Martin (BG), 41, Key Account Manager, Sofia/Bulgaria

Those final days in March before the lockdown, I had been performing quite the usual day-to-day operations in the company - traveling, customer meetings, discussing hygiene projects with clients from the seasonal lodging business before the start of summer, as I am key account manager for the food & beverages business in Bulgaria in a company that specialises in hygiene and cleaning solutions for many different industries. And then, all of the sudden we had been locked down very quick, which completely shifted my operations in a different direction. I started to communicate with my customers and most of my colleagues only over phone, chats and mails. Our team of eight persons normally present in the office immediately shrank to only two persons - me and one more colleague.

Overnight the meaning of "hygiene" to my customers had changed to "safety measures", which included building stock of alcohol disinfectants, soap, masks, gloves, and toilet paper.

I had a busy time to prioritise the scarcity of the stock I had and to ensure supply of these kind of products. It was also challenging to find new reliable producers of the abovementioned goods.

I was surprised by the scale of the measures taken by our government. It was surrealistic to see empty streets in the middle of the day. But I think that the reaction of the Bulgarian government was quick and righteous. That is maybe the main reason to go out of the pandemic with less casualties than other countries.

And although I had been discussing with friends the nearing of an economic crisis only the month before, I hadn't expected such a start.

On the first night of the lockdown I saw a rich guy in a gas station filling up the trunk of his Maybach with a couple of 20 litre canisters of gasoline, and next to him his wife with a new luxury Mercedes SUV was doing the same thing, both in a rush as though they were contestants in a TV-game show.

During the quarantine, I cancelled all customer visits. My contact to customers and colleagues were done only by phone and mail. Apart from that, the lockdown didn't have any professional consequences for me. And I am proud, that it didn't harm my team as well. However, my biggest fear in this crisis is economic fear, ergo social fear. I don't think that there will be another wave of this virus particularly.

What I missed the most? The last part of the ski season, as I am an avid skier.

What I think is one positive aspect in this crisis is that people started to pay more attention to hygiene, which makes my job easier in some aspects. Generally, I think that the Western Hemisphere will be more aware now of how people experience similar situations, which normally happen on a large scale mostly in Africa and Asia.

I don't think, however, that society will change much. I think that most people will strive to forget it. There are a lot of examples of people with bad memory, and I don't think that in only one year people's habits will change so much as to be different from 2019 or 2018. Maybe, some businesses could move from China to other countries - hopefully European J.

My own plans for the future... in the short term I will go visiting with friends in Zug, Zurich and Vienna in August. I'm also planning a trip to Turkey in September. From a business perspective - I will diversify the family business I am working in, starting cooperation with more partners.

My long term plans - going to ski in the Alps again J, get married next summer and hopefully become a father. One day, I wish to tell my future grandchildren the following poem about this time:

THE GREAT REALISATION:

"Tell me the one about the virus, then I'll go to bed",
But, my boy, you're growing weary, sleepy thoughts about your head.
"Please that one's my favourite, I promise just once more",
Okay, snuggle down my boy, though I know you know full well
This story starts before then, in a world I once would dwell.
It was a world of waste and wonder, of poverty and plenty,
Back before we understood why hindsight's 2020.
You see, the people came up with companies, to trade across all lands,
But they swelled and got much bigger, than we ever could have planned.
We'd always had our wants, but now it got so quick
You could have anything you dreamed of in a day, and with a click.
We noticed families stopped talking, that's not to say they never spoke,
But the meaning must have melted, and the work-life balance broke.
And the children's eyes grew squarer, and every toddler had a phone,
They filtered out the imperfections, but amidst the noise they felt alone.
And every day the skies grew thicker, till you couldn't see the stars,
So we flew in planes to find them, while down below we filled our cars.
We'd drive around all day in circles, we'd forgotten how to run,
We swapped the grass for tarmac, shrunk the parks till there were none.
We filled the sea with plastic because our waste was never capped,
Until each day when you went fishing, you'd pull them out already wrapped.
And while we drank and smoked and gambled, our leaders taught us why
It's best to not upset the lobbies, more convenient...to die.
But then in 2020 a new virus came our way.
The governments reacted and told us all to hide away,
But while we all were hidden, amidst the fear and all the while,
The people dusted off their instincts, they remembered how to smile.
They started clapping to say thank you, and calling up their mums,
And while the car keys gathered dust they would look forward to their runs.
And with the skies less full of voyagers, the earth began to breathe,
And the beaches bore new wild life that scuttled off into the sea.
Some people started dancing, some were singing, some were baking,
We'd grown so used to bad news, but some good news was in the making.
And so when we found the cure, and were allowed to go outside,
We all preferred the world we found, to the one we'd left behind.
Old habits became extinct, and they made way for the new,
And every simple act of kindness was now given it's due.
"But why did it take a virus to bring the people back together?"
Well, sometimes you've got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.
Now lie down and dream of tomorrow, and all the things that we can do,
And who knows if you dream hard enough, maybe some of them will come true.
We now call it 'The Great Realisation', and yes since then there have been many,
But that's the story of how it started, and why hindsight is 2020.

