse? Like how do you feel about your like daughter? Like, are you scared? Are you still scared? Are you feeling better with like the COVID vaccine? Like? What was your kind of viewpoint of having someone in the field that you loved and cared for?
Linda White 23:07
I was very proud of her. I'm very, very proud of her. You know, she was doing the nose swabs and going out in the field and gowning up and very proud. Yeah, of course, always, always worry, I scared for your kids. But you have to give that worry to God because he's in control, right. And you don't want to have anybody you know get sick and be in that pain and have that there are so much unknown, but knowing that she's surounded by the best resources, and the strongest and the smartest and the medicine and then in the nation up at Mayo, I And because I've been up there to visit her and I see how that area is so you know, wearing their mask and conscientious of it that she's surrounded by the best of the best that I know she's okay.
Nathaniel Langner 23:58
And then how did your association with like the community, you talked about going to church and senior parents? How drastic was your change, like being able to interact with people, you got your kids back, but did other kind of other family members, you started to have to wait to see them or had to be more cautious?
Linda White 24:15
Yeah, for example, I had a nephew who him and his wife are expecting a baby. And we did as a zoom baby shower. So my parents came over and sat here with me at home in front of the screens. And it almost brought a tear to my mom's eyes to see, you know, family in Atlanta that she hadn't seen. And, you know, just to see everybody on the screen, you know, here I'd been using it all the time for work but for her to see it and to experience it. That just the different technology and the different age groups was kind of cool. Um, you know, for work for you know, I used to go to a lot of business after hours, a lot of meetings, a lot of lunches, a lot of different things like that and all that has I'm to a halt, like going out to eat has changed that. Recently, we went back to a movie going to movie theater has changed. So it's just made you appreciate things when you can do them again, and actually haven't missed as much as what I thought I'd miss. So
Nathaniel Langner 25:16
Kind of going off of that. Going to the movies going out to eat. When you weren't working at home, what kind of activities were you doing to like, keep yourself busy? Like, are you watching more TV? Like, what kind of new hobbies like walking, running anything? Like that?
Linda White 25:34
walking, biking, taking the dogs on the walks more often. Funny, even this morning, I went for a walk at 6:30 this morning, I went for a three mile walk through town ran into two neighbors that I hadn't seen in a long time. I mean, one that probably lives, couple blocks, you know, west than the one that lives and here it was 6:30 in the morning, would I normally been out walking? No. But I've been walking exercising when I ran into two neighbors that I hadn't seen for a while. So it's kind of funny how doing new habits you reconnect with people in different places again, so.
Nathaniel Langner 26:06
yeah. And then kind of going off of you being able to experience more of the community meeting people walking, How do you believe the city of Altoona has been like, affected by COVID? Like do you think it's been like worse than like what you've read about the other parts of like, the nation or do you think Altoona did a pretty good job of like, maintaining it, because you're like right next to Eau Claire as well. So you kind of have that overflow,
Linda White 26:32
like a couple a couple of things that like kind of hit close to home last year. In Altoona in June. They always do Center City days, right, which is like the city parade, the carnival, the grilled chicken, the the fair, the car show the craft fair. I've lived in Altoona for gosh, since 1983, a really long time. And I always looked forward to that in the summer with the kids going and doing that the ball tournaments, things like that. They didn't have that, of course, this past year. Christmas lights, just different things to help raise money for the community. This year, at Christmas time they did a Christmas tree lighting, you could buy a light to represent someone in the community, I bought three red lights, one for Zach, Amanda and Melissa, a red light on the Christmas tree to help raise money for the Altoona Lions that does a lot for the community. Things like that have changed. I actually was just reading today that now June this summer, they're going to have live music back in the park. And they used to do yoga in the park and concerts in the park. And you know, none of that got to happen last summer and last spring. So it'd be nice to see that come forward again, and happen again to see those events happen to see people come out. And yeah, just come alive. Again, I guess the farmers markets coming back, things like that.
Nathaniel Langner 27:59
That's really nice. That's like a really positive thing kind of going off to like the vaccine and like, a bright spot that we can focus on in a second. But towards the beginning, did you feel like people had different views on COVID? Like wearing masks and stuff like that? Like did your neighbors or other people you've interacted with? Did you kind of have like, a united sense of like what it was? Or were there a lot of different perspectives that you were hearing?
Linda White 28:27
when it first happened, and then we kept hearing about it. And then they're like, Okay, the office is going to change. We all thought this isn't gonna come to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, this is, you know, across the seas this, this, this is a big city problem. Well, then all of a sudden, we're like, No, this is in the office, this change is going to happen, this change. And we're all I can just remember that day when that email on those calls and those conversations started happening. You know, you could see the resistance like this is not going to happen here in Eau Claire. But sure enough, it did it altered and changed all of our lives. And yes, I work with some people who are still I must hate reading about their social media posts and their Facebook posts. And anti-vaccinators the what's really in this vaccine, and I think either you're really for it, or you're really against it. And it's been ugly. But yeah, even in my office, even with people I work with every day, you can still see the struggle. Some people are like, I'll never wear a mask out in public. I'll go get my doctor to write something up saying for my mental health or health I don't need to wear a mask. I have someone at work who won't wear a mask to save her life or kid's life and she thinks it's a government control thing she thinks this conspiracy. It's it's interesting to see and hear the different perspectives. The different generations who believe in vaccines and don't believe in vaccines you can see the fear in some people when they talk about what's in the vaccine, and other people who are like, No, we need to do this. The herd immunity. It's, it's interesting to see all the different perspectives, that's for sure.
Nathaniel Langner 30:16
Yeah, I guess let's kind of can continue talking about the vaccines you talked about your daughter was probably one of the first people because of her occupation. Did you get the vaccine as well?
Linda White 30:27
Yep, I sure did. Yep.
Nathaniel Langner 30:29
And
Linda White 30:29
my parents have I have
Nathaniel Langner 30:31
was like, I guess before you got the vaccine, were you worried yourself? Or like, what kind of information were you receiving? Before you got it that like, made you feel comfortable? Or made it seem like the right thing to do?
