Unprecedented times: how are our furniture hire team coping under lockdown?

We should really start by wishing all of our readers a happy Easter, although it feels a little strange this year. With the sun shining and temperatures soaring, now would be the time when a furniture hire company such as ours would be gearing up for a busy Spring and Summer filled with events. However, this year, with the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s very much a different story. All major sporting events, festivals and any social gatherings due to take place in the coming weeks are of course cancelled or postponed. Our team have now been quarantined at home for three weeks, but we all make the effort to stay in touch and stay cheerful. Chatting with three of our team members this week, we find out how they’re coping with the lockdown; and of course what they miss most about being at Rio Lounge! 

1.Natalie – Furniture hire office manager

With two young sons aged 12 and 8, office manager Natalie normally enjoys life as a football mum, and can often be found cheering on her boys from the sidelines. Of course, unfortunately that’s all on hold for now……so how is Natalie coping with her new role as teacher now that schools are closed?

“Being a teacher is such hard work!”, she says. “I would much rather be in the office, dealing with furniture hire enquiries at Rio Lounge. Or standing out on a football pitch! We all miss it so much. Luckily, we live only two minutes away from some beautiful countryside. So, we can get out on daily walks or bike rides. To be honest, I have lost track of what day it is!’.

2. Mark – Driver and maintenance man

Mark is our maintenance man who also works as a furniture hire delivery crew member for Rio Lounge in busy season. During lockdown, he’s continued to work on keeping communal bin stores operational. “The work I do enables council waste removal teams to operate without hindrance from fly tips or excess dumped rubbish”, he says.  He misses the banter and camaraderie of the Rio Lounge team. But he says he has been amazed by the kindness people have shown whilst he goes about his essential work.  (He was even rewarded with a bottle of wine from one generous chap last week! ) Mark’s fiancee works full time for the NHS, at Luton and Dunstable Hospital; and also works part time for a company who have recently switched from making Formula One racing car parts to making ventilators. We think she deserves an extra round of applause!

3. Jo – Company director

Finding it all quite odd having time on her hands at what would normally be a very busy time of year, our director Jo says she’s just taking one day at a time:

She says: “I feel that I’m faffing around a lot at a very slow speed, achieving only bite-size chunks of my to-do list. My modus operandi is ‘There’s always tomorrow’; so if restrictions were lifted now, I’d no doubt be worried  about all the jobs I was going to do while in lockdown! However, on the positive side, taking my foot off the pedal a little has been good for me. I’ve been spending lots of time in my garden and cycling or running 10-15K a day. Preparing three meals a day at home is also quite strange for me! It seems as if the dishwasher is always on!”

“Overall, I’m taking each day as it comes; trying not to worry too much about the future. Thinking too much about how long restrictions could continue just makes me anxious. And as for work life?  Well…..I’m missing the buzz and camaraderie of the office and warehouse most of all.”

Dealing with furniture hire enquiries during lockdown

Looking to book some furniture hire for your event, either later this year, or next year?  Our team are of course operating remotely. But we are still available to take your calls on our usual office number: 0845 46 77483. Or send an email to our hire team. And of course, we are more than happy to reschedule any existing furniture hire bookings where required. We urge everyone to take Government advice and stay home and stay safe this bank holiday weekend. For the NHS official guidance on Coronavirus, please click here.