Written & Produced by Tomas Roberts on Social Media. (@tomfoolery) / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5KQMXDiM4

In den letzten Tagen im März vor der Sperrung hatte ich die üblichen täglichen Verrichtungen im Unternehmen erledigt - Reisen, Kundenbesprechungen, Besprechungen von Hygieneprojekten mit meinen Kunden aus der Tourismusbranche zur Vorbereitung der Sommersaison, da ich Key Account Manager für die bulgarische Gastronomie/Hotellerie in einem Unternehmen bin, das sich auf Hygiene- und Reinigungslösungen für viele verschiedene Branchen spezialisiert hat. Und dann kam ganz plötzlich und ziemlich unerwartet der Lockdown, was meine Geschäfte in eine komplett andere Richtung verlagerte. Ich begann mit meinen Kunden und den meisten meiner Kollegen nur mehr über Telefon, Chats und Mails zu kommunizieren. Unser Team von acht Personen, die normalerweise im Büro anwesend sind, ist sofort auf nur zwei Personen geschrumpft - ich und ein weiterer Kollege.

Über Nacht hatte sich die Bedeutung von "Hygiene" für meine Kunden in "Sicherheitsmaßnahmen" gewandelt, zu denen der Aufbau eines Bestands an alkoholischen Desinfektionsmitteln, Seife, Masken, Handschuhen und Toilettenpapier gehörte.

Ich hatte viel zu tun, die Versorgung mit solchen Produkten zu priorisieren und sicherzustellen, da mein Lagerbestand knapp war. Es war auch eine Herausforderung, neue zuverlässige Hersteller der oben genannten Waren zu finden.

Ich war überrascht über das Ausmaß der von unserer Regierung ergriffenen Maßnahmen. Es war surrealistisch, mitten am Tag leere Straßen zu sehen. Aber ich denke, dass die Reaktion der bulgarischen Regierung schnell und gerechtfertigt war. Dies ist vielleicht der Hauptgrund, warum hier in Bulgarien die Pandemie weniger Opfer gefordert hat. Obwohl ich erst einen Monat zuvor mit Freunden darüber gesprochen hatte, dass eine Wirtschaftskrise kommen könnte, hatte ich keinen solchen Start erwartet.

In der ersten Nacht des Lockdown beobachtete ich einen reichen Mann an einer Tankstelle, der den Kofferraum seines Maybach mit ein paar 20-Liter-Benzinkanistern füllte, während neben ihm seine Frau mit einem neuen Luxus-Mercedes-SUV dasselbe tat, beide in voller Hektik, als wären sie Kandidaten in einer Fernsehshow.

Während der Quarantäne habe ich alle Kundenbesuche abgesagt. Mein Kontakt zu Kunden und Kollegen erfolgte nur per Telefon und Post. Abgesehen davon hatte der Lockdown keine beruflichen Konsequenzen für mich. Ich bin auch stolz darauf, dass es auch meinem Team nicht geschadet hat. Meine größte Angst in dieser Krise ist trotzdem die wirtschaftliche Angst. Ich glaube nicht, dass es eine weitere Welle dieses Virus geben wird.

Was ich am meisten vermisst habe? Den Abschluss der Skisaison, da ich ein begeisterter Skifahrer bin.

Was ich für einen positiven Aspekt in dieser Krise halte, ist, dass die Menschen zunehmend auf Hygiene achten, was auch meine Arbeit in einigen Aspekten erleichtert. Generell denke ich, dass die westliche Hemisphäre sich jetzt mehr darüber im Klaren sein wird, wie Menschen solche ähnlichen Situationen erleben, die ja normalerweise hauptsächlich in Afrika und Asien in großem Umfang auftreten. Ich denke jedoch nicht, dass sich die Gesellschaft stark verändern wird. Ich denke, dass die meisten Menschen danach streben werden, es zu vergessen. Es gibt viele Beispiele für Menschen mit schlechtem Gedächtnis, und ich glaube nicht, dass sich die Gewohnheiten der Menschen in nur einem Jahr so stark ändern werden, dass sie sich von 2019 oder 2018 unterscheiden. Vielleicht könnten einige Unternehmen von China in andere Länder abwandern - hoffentlich nach Europa.

Meine eigenen Pläne für die Zukunft... kurzfristig werde ich im August bei Freunden in Zug, Zürich und Wien zu Besuch sein. Ich plane auch eine Reise in die Türkei im September. Aus geschäftlicher Sicht werde ich das Familienunternehmen, in dem ich arbeite, diversifizieren und mit mehr Partnern zusammenarbeiten.

Meine langfristigen Pläne - ich möchte gern wieder Skifahren in den Alpen, nächsten Sommer heiraten und hoffentlich Vater werden. Eines Tages möchte ich nämlich meinen zukünftigen Enkelkindern das folgende Gedicht über die jetzige Zeit rezitieren:

THE GREAT REALISATION:

"Tell me the one about the virus, then I'll go to bed",
But, my boy, you're growing weary, sleepy thoughts about your head.
"Please that one's my favourite, I promise just once more",
Okay, snuggle down my boy, though I know you know full well
This story starts before then, in a world I once would dwell.
It was a world of waste and wonder, of poverty and plenty,
Back before we understood why hindsight's 2020.
You see, the people came up with companies, to trade across all lands,
But they swelled and got much bigger, than we ever could have planned.
We'd always had our wants, but now it got so quick
You could have anything you dreamed of in a day, and with a click.
We noticed families stopped talking, that's not to say they never spoke,
But the meaning must have melted, and the work-life balance broke.
And the children's eyes grew squarer, and every toddler had a phone,
They filtered out the imperfections, but amidst the noise they felt alone.
And every day the skies grew thicker, till you couldn't see the stars,
So we flew in planes to find them, while down below we filled our cars.
We'd drive around all day in circles, we'd forgotten how to run,
We swapped the grass for tarmac, shrunk the parks till there were none.
We filled the sea with plastic because our waste was never capped,
Until each day when you went fishing, you'd pull them out already wrapped.
And while we drank and smoked and gambled, our leaders taught us why
It's best to not upset the lobbies, more convenient...to die.
But then in 2020 a new virus came our way.
The governments reacted and told us all to hide away,
But while we all were hidden, amidst the fear and all the while,
The people dusted off their instincts, they remembered how to smile.
They started clapping to say thank you, and calling up their mums,
And while the car keys gathered dust they would look forward to their runs.
And with the skies less full of voyagers, the earth began to breathe,
And the beaches bore new wild life that scuttled off into the sea.
Some people started dancing, some were singing, some were baking,
We'd grown so used to bad news, but some good news was in the making.
And so when we found the cure, and were allowed to go outside,
We all preferred the world we found, to the one we'd left behind.
Old habits became extinct, and they made way for the new,
And every simple act of kindness was now given it's due.
"But why did it take a virus to bring the people back together?"
Well, sometimes you've got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.
Now lie down and dream of tomorrow, and all the things that we can do,
And who knows if you dream hard enough, maybe some of them will come true.
We now call it 'The Great Realisation', and yes since then there have been many,
But that's the story of how it started, and why hindsight is 2020.

Written & Produced by Tomas Roberts on Social Media. (@tomfoolery) / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5KQMXDiM4