Linda White 30:45
Um, I just have in the faith in it, and knowing that my daughter had that, the knowledge on it, and there's there's always that fear, like, did the vaccine come too quickly? But then you have to have the faith in, you know, the FDA and the people and the systems and everything that it had to go through all the testing had to go through? Yeah, came through fast. Yes, there's unknowns, and there's going to be uncertainties on it. But whenever something like that happens, you I don't know. Yeah, there were there scary thoughts on it, but you can't live in fear. I think that's something my dad has always taught me and my kids, you can't live in fear. You just gotta keep moving forward and pray for the best. So I'm glad I'm vaccinated, I'm looking forward to go see my great nephew, next week for the first time to meet him and he's three months already. So I want to get back to a little more normalcy. I, I want the future to look bright for education for the future teachers, for the kids who are in school. That's another thing that scares me, I worry about kids, I hear coworkers who talk about their kids are driving them crazy. They hate helping their kids with their homework, their kids are not learning anything, this is stupid. I worry about kids who aren't being loved by their parents at home during this time, and worry about kids who are being abused. I think these kids need to go back to school. You know, there's there's so much that's going, unfortunately, come out of this COVID situation that the debt to America, the stimulus is the checks that payment protection loans. There's, there's so many unknowns in our future right now that we just have to know that God's in control, and things are gonna get better.
Nathaniel Langner 32:46
And do you think the vaccine can help with that? Do you think the vaccine will come back to like a normal that we had before? Or do you think some of these kind of lingering side effects of just school in general working from home, do you think a lot of these things will persist? Or do you think we'll kind of go back to prior to 2020? Like, how do you coming up with that
Linda White 33:11
change is inevitable. There's always going to be change. If not this, there could have been something else. You know, there was polio, there's measles, there's vaccines for chickenpox, and everything else, or everything has a has a wave, right. So let's hope this, this dies down a little bit. And maybe we get a little bit of life back.
Nathaniel Langner 33:36
Yeah. And then I guess, going off your personal experience with the vaccine was setting up an appointment pretty easy, or did you feel like there were a lot of like, hoops to jump through? And you were a little bit confused?
Linda White 33:48
Um, actually, no, mine was super easy. I was actually at the clinic at the time. And they said yep, we'll get you signed up. I went right up to the registration desk. I got in the next morning at 8am. I walked in. And actually when I walked in, there is no line there's no waiting and went back 21 days later. I was very lucky and fortunate. I drink my water took a little Tylenol, and no reactions from either first or second dose and I walked and exercise and kept that medicine moving right through my body and feel very fortunate that I did not have any ill side effects. So taking those two shots vs having COVID That that was alright for me. So just tiny little needle.
Nathaniel Langner 34:36
Yeah. Did your parents were you familiar with how your parents got registered? Like, did they have a similar process? Because I know, like at like the school a lot of its like, online and everything. So do you think it's easy for multiple generations?
Linda White 34:50
Which is funny, That's a great question because my parents had been calling and calling one of the health care centers here in Eau Claire, and they kept getting, leaving voicemails for a person, and no one kept calling them back. So finally, I said, Mom, I'm gonna go online and register you. And then the next day, they actually got a call back. So we kind of laugh about that I'm really like, well, their voicemails never got returned for two weeks. Then one day, I said, Let's just registry online, and the next day they got a call and were registered. So did that help? Did that not help? I don't know. But they got in quicker. So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 35:28
that's really nice. And then kind of, there's probably a lot of government kind of stuff that goes into like those calls in private the health. Do you feel like your local government did a good job of like educating you about it? And like, telling you it was there like the local clinics or everything? Like,
Linda White 35:50
you'd have to be living under a rock if you didn't know what's going on. And you turn on the news, you read the paper, you turn on the radio. That's all we've been hearing about is the cases the you know how to do this what's happening, notice what's going on. So yeah, I think there's, there's been more than enough media knowledge and information on what's going on. Yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 36:12
At the very beginning, did you feel like the response was quick and the correct one? Or were you kind of a little uncertain at the beginning of just like, what the government was like trying to do? Or like, what rules are like, how you should kind of go about life? Like, should you stay at home? Is everything okay? What messages were you getting there? And how was that making you?
Linda White 36:36
I think there's just I think some people were we're all kind of just in denial, okay, how bad Will this really be? Will this really affect us? There's, it all depends on how you want to take that information and be, you know, open and receptive and honest. And it's like any news, you can hear the extremists or the minimalists and things you just got to weed through it and take what you want. And just kind of watch it follow. No one knew what was going on. If it's healthcare, who was government if it was, you know, restaurant owners, small business owners, you know, college students, I think everybody had an anxiety and angst of how are we going to get into this? How are we going to get out of this? And what's going to be the repercussion? Nobody can predict the future.
Nathaniel Langner 37:29
And then, kind of with COVID Did you have anyone in your family or anyone close? That really dealt with? COVID? Like any, like, did you know a lot of people that were getting sick, or was it more of like a distance thing? Like where you were hearing more about the news, but not actually like, seeing people catch it like that?
Linda White 37:50
You know, I think you know, I've heard a couple stories from my daughter up in Rochester, my daughter and Eau Claire, her and her boyfriend, you know, they had to quarantine for a couple of weeks. So it you know, you hear stories like that I'm counting my blessings, nobody. No family member no relative no close friend was sick or hospitalized. So that's, that's a huge gift and a blessing right there. That family that you love holding dearly. Everybody knows is pretty healthy. So I guess that's that's the shining light that nobody we know was really, you know, there's a couple of people who are quarantined and I think that made them think twice about things but um, you know and Amanda's shared some ideas and stories but all in all, I guess I feel pretty blessed that no one we knew died from it or was you know, hospitalized I guess so. And you know, I see my mom and dad who are older and you know, it's slowed them down a little bit and I you know, they are homework doing puzzles or jig saws or card games or you know, not getting out as much so we try to kept them at home and we would bring more things to them because we didn't want them going out as much but um yeah, knock on wood everybody's healthy.
Nathaniel Langner 39:17
I guess going out to change like how you would grocery shop did you go at like different times if you like try like new like, were you like they bring it out to you? Like were there any like different policies you were trying with that just to try and stay safe or save time or do anything like?
Linda White 39:31
and not even then I don't mind I still went out to the grocery stores from time to time. But then I did start ordering groceries online. And now just because it's such a time saver, and I absolutely love it on my groceries. For me, I order it on my app, pull it and have it loaded in my car. And it's not because I don't want to go to the store. I have gone to the stores many stores did my shopping Yeah, yvery now and then I do just do the order and pickup but I still like to go out and see things and be out there. But even when I go out to the mall, there's nothing out there. I mean, all the stores their inventory is less. So why put myself at risk if I don't need to be if I can pick something up online, or drive and pick something up because you see it in the stores, the inventory is down there sales staff is down. So then I'm like, oh, that's just kind of sad even to go and see that so why go but so yeah, the ordering online that's that's kind of slick not gonna lie.
Nathaniel Langner 40:34
when you have probably done the amount of online ordering or like, implemented those without COVID? Or do you think you would have just like, slightly Yeah,
Linda White 40:43
I know. I think that was definitely a change that yeah, me and the Amazon will not get the Venmo no matter how bad my kids asked me to get Venmo. But yeah, the Amazon ordering the Target and Walmart ordering picked up, but still fun to get out and go to Menards and do things too, so. So gotta get out of the house. You can't you can't stop living in you can't live in fear, you still have to put on your mask and go so.
Nathaniel Langner 41:08
The point of getting out of the house. You were talking about with the vaccine. Now you're gonna plan on visiting like your nephew, pretty soon who just had one of his children? How did it change your like relationships with your family, being able to see them on like holidays, seeing them in the future now like, more of your distant like relatives, your sister,
Linda White 41:29
like this was the first time in in years where we didn't get to go to the cities for Christmas, or get together for a big Thanksgiving. Just because y'know I had a sister who was at high risk, and you know, we, she just, you just don't wanna, they lived in Minnesota. We lived in Wisconsin, you just you just don't want to risk it. And it'll be nice to have a family reunion again. So when that day comes, it will be really nice. So
Nathaniel Langner 41:57
do you think you'll have that probably coming up sooner than later? Like, thanksgiving come around? Do you think it will be more like old times? Or do you think there will still be some kind of like caution?
Linda White 42:10
Well, you know, we're already talking about getting the boat out on the lake in Minnesota. And I just bought a ticket to go to Atlanta to see my brother. So it's time to keep living. You know, other people I know bought tickets to go to Florida. It's nice to hear the weather is going to warm up in school next fall is going to be back this UW Eau Claire students will be back on campus and lets just hope are moving forward in the right direction.
Nathaniel Langner 42:37
And then kind of going off your trip for Atlanta, are you flying? You have any caution with flying? Are you kind of excited to like, get back out like anything to go off like that trip?
Linda White 42:48
Actually, my brother and my brother in law fly a lot for work. And they've started flying more. And what's really interesting about flying, when we were looking at tickets, I said, Well, is there a better time, you know, to get a cheaper ticket to fly at this time or that time? And all that has shot out the window. You know, so that's changed because the number of people on planes are different. So maybe a time that you would normally fly that ticket. You know that to your pricing is different now because of everything going on with COVID to so yeah, no, I don't care. I'm ready to go.
Nathaniel Langner 43:23
If your like your plane ticket was cheaper than you expected, or is it back up to like normal?
Linda White 43:27
no, it was cheap. It was less less expensive. Yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 43:31
yeah. Because at the beginning, when it was really starting, you got a lot of reports that the plane tickets were like, discounted a lot so
Linda White 43:39
yeah, they still are so that's good. But now getting on a plane. I'm sure they have the cleaning and the you know, it's been long enough, they'll have the procedures in place.
Nathaniel Langner 43:48
You know, they've had some time to figure it out. Do you have any other kind of things to keep in mind for the future? Anything you're looking forward to? Anything that you're excited to get back to that you kind of lost during COVID or anything else you want to talk about?
Linda White 44:04
No, I think I think we hit it. Family kids education. We got it.
Nathaniel Langner 44:09
Thank you so much.
Linda White 44:11
You bet. All right. Is that all?
Nathaniel Langner 44:13
Yeah
Okay, so today is Tuesday, May 4 2021, it is currently 7:20. There were 32 and a half million, or 32 and 500,000 million cases in the United States, whichever resulted in 577,000 deaths. In Wisconsin specifically, there have been 662,000 cases resulting in 7567 deaths on a brighter note, on 105 million people are vaccinated currently in the United States. So can you begin talking about where you're located currently, and then just give some like demographic information, your name, your gender, and just kind of things like that.
Linda White 00:50
My name is Linda white. I am a female a mom, I am in Altoona, Wisconsin, and see, what else did I need to tell you,
Nathaniel Langner 01:00
if there's like any other demographic information, if you want to talk about your ethnicity, or your race or anything like that?
Linda White 01:07
Just white, white, female, white single. Yep, that's perfect.
Nathaniel Langner 01:11
And then so what is your day to day look like currently, with COVID your day to day, like work, social life, anything like that?
Linda White 01:20
work has changed. That's been the biggest change and going into an office every day to work, I get to work from home, which has actually been a really exciting change. For me, I, I have always worked in an office and I always have been surrounded by a lot of people. It being a people person, myself, I always enjoy going to work. But at this point in time, we are all told to start working from home last April. And at first, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to work from home, because I like having the people around me and networking. But once I started working from home, I absolutely love it. And I recently just signed a document for work, saying that even if the COVID does go away, I want a permanent stay at home work position. Because I find I'm more efficient, more effective. And working from home has been a great opportunity, something that at first, I was very hesitant about and now I'm happy to know going forward, I can still keep this position at home. So
Nathaniel Langner 02:21
can you kind of start by describing what your job and like responsibilities are Exactly?
Linda White 02:26
Oh, yeah, I think going into much detail just because of privacy. But I do work for a bank. So I work for a bank here in town. And I do a lot of lending and processing and paperwork and documentation and process compliance stuff for. for that. So yeah, so
Nathaniel Langner 02:44
So how long do you think that transition? Kind of to feel more comfortable working at home where you start to realize you were more productive? Like, was there a gradual change? Or was it kind of like, sudden, like, when did you start to feel more comfortable at home? And?
