Stephen Stacey moved to Glenwood Springs three years ago with his daughter. He said they live a simple life, and love to fish.
“Glenwood Springs is a great place to live if you love to fish,” he said. “The only town in the United States of America that has two gold medal rivers in the town boundary.”
When Stacey’s not outdoors, he works full-time as a bartender at the chain restaurant Chili’s Grill & Bar, that is until last week when Gov. Jared Polis ordered all restaurants in Colorado to offer take-out and delivery only to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Stacey is now only being scheduled part-time at the restaurant. He, like many other service industry workers, are dealing with financial uncertainