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Logan Huneycutt
Interviewer

Harley Gibson
Narrator

April 17, 2022
Greenville, North Carolina

LH: (00:01)
Okay, so I'm interviewing my girlfriend. Her name is Harley Gibson. So the first question is, did you get the vaccine? And why?

HG: (00:16)
No, I did not get the vaccine. Because there was not enough research for me.

LH: (00:26)
So, you didn't, you didn't feel like safe in a way?

HG: (00:32)
Yes. The vaccine did not have enough studies done on it. And it was made too quickly.

LH: (00:42)
Okay. So, did you get COVID? And what was what was that? Like?

HG: (00:51)
Yes, I had COVID Last year, around Easter time. And I honestly felt like I was going to die. And I was in cosmetology school at the time. And so I had to do hair school through Zoom while having COVID. And my instructor said she could literally hear me wheezing through Zoom while taking my classes.

LH: (01:30)
Okay. actually never had COVID just never got it. I don't know. So I would I think I would hate to have that. Hopefully, I never will. Um, so you said you went to hair school? What was what was the place called?

HG: (01:52)
Oh, Alexandre Powell Institute.

LH: (01:55)
Okay. And I think that's, that's right beside campus. Yeah, isn't it? Okay. So how, how do they go about safety precautions, and like COVID protocol and stuff like that, like,

HG: (02:15)
we we had to wear a mask every day, we had to take a questionnaire every morning about if we had COVID symptoms that are not. We had to get our temperature check every morning. We had to sanitize every hour. Our stations looked different and were further apart. And, yeah,

LH: (02:46)
okay. And I'm assuming Did y'all have to wear a mask? In the salon? Okay. Did they get any more lenient with that as the like, as the year went on, as COVID was

HG: (03:05)
Not up until I graduated, everyone had to wear a mask.

LH: (03:12)
Okay. And was this, your clients as well had to wear masks? So

HG: (03:18)
quiet students, teachers, owners, and any and everybody?

LH: (03:23)
Because if you didn't have one, they weren't allowed in?

HG: Yes.

LH: Right. Okay. Um, how do you feel about how did you feel about masks like what annoyed you or like, what you did like about it?

HG: (03:36)
Um, I didn't like masks in hair school, because they would get in the way. And I've colored 100 of them and cut a few. And I like to wear masks because I didn't have to get ready. And nobody can really see my face. So they have to get ready every day.

LH: (04:04)
Yeah, that's a good, that's good. Let's see. Did your routine change at all? So did the COVID pandemic, kind of like mess your schedule up? Like what was different? Do you think there's anything different about being like, did your life change at all like with COVID

HG: (04:30)
the beginning my life changed a little bit like when the shutdown first started, so I don't really do anything. And then when stuff started opening back up as when I moved back to Greenville went to hair school, and things started to get a little bit more normal.

LH: (04:53)
Okay. What did you think about The media coverage so like what did you see like online? Like anything like funny like memes or like serious information like how did the media cover that in your opinion

HG: (05:23)
um so I think the media in a way over fair or share too much about COVID and not about other things, which made people scared which caused a lot of other things. But I'm also a person who doesn't really watch the news, because of all the negativity. And I did like the mean, when Cardi B was like Coronavirus. Didn't like that. I mean,

LH: (06:16)
okay. Um, one of my questions is about having a job. So now, I know that you have graduated from Alexandra Paul, and you are currently working in a salon. So was COVID gone by the time? Or did you still have to wear masks like anything like that when you first

HG: (06:45)
started at the salon, things got a little more lenient on the mask it was wasn't mandatory anymore. It was good as you please. If you're vaccinated, so we didn't really wear mask at our salon if someone asked us to put a mask on and put a mask on the client one to wear masks like wear masks, but it's not like mandatory.

LH: (07:08)
Okay. Let's see. Did you miss out on anything? Like did you happen to plan to maybe go out of the country or somewhere? Like maybe on a cruise? And it kind of it kind of just got cancelled? Because of COVID?

HG: (07:36)
No, I didn't really have many plans during COVID. really worked on myself became a better person. Yeah, I really had no trips.

LH: (07:53)
Okay. Oh. Period. Um, let's see. How How did your family and friends get affected like about the COVID? And pandemic? Are they doing well, not so well.

HG: (08:18)
The COVID pandemic, my mom actually owned a boutique here in North Carolina. And so she had to shut down which was our only source of income. And she didn't get the small business loan or anything. So that was tough. And she sold the [inaudible] because she had to kind of thing. And then my grandma actually passed away during COVID from some COVID complications and other reasons. And then my sister actually had two babies during COVID. Which, yeah, it was only two years so far, but they're like 15 months apart. Really, really close and age like we were. And I became a working woman. So and I live in North Carolina by myself. So the pandemic has brought up a lot of independence. What's been my family

LH: (09:36)
made you kind of like step up a little bit. Yeah. To complications with with your family,

LH: (09:44)
and stuff like that. So yeah, um, let's see. Well, you mentioned your sister with her two babies do you like

LH: (09:58)
they there's Like, were they healthy? When they were born? Like was there any complications with COVID?

HG: (10:05)
Yeah they were healthy when they were born. No complications from COVID

LH: (10:10)
And did she have it at any point? Like during the

HG: (10:16)
I don't think my sister did

LH: (10:20)
okay. So since you had COVID You had to quarantine maybe you had like a false positive or something like that. So you might have had to quarantine even though you might have like felt okay, like what exactly did you do during quarantine?

HG: (10:43)
When I had COVID

LH: (10:44)
Yeah, when you have, um,

HG: (10:47)
I was on Zoom for cosmetology school. I watched a lot of Marvel movies. I didn't eat much because I couldn't really taste anything. I drank a lot of Gatorade and took medicine, and I slept a lot. That's what I did.