Linda White 02:59
That's a great question. Because at first when I came home, I was kind of nervous about setting up my computers and my two big screens and just making sure that my technology and Wi Fi and everything at home was okay. And once I got it home and set up, like oh, this is gonna work, this is gonna be okay. But we weren't sure how long it was gonna last. So I set it up on my kitchen table and just thought, Okay, we're gonna see how this works for a while. Well, then I had two daughters in college. And guess what? Their housing shut down. And they both moved back home. So they're home then all of a sudden, and there's extra noise and commotion in the house. And they're doing schooling and they're doing zoom calls and people in and out. And actually what I did is I packed up my computer and went back to my office for about a month. I thought I can't don't want to work at home. There's too much commotion, too much interruptions all of a sudden. And then they're like, nope, everybody needs to work from home, but that when in time, one daughter moved to Rochester, Minnesota, and one daughter moved into her apartment in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And then my house got quiet. And I thought one thing I can't continue to do is have my work on my kitchen table. Because having my work on my kitchen table took away from family supper and family time and sitting and playing board games when the kids come in. So I'm like, had to set up a designated area. So work wasn't the center of our our kitchen and the center of our lives. So that help then when I moved back home back to working at home because I had to and it changed because the situation at home changed. And then because I was able to remove it from my center on my kitchen in my life and put it aside and just really dove right back into it and then realized we as work to they gave us office phones they helped us realize that this we needed to make this more of a permanent solution.
Nathaniel Langner 04:59
Yeah
Linda White 05:00
For everybody. And with that we brought home our office phones, my, my job was wonderful and gave us everything we needed. And then some and had IT support come to houses and homes and say, Okay, let's check it over, let's make sure work with your, your internet provider, make sure that it's fast is strong enough, everything that we need it. So that was really nice too. At first it was a band aid fix, because it all happened so quickly.
Nathaniel Langner 05:23
Yeah.
Linda White 05:25
Transition. And then I kind of went to how can we really make this successful with doing zoom calls and Microsoft Teams, you know, a lot of things went through our cell phones. But then again, like I said, they had a spring home, they assigned us each in a nice office phone now. So we are we have our direct lines from work now coming through that instead of through our house and through and through our personal lines. And then by setting up a separate space in my house, that that's my workspace, no one else can touch it. That's when I'm going to sit down and work and focus that's that helped to, and now just working through it and getting more comfortable with it. And I've been doing my job for a really long time, like 20 years, knowing it so well. And finding out that hey its really kind of nice being at home. So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 06:21
prior to COVID, was there an option for you to work at home? Or was it really pretty much everything based in the office?
Linda White 06:28
Um, that's a great question too, because probably about six months before COVID, they had just started exploring that, because some people were thinking about doing that, with a couple co workers who were out on maternity leave, they set them up as temporary work at home positions for a couple of my co workers who have children, and they're like, Well, if you want to come back part time, we we can set you up, you know, kind of untested, so they were testing it prior to COVID. But nothing was really in the in the works. And it just expedited, obviously with the situation with the pandemic. So
Nathaniel Langner 07:05
and then prior to COVID. Did you have any experience with like zoom? Or like teams? Or any like, was there any collaboration online for you? Or was it a lot of like, in person conversations that you were having?
Linda White 07:17
Um, no, because we have different branches in the state of Wisconsin, we would do a lot of, you know, virtual board meetings and things like that, or group meetings in different different areas. So we did do that in the office, but we do it so much more now.
Nathaniel Langner 07:34
Yeah,
Linda White 07:34
yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 07:35
Was that? Like, were there any, like really sudden changes or any, like confusion between people when you kind of had to do all your interactions through online? Or did people kind of had, like, a little bit of experience into it that made it easier?
Linda White 07:50
I like to think like, technology wise, I'm pretty good at it. A lot of my co workers weren't comfortable with it.
Nathaniel Langner 07:58
Yeah.
Linda White 07:59
What I found, people don't like to read, people don't like change, people resist change. And you could see the difference and sometimes the generation sometimes in people's attitudes, some people will, like Yeah, let's do this. Let's figure this out. Let's make this happen. Other people are like, how do I do this? What do I have to do? So the key was keeping a positive attitude, reading, finding out researching, and testing, you know, this can work that can work, what technology is going to be the best technology and we've started with Zoom we moved to Microsoft Teams. It's just testing and figuring out what's going to work the best so yeah, it's it's been interesting and you can see where some people thrive and some people struggle and but it's it's a lot of things we we started doing a lot more stuff electronically. So you know, or paper and documents and now just learning different programs in general.
Nathaniel Langner 09:03
So you just talked about you signed a paper and you're signed some documents to stay at home. Are other people moving into the like office again now or when did that transition began?
Linda White 09:13
Yep, a lot of people some people were elected to go back into the office depending on like to the position it with the bank too depending on your position, you know, if you're more with customers more forward facing, meaning to be in there, they opened the branches back up at the base so customers can come back in instead of just using the drive thru. Some people have done have done 50/50 work from home and then we also have set up satellite offices. We also some of us have been given laptops. So if we're traveling, we can access work through laptops, and then just just the different ways and uses of technology, from our phones to our laptops to iPads to you know I have two big beautiful monitors which I love. Really kind of picking and selecting what's going to work for each person and what style work they want to return to. So I feel very fortunate that the company I met, is forward thinking, and allowing people if they're successful at working at home and not the distractions. But like our company said, Yep, we want to come in and check your workspace want to make sure it's confidential, it's safe, it's secure. They did some people with with parents with children, you know, childcare would need to be set up if you had elder parents at home elder guarantee to be set up. And they did give us you know, hours of the day to be on the computer. And there is a little leeway in there. But again, keeping the business hours business hours and being accessable. At that time, but also having a little more convenience working at home, too. So.
Nathaniel Langner 10:55
And then you talked about, like the monitors and the phone, did you start with like the two monitors? Or is that like, do you think as you stay at home, your office space will continue to grow during this time? Or do you think
Linda White 11:06
I don't want any more than two giant monitors
Nathaniel Langner 11:08
But do you think that's like really helped in your productivity, like being able to get those resources from your company?
