Andrew Bradigan, former Ojai resident (and the podcast host's son) lives and works in Nashville, TN as a sales manager for Postmates, the food delivery service. In early March, there were several confirmed cases of Covid19. Postmates' 600 employees were moved out of the office and into quarantine, setting up their schedules and living situations to work from home.
However, it was too late for young Bradigan, who began suffering night sweats, muscle weakness and shortness of breath. This was especially hard for Andy, who is a fitness and nutrition enthusiast, and, at 6'5" and 215 pounds, is in peak physical condition. "I couldn't get a breath for the life of me," he said. The worst part, he said, was the relapses, where he would feel completely well, only to suffer a recurrence of the fever and night sweats. It took six to eight weeks before he completely recovered.
His job mainly consists of talking with restaurant owners around the country to sign them up for the Postmates' service, learning about the varied responses to the pandemic, shifting to primarily takeout. He's also learned that the way restaurateurs have treated their employees has a direct impact on their ability to survive the crisis; as the ill-treated employees have taken advantage of the crisis to move on to better situations.
Andy also has a "side hustle," developing an on-demand cleaning service app, called Dapper. Described as the Uber or Lyft for cleaning services, the app matches up people who need cleaning service - maybe to turn over a short-term rental, or to help with the aftermath of a raging party - with people who appreciate the flexibility and good pay of the gig economy.
We talk about Luke Bryan, trout fishing on the Caney Fork river in central Tennessee, the steelhead fishery on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in western New York, as well as the Buffalo Bills' off-season draft moves. We do not talk about Simon Bolivar or either Ernest Shackleton or Hemingway.