LH: (11:11)
Okay, um, did you lose your smell as well?

HG: (11:18)
Yeah, last one was taste something still don't taste right to this day. And I really do think it was from having COVID also had the side effect of COVID hair loss, which is very traumatic to me, considering I'm a cosmetologist, because I'm basically bald. Thanks. COVID. labia mean it.

LH: (11:43)
Well, you're not you're not like actually bald. No, but I feel that you. You have lost. You've lost a little bit here. But yeah, okay. I know, there was a lot of like, random stuff with COVID that people have experienced. So that's pretty good. Um, so I know you went to ECU fret, like my freshman year, so was that 2019 Yeah. 2019 Yeah, I was at ECU. 2019. And you were planning on? Like, you had a nursing major. Yeah, right. So did you leave right after or like right before? Like, did you leave that like spring break area where all the freshmen who leave the dorms?

HG: (12:44)
No, I actually left before second semester started and 2020 So I was already at home, taking on classes at a community college when the pandemic started. So I was not ECU so I was not affected by the CMA about and all that refunding and all of that fun stuff.

LH: (13:09)
Um, you said that you went to community college? So where was that community college? Which community college?

HG: (13:22)
I went to the north community college in Lenoir, North Carolina.

LH: (13:27)
Okay. Um, was that online? Was that online? Or did you go in person at all?

HG: (13:35)
Um, no, I was strictly online. I had a lot of anxiety due to ECU. So I took strictly online classes. I did a spring semester and a summer semester. Then after my summer semester at the cleaning college, I was like, nursing is not for me, I do not want to be the stressed out. So I then applied to cosmetology school and started the following January of 2021.

LH: (14:26)
Okay, how to take a little bit of a break right there. But did you do anything else besides doing hair that certain period of time which was how long like How long were you in?

HG: (14:43)
I was in cosmetology school for 11 months. 11 months.

LH: (14:46)
Okay. So like Did you do any other like work as you were in school?

HG: (14:53)
Yes, I tried to work next quarters next door to the hair. School as a server, and so I'd go to hair school from nine to 530, and then work at quarters from 530 to 11. And it was really hard, I was very tired. I unfortunately had to put my two weeks in at a restaurant. Because it was during COVID time, it was a new restaurant. And I wasn't really making good tips for the amount of work that I was putting in.

LH: (15:36)
Okay, um, so how long did you work at quarters, though? So, I work quarters, three, four months longer than that.

HG: (15:47)
Yeah. So I was working. I was there before they even opened. So I was working at quarters for like two months. I was there for the whole renovation open and like all the training, everything went well. I was just not making any money due to people not tipping. So,

LH: (16:07)
so did you. Like was there a lot of people coming in? Or?

HG: (16:11)
Yeah, that was a pretty decent amount of people. I think that came in, they would just tip like $1 $1.87 87 cents like the bare minimum. And I could not make a living off of like, $100 a week for the amount of work that I was putting in Yeah, how tired I was

LH: (16:41)
I have a have a brain fart. I was gonna ask you something. Good Lord. I was trying to say quarters open during the pandemic, didn't they? Yes. And renovated all during that do you think that was like a smart idea? By them is probably like a weird time to meet.

HG: (17:12)
For a restaurant. Yeah, it was pretty, pretty crazy. I think it would have been a different business other than a restaurant because restaurant industries were already struggling during that time. With being at 50% capacity, and so on, so forth. So I say if they would have opened a different business at the same time in the same spot. Thing, things would have been a little bit different.

LH: (17:46)
Because I mean, quarter quarters is still doing fairly fine. I think. I think they could have done a lot better. Opening up later. But so was the salon. So was the school at 50% capacity. Like a different amount. I don't know that was different for

HG: (18:08)
Yeah, so it was at 50% capacity, and the stations are very spread out. So like, I know, when I first started out on the floor taking clients, I was actually at a table by outlet instead of at like an actual station. And then the girls who were at the stations were at every other station. And we would also take we would take our clients temperatures and ask if they've been exposed to COVID and whatnot. Before we let them in also

LH: (18:46)
did you did you find these restrictions like annoying?

HG: (18:52)
Um Yes, I mean, sometimes we will forget to like take their temperature something or the thermometer will mess up because you know we had to use those the the head scanner ones and not like the regular thermometer so you know sometimes those would glitch and mess up and whatnot. And that was kind of annoying.

LH: (19:20)
Did you ever have somebody come in not wanting to wear a mask or anything like a like someone that I don't know somebody like anti mask person not wanting to put their mask on?

HG: (19:34)
Of course you know you're there's always those people who have an opinion and want to stand up for blah, blah, blah, whatever. But they indeed put a mask on to get their hair done and just complained about it halfway through their appointment, which was kind of annoying.

LH: (19:57)
Yeah, I mean, because you would you get in Trouble. What didn't you have? Like, was there like a punishment for it? Since we were like in school for that?

HG: (20:06)
They can't really punish us. They just the client just couldn't get their hair done.

LH: (20:14)
Okay. What did you think? How, like, how do you think the government handled it? So like, in like a political point of view, I would say or like, you think of it that way, like what the President has been saying about you, he talked about it during the pandemic. Do you agree with like, agree like what he did?

HG: (20:43)
I definitely think things could have been handled differently. No one can predict the future. So it's kind of a hard judgement. But I think there could be some different decisions that were made more towards economically like I'm like, I'm all with the other generation. All they think about are knows like money and stuff, like spending money and inflation and gas prices and all that, but I don't really have an opinion

[End of Recording]