Linda White 11:14
Yeah, I definitely think so. I work for a very, very good company who puts their employees at the top of their game, and they want their employees to succeed. So the company succeeds. I mean that they've told us, you know, let us know if you need pens or pencils, or post it notes. So that that's really nice. I mean, that's something that they wouldn't have to do, but they do need
Nathaniel Langner 11:34
working in finance. Do you think it's still confidential at home? Do you feel like it's like set up still, like, protect customers at the same level as they did when you were at work?
Linda White 11:45
Absolutely. We have a really, really strong IT department. We have rules and regulations that we have to follow, you know, locking your computers, we have tokens and passwords and so many different things to sign in and sign out of it's not just oh, hey, your computer's on. There's there's layers and layers of protection. Yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 12:05
Perfect. And then do you have anything else you want to talk about employment? Or would you like to move towards family life because you brought up that like having two daughters returned home? Would you like to move towards that now?
Linda White 12:15
Sure yup we can do that.
Nathaniel Langner 12:16
Okay, so how was that transition for your family? Like when COVID started, like people coming back from like, another state even, like how, just like talk me through like that experience because that's, like, different from other than, like, probably a student or someone else without children.
Linda White 12:32
I think it was hard on everybody. Um, my, my oldest son had graduated college, and didn't get the job that he had wanted and went to college for and had to move back home. So that was a hard transition for him. My daughter, my middle daughter, was a senior at Winona states as studying nursing, ready to take her nursing boards and she had signed a contract to work at Mayo and Rochester was supposed to be up there in May of 2019. And she was devastated in April when they said, you know, we're shutting down we're not going to take new nurse techs. We're just her that was her world crashing you know, she made it through college and three and a half years. She was excited to leave Winona go work at Mayo, and you know, grow and all of a sudden the whao halt, she had to move back home. You know, no one wants to back home after being out at three and a half years of college and thinking forward thinking she was going to be graduating college going to work at this great place. And then all of a sudden Wow. COVID head and you can't come nurse for us. She had a job as a CNA back home. But then the nursing home she was working at as a CNA said we're cutting all our staff we're making this very minimal. We don't need you. So here's someone who went to nursing school had to move back home which she wasn't happy about. Had to pick up a job at Menards just totally devastated upset, not happy to be back home, you know missing her college friends ruining her last semester of college world was flipped upside down. And it wasn't hard for her it was hard for us. And all as I can do as a mom was pray for her. God, let's open these doors back up for her. And then you know, I told her you got to choose and she needed the job she needed to work. So she took the job at Menards which they were good to her and she got in and started working right away and that kept her busy and keep your mind and her body busy. And then still finishing her classes. And then prayers were answered and in July 1st Mayo called then she moved back to Rochester you know is two month delay but she got her nurse tech job and has been moving forward ever since. So that was exciting. Yeah, my youngest daughter Melissa was a freshman at UW Eau Claire, and I think it hurt her the most. Um, she didn't want to come back home, she was just making friends in her dorm, she was just experiencing clubs and activities. And, you know, just figuring it out what college was like and what college is supposed to be and, you know, going on campus, making opportune meeting people. And then all of a sudden, I think she was probably one of the last people to move out of the dorms to move back home. And that's hard. That's a hard transition, just getting your wings and having them clipped. And, um, going on online classes. I think that's been the hardest thing. And then now her sophomore year of college, everything has been online. And it takes more time for all these students to study more, read more. It's a whole different world. It's a whole different learning curve. They're missing opportunities on campus. They're missing connections. She's very fortunate that she has a job that she's had for a number of years at Culvers. And that's been her social and her friends and her group that's kept her connected. You know, she had opportunities with TV 10 on campus where she was going to do some sideline reporting for the Bluecoats football games, but didn't get to happen because the football games didn't happen. So that's, that's tough. As a mom, I just sit back and I, she's, she's thriving, she's happy. It's not the college experience that her older brother and older sister had. But everything happens for a reason. And she's doing great straight A's and happy as can be right now. So
Nathaniel Langner 16:42
Thats great to hear
Linda White 16:43
she's surrounded by good people.
Nathaniel Langner 16:45
That's wonderful. So at the beginning as a family, how did you guys kind of come together to like, go from all spread out to like not drive each other like crazy? I guess like having an online school you have to work simultaneously like how did you kind of find a balance as a family?
Linda White 17:04
I dont think we ever did
Nathaniel Langner 17:05
Or was it just like making [inaudiable]
Linda White 17:08
it was it was kind of a constant little struggle because then we're all like, Are you kicking me off the WiFi who's on the WiFi you know, one daughter set up her workstation in her bedroom, at a desk one daughter set up a station next to me at the kitchen table. We everybody What time is your zoom call today I'm going to close the door keep the dogs from barking. It was kind of a three ring circus because then they were all home. Their friends were back home from college. So they were coming. They were going they were all three working jobs. My son was working at Kwik Trip and working overnights. Amanda was working at Menards going in at 6am I said we had all three shifts covered because Zach was on the night shift at Kwik Trip Amanda was on the am shift and would go in at 6am at Menards and then Melissa would work at Culvers in the middle afternoon. So it was like a three ring circus I didn't know if we were making breakfast lunch or dinner who was doing you know laundry machine was constantly going and as a hard transition for me also and they were all gone and they were all back home implosion right. So but because they all miss each other and they all love each other it was also kind of fun to see them all come back together and to hear their conversations and to see you know what they were doing, you know, I didn't know what all this was and how it was affecting them and just watching them manage their time, their days. And everybody just kind of pulling back together as a family unit as to where they were each at and what was going to happen and it was a crazy hectic schedule but they are all there for each other my kids have always rallied and supported each other. So that that was good, but hectic not gonna lie but crazy fun and glad they're all back out on their own again
Nathaniel Langner 19:08
kind of going off of like the work it was at the family and at home you just kind of like try and keep that silver lining Would you agree with just like trying to stay positive and being able to adapt? And then I guess you can kind of expand so everyone's leaving the house or how has it changed kind of coming into like when I'm interviewing you today is a lot different than probably if I interviewed you a few months ago like how is like your household began changing yet again with like the vaccine and just like more opening less restrictions getting the job at Mayo stuff like?
