Cars and steak during COVID-19

Two employees of Prince Frederick businesses took time last week to reflect on how their lives have recently changed due to the coronavirus.

Mike Wang, the sales manager at Bayside Chevrolet/GM/Toyota and Anna Miller, a bartender at Outback Steakhouse, had different experiences in their respective industries.

Wang, who has been in his job for five years but has been in the car sales business for 29 years, is still working full-time.

Miller, however, had her hours cut from 40 to about 20 per week and had a little bit of a position change when she was one of the few selected for what she called the “skeleton” crew.

Miller, who graduated from Huntingtown High School in 2014, is now handling to-go and delivery orders.

“It’s definitely a huge pay cut,” she said, noting that she applied for unemployment benefits but was turned down.

Miller said she was one of about 20 employees who kept working at the business located at 80 Central Square Drive. There were about 50 employees at the store when the impact of COVID-19 hit, she said.

Things aren’t as tight as they might be, however, because she is living with her father and brother, who both work for essential businesses in Charles County: one is a Verizon Fios cable installer and the other is a car salesman.

“My tips have been cut in half, so I’m unable to save for an apartment,” Miller said, noting that she plans to enroll in a masters school psychology program at Towson University in the Baltimore area in the fall. Miller said she might end up commuting to school for the first semester.

COVID-19 “puts into perspective personal hygiene and cleaning,” she said.

Socially, Miller said she’s going “stir crazy. I’m a regular gym-goer. I’ve been going for walks with my dog.”

“I haven’t seen my friends in weeks,” she said, noting that she uses video calling to connect with them once a week. She’s fortunate that one of her best friends is still employed on Outback’s skeleton crew, however. The connections with one of her friends, who is an intensive care nurse at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, have been more sporadic. “I haven’t talked to her because all she does is work,” Miller said, adding that they exchange texts sometimes.

The Bayside automobile dealership closed for a week following Gov. Larry Hogan’s closure of non-essential businesses on March 23. Wang said the business shut down and looked at its business model and did some deep cleaning.

“It’s affecting everybody,” he said. “It’s a little bit harder for us since autos are a bigger ticket item.”

The business reopened with reduced staff and hours, he said. Previously it would have five or six salesmen on duty daily, but now it’s two or three.

Business is down about 30% from what it was before. However, “there’s still a need. We see customers on a daily basis,” Wang said.

Employees wipe down their desks every 30 minutes, he said, and sales staff practice social distancing, which involves a salesman and a customer sitting at different desks at least 6 feet apart.

In response to COVID-19, Bayside is offering incentives and programs that have “never been stronger,” Wang said. This includes 0% financing for 84 months on Chevrolet/General Motors vehicles and giving customers 120 days to make their first payment, as opposed to 45 days.

Toyota is offering cashback rebates, which differ from $1,500 to $3,000 per vehicle, and allows customers to make their first payment in 90 days.

The financial hit the business saw at the onset of the coronavirus was the fastest that Wang has seen in his 29 years in auto sales, he said, noting that includes the ups and downs of the industry. “It was almost like a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

The business has seen about a 20-to-30% increase in online activity, said Wang, who commutes 45 minutes from his home in Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County. Wang said he takes a shower as soon as he gets home and is the one who has been buying groceries for the family so that his wife and 5-year-old daughter don’t have to go out. “You’re dealing with people’s lives. It’s not about the money. I just think we all have to work together as a community and citizens of a great state,” he said, adding that Hogan “has been very pro-active.”

Twitter: @CalRecCALEB