Linda White 19:40
yep, so um, Amanda has stayed in Rochester at Mayo and she moved from nurse tech to registered nurse and ended up getting her dream job and has been working up there and has her seeing her as a registered nurse and hearing what she's experiencing From the COVID unit and COVID floors, and that kind of helped all of us understand the COVID shot, and she was probably one of the first ones to get her first and second dose, I had a health scare through the COVID. And with that health scare, it actually made me healthier because working from home, I could get up stretch exercise and have a little more flexibility and actually get my health back in order and have less stress. So went through a lot of stress, less stress, get healthier. And then, with my youngest, she's just learned to kind of be resilient, I guess, is the great word. And manage time management has been a huge lifesaver on her part. And just really digging deep for all of us as to where we are where we want to be. And also makes you really love and value, you know, a hug from your kids walking in the door, or my parents who are 78 and 83, being able to give them hugs from that first initial. Here, we're running out of toilet paper and Kleenex and sanitizers dropping off that but not being able to hug your parents to seeing my parents hug their grandchildren again. You know, it really makes you realize who's important in your life, too. So it was it a good thing? Was it a bad thing? There's pros and cons to all of it, because I think it brought the people who you want in your life even closer. And then it also helped to kind of block out the noise and the clutter and what's really not important, you know? So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 21:48
that was really good. So kind of going off of like stress, you talked about your work environment, do you think coming home was is is it less stressful working at home, being able to wake up and stretch and kind of like, do your day a little more free than
Linda White 22:03
I can really focus on my work, and not get pulled in. I help a lot of people at my job not get pulled in so much. So I can really focus on myself, which has been nice. You know, I think that that's been the key to just getting up moving around. The other thing that's changed I think the most and last year is going to church. I'm happy to say we're back to church, it's it's we started wearing masks in our church, but you know, church, church changed, Sunday afternoons changed. So Sunday mornings, routines have changed, but with our faith, we've all made it through this so.
Nathaniel Langner 22:43
and then you talked about your daughter being a nurse at Mayo and like the COVID clinics. So I think a lot of like interviews and probably perspectives of nurses have been heard. But how is like the mother of a nurse? Like how do you feel about your like daughter? Like, are you scared? Are you still scared? Are you feeling better with like the COVID vaccine? Like? What was your kind of viewpoint of having someone in the field that you loved and cared for?
Linda White 23:07
I was very proud of her. I'm very, very proud of her. You know, she was doing the nose swabs and going out in the field and gowning up and very proud. Yeah, of course, always, always worry, I scared for your kids. But you have to give that worry to God because he's in control, right. And you don't want to have anybody you know get sick and be in that pain and have that there are so much unknown, but knowing that she's surounded by the best resources, and the strongest and the smartest and the medicine and then in the nation up at Mayo, I And because I've been up there to visit her and I see how that area is so you know, wearing their mask and conscientious of it that she's surrounded by the best of the best that I know she's okay.
Nathaniel Langner 23:58
And then how did your association with like the community, you talked about going to church and senior parents? How drastic was your change, like being able to interact with people, you got your kids back, but did other kind of other family members, you started to have to wait to see them or had to be more cautious?
Linda White 24:15
Yeah, for example, I had a nephew who him and his wife are expecting a baby. And we did as a zoom baby shower. So my parents came over and sat here with me at home in front of the screens. And it almost brought a tear to my mom's eyes to see, you know, family in Atlanta that she hadn't seen. And, you know, just to see everybody on the screen, you know, here I'd been using it all the time for work but for her to see it and to experience it. That just the different technology and the different age groups was kind of cool. Um, you know, for work for you know, I used to go to a lot of business after hours, a lot of meetings, a lot of lunches, a lot of different things like that and all that has I'm to a halt, like going out to eat has changed that. Recently, we went back to a movie going to movie theater has changed. So it's just made you appreciate things when you can do them again, and actually haven't missed as much as what I thought I'd miss. So
Nathaniel Langner 25:16
Kind of going off of that. Going to the movies going out to eat. When you weren't working at home, what kind of activities were you doing to like, keep yourself busy? Like, are you watching more TV? Like, what kind of new hobbies like walking, running anything? Like that?
Linda White 25:34
walking, biking, taking the dogs on the walks more often. Funny, even this morning, I went for a walk at 6:30 this morning, I went for a three mile walk through town ran into two neighbors that I hadn't seen in a long time. I mean, one that probably lives, couple blocks, you know, west than the one that lives and here it was 6:30 in the morning, would I normally been out walking? No. But I've been walking exercising when I ran into two neighbors that I hadn't seen for a while. So it's kind of funny how doing new habits you reconnect with people in different places again, so.
Nathaniel Langner 26:06
yeah. And then kind of going off of you being able to experience more of the community meeting people walking, How do you believe the city of Altoona has been like, affected by COVID? Like do you think it's been like worse than like what you've read about the other parts of like, the nation or do you think Altoona did a pretty good job of like, maintaining it, because you're like right next to Eau Claire as well. So you kind of have that overflow,
Linda White 26:32
like a couple a couple of things that like kind of hit close to home last year. In Altoona in June. They always do Center City days, right, which is like the city parade, the carnival, the grilled chicken, the the fair, the car show the craft fair. I've lived in Altoona for gosh, since 1983, a really long time. And I always looked forward to that in the summer with the kids going and doing that the ball tournaments, things like that. They didn't have that, of course, this past year. Christmas lights, just different things to help raise money for the community. This year, at Christmas time they did a Christmas tree lighting, you could buy a light to represent someone in the community, I bought three red lights, one for Zach, Amanda and Melissa, a red light on the Christmas tree to help raise money for the Altoona Lions that does a lot for the community. Things like that have changed. I actually was just reading today that now June this summer, they're going to have live music back in the park. And they used to do yoga in the park and concerts in the park. And you know, none of that got to happen last summer and last spring. So it'd be nice to see that come forward again, and happen again to see those events happen to see people come out. And yeah, just come alive. Again, I guess the farmers markets coming back, things like that.
Nathaniel Langner 27:59
That's really nice. That's like a really positive thing kind of going off to like the vaccine and like, a bright spot that we can focus on in a second. But towards the beginning, did you feel like people had different views on COVID? Like wearing masks and stuff like that? Like did your neighbors or other people you've interacted with? Did you kind of have like, a united sense of like what it was? Or were there a lot of different perspectives that you were hearing?
Linda White 28:27
when it first happened, and then we kept hearing about it. And then they're like, Okay, the office is going to change. We all thought this isn't gonna come to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, this is, you know, across the seas this, this, this is a big city problem. Well, then all of a sudden, we're like, No, this is in the office, this change is going to happen, this change. And we're all I can just remember that day when that email on those calls and those conversations started happening. You know, you could see the resistance like this is not going to happen here in Eau Claire. But sure enough, it did it altered and changed all of our lives. And yes, I work with some people who are still I must hate reading about their social media posts and their Facebook posts. And anti-vaccinators the what's really in this vaccine, and I think either you're really for it, or you're really against it. And it's been ugly. But yeah, even in my office, even with people I work with every day, you can still see the struggle. Some people are like, I'll never wear a mask out in public. I'll go get my doctor to write something up saying for my mental health or health I don't need to wear a mask. I have someone at work who won't wear a mask to save her life or kid's life and she thinks it's a government control thing she thinks this conspiracy. It's it's interesting to see and hear the different perspectives. The different generations who believe in vaccines and don't believe in vaccines you can see the fear in some people when they talk about what's in the vaccine, and other people who are like, No, we need to do this. The herd immunity. It's, it's interesting to see all the different perspectives, that's for sure.
Nathaniel Langner 30:16
Yeah, I guess let's kind of can continue talking about the vaccines you talked about your daughter was probably one of the first people because of her occupation. Did you get the vaccine as well?
Linda White 30:27
Yep, I sure did. Yep.
Nathaniel Langner 30:29
And
Linda White 30:29
my parents have I have
Nathaniel Langner 30:31
was like, I guess before you got the vaccine, were you worried yourself? Or like, what kind of information were you receiving? Before you got it that like, made you feel comfortable? Or made it seem like the right thing to do?
Linda White 30:45
Um, I just have in the faith in it, and knowing that my daughter had that, the knowledge on it, and there's there's always that fear, like, did the vaccine come too quickly? But then you have to have the faith in, you know, the FDA and the people and the systems and everything that it had to go through all the testing had to go through? Yeah, came through fast. Yes, there's unknowns, and there's going to be uncertainties on it. But whenever something like that happens, you I don't know. Yeah, there were there scary thoughts on it, but you can't live in fear. I think that's something my dad has always taught me and my kids, you can't live in fear. You just gotta keep moving forward and pray for the best. So I'm glad I'm vaccinated, I'm looking forward to go see my great nephew, next week for the first time to meet him and he's three months already. So I want to get back to a little more normalcy. I, I want the future to look bright for education for the future teachers, for the kids who are in school. That's another thing that scares me, I worry about kids, I hear coworkers who talk about their kids are driving them crazy. They hate helping their kids with their homework, their kids are not learning anything, this is stupid. I worry about kids who aren't being loved by their parents at home during this time, and worry about kids who are being abused. I think these kids need to go back to school. You know, there's there's so much that's going, unfortunately, come out of this COVID situation that the debt to America, the stimulus is the checks that payment protection loans. There's, there's so many unknowns in our future right now that we just have to know that God's in control, and things are gonna get better.
Nathaniel Langner 32:46
And do you think the vaccine can help with that? Do you think the vaccine will come back to like a normal that we had before? Or do you think some of these kind of lingering side effects of just school in general working from home, do you think a lot of these things will persist? Or do you think we'll kind of go back to prior to 2020? Like, how do you coming up with that
Linda White 33:11
change is inevitable. There's always going to be change. If not this, there could have been something else. You know, there was polio, there's measles, there's vaccines for chickenpox, and everything else, or everything has a has a wave, right. So let's hope this, this dies down a little bit. And maybe we get a little bit of life back.
Nathaniel Langner 33:36
Yeah. And then I guess, going off your personal experience with the vaccine was setting up an appointment pretty easy, or did you feel like there were a lot of like, hoops to jump through? And you were a little bit confused?
Linda White 33:48
Um, actually, no, mine was super easy. I was actually at the clinic at the time. And they said yep, we'll get you signed up. I went right up to the registration desk. I got in the next morning at 8am. I walked in. And actually when I walked in, there is no line there's no waiting and went back 21 days later. I was very lucky and fortunate. I drink my water took a little Tylenol, and no reactions from either first or second dose and I walked and exercise and kept that medicine moving right through my body and feel very fortunate that I did not have any ill side effects. So taking those two shots vs having COVID That that was alright for me. So just tiny little needle.
Nathaniel Langner 34:36
Yeah. Did your parents were you familiar with how your parents got registered? Like, did they have a similar process? Because I know, like at like the school a lot of its like, online and everything. So do you think it's easy for multiple generations?
Linda White 34:50
Which is funny, That's a great question because my parents had been calling and calling one of the health care centers here in Eau Claire, and they kept getting, leaving voicemails for a person, and no one kept calling them back. So finally, I said, Mom, I'm gonna go online and register you. And then the next day, they actually got a call back. So we kind of laugh about that I'm really like, well, their voicemails never got returned for two weeks. Then one day, I said, Let's just registry online, and the next day they got a call and were registered. So did that help? Did that not help? I don't know. But they got in quicker. So yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 35:28
that's really nice. And then kind of, there's probably a lot of government kind of stuff that goes into like those calls in private the health. Do you feel like your local government did a good job of like educating you about it? And like, telling you it was there like the local clinics or everything? Like,
Linda White 35:50
you'd have to be living under a rock if you didn't know what's going on. And you turn on the news, you read the paper, you turn on the radio. That's all we've been hearing about is the cases the you know how to do this what's happening, notice what's going on. So yeah, I think there's, there's been more than enough media knowledge and information on what's going on. Yeah.
Nathaniel Langner 36:12
At the very beginning, did you feel like the response was quick and the correct one? Or were you kind of a little uncertain at the beginning of just like, what the government was like trying to do? Or like, what rules are like, how you should kind of go about life? Like, should you stay at home? Is everything okay? What messages were you getting there? And how was that making you?
Linda White 36:36
I think there's just I think some people were we're all kind of just in denial, okay, how bad Will this really be? Will this really affect us? There's, it all depends on how you want to take that information and be, you know, open and receptive and honest. And it's like any news, you can hear the extremists or the minimalists and things you just got to weed through it and take what you want. And just kind of watch it follow. No one knew what was going on. If it's healthcare, who was government if it was, you know, restaurant owners, small business owners, you know, college students, I think everybody had an anxiety and angst of how are we going to get into this? How are we going to get out of this? And what's going to be the repercussion? Nobody can predict the future.
Nathaniel Langner 37:29
And then, kind of with COVID Did you have anyone in your family or anyone close? That really dealt with? COVID? Like any, like, did you know a lot of people that were getting sick, or was it more of like a distance thing? Like where you were hearing more about the news, but not actually like, seeing people catch it like that?
Linda White 37:50
You know, I think you know, I've heard a couple stories from my daughter up in Rochester, my daughter and Eau Claire, her and her boyfriend, you know, they had to quarantine for a couple of weeks. So it you know, you hear stories like that I'm counting my blessings, nobody. No family member no relative no close friend was sick or hospitalized. So that's, that's a huge gift and a blessing right there. That family that you love holding dearly. Everybody knows is pretty healthy. So I guess that's that's the shining light that nobody we know was really, you know, there's a couple of people who are quarantined and I think that made them think twice about things but um, you know and Amanda's shared some ideas and stories but all in all, I guess I feel pretty blessed that no one we knew died from it or was you know, hospitalized I guess so. And you know, I see my mom and dad who are older and you know, it's slowed them down a little bit and I you know, they are homework doing puzzles or jig saws or card games or you know, not getting out as much so we try to kept them at home and we would bring more things to them because we didn't want them going out as much but um yeah, knock on wood everybody's healthy.
Nathaniel Langner 39:17
I guess going out to change like how you would grocery shop did you go at like different times if you like try like new like, were you like they bring it out to you? Like were there any like different policies you were trying with that just to try and stay safe or save time or do anything like?
Linda White 39:31
and not even then I don't mind I still went out to the grocery stores from time to time. But then I did start ordering groceries online. And now just because it's such a time saver, and I absolutely love it on my groceries. For me, I order it on my app, pull it and have it loaded in my car. And it's not because I don't want to go to the store. I have gone to the stores many stores did my shopping Yeah, yvery now and then I do just do the order and pickup but I still like to go out and see things and be out there. But even when I go out to the mall, there's nothing out there. I mean, all the stores their inventory is less. So why put myself at risk if I don't need to be if I can pick something up online, or drive and pick something up because you see it in the stores, the inventory is down there sales staff is down. So then I'm like, oh, that's just kind of sad even to go and see that so why go but so yeah, the ordering online that's that's kind of slick not gonna lie.
Nathaniel Langner 40:34
when you have probably done the amount of online ordering or like, implemented those without COVID? Or do you think you would have just like, slightly Yeah,
Linda White 40:43
I know. I think that was definitely a change that yeah, me and the Amazon will not get the Venmo no matter how bad my kids asked me to get Venmo. But yeah, the Amazon ordering the Target and Walmart ordering picked up, but still fun to get out and go to Menards and do things too, so. So gotta get out of the house. You can't you can't stop living in you can't live in fear, you still have to put on your mask and go so.
Nathaniel Langner 41:08
The point of getting out of the house. You were talking about with the vaccine. Now you're gonna plan on visiting like your nephew, pretty soon who just had one of his children? How did it change your like relationships with your family, being able to see them on like holidays, seeing them in the future now like, more of your distant like relatives, your sister,
Linda White 41:29
like this was the first time in in years where we didn't get to go to the cities for Christmas, or get together for a big Thanksgiving. Just because y'know I had a sister who was at high risk, and you know, we, she just, you just don't wanna, they lived in Minnesota. We lived in Wisconsin, you just you just don't want to risk it. And it'll be nice to have a family reunion again. So when that day comes, it will be really nice. So
Nathaniel Langner 41:57
do you think you'll have that probably coming up sooner than later? Like, thanksgiving come around? Do you think it will be more like old times? Or do you think there will still be some kind of like caution?
Linda White 42:10
Well, you know, we're already talking about getting the boat out on the lake in Minnesota. And I just bought a ticket to go to Atlanta to see my brother. So it's time to keep living. You know, other people I know bought tickets to go to Florida. It's nice to hear the weather is going to warm up in school next fall is going to be back this UW Eau Claire students will be back on campus and lets just hope are moving forward in the right direction.
Nathaniel Langner 42:37
And then kind of going off your trip for Atlanta, are you flying? You have any caution with flying? Are you kind of excited to like, get back out like anything to go off like that trip?
Linda White 42:48
Actually, my brother and my brother in law fly a lot for work. And they've started flying more. And what's really interesting about flying, when we were looking at tickets, I said, Well, is there a better time, you know, to get a cheaper ticket to fly at this time or that time? And all that has shot out the window. You know, so that's changed because the number of people on planes are different. So maybe a time that you would normally fly that ticket. You know that to your pricing is different now because of everything going on with COVID to so yeah, no, I don't care. I'm ready to go.
Nathaniel Langner 43:23
If your like your plane ticket was cheaper than you expected, or is it back up to like normal?
Linda White 43:27
no, it was cheap. It was less less expensive. Yeah,
Nathaniel Langner 43:31
yeah. Because at the beginning, when it was really starting, you got a lot of reports that the plane tickets were like, discounted a lot so
Linda White 43:39
yeah, they still are so that's good. But now getting on a plane. I'm sure they have the cleaning and the you know, it's been long enough, they'll have the procedures in place.
Nathaniel Langner 43:48
You know, they've had some time to figure it out. Do you have any other kind of things to keep in mind for the future? Anything you're looking forward to? Anything that you're excited to get back to that you kind of lost during COVID or anything else you want to talk about?
Linda White 44:04
No, I think I think we hit it. Family kids education. We got it.
Nathaniel Langner 44:09
Thank you so much.
Linda White 44:11
You bet. All right. Is that all?
Nathaniel Langner 44:13
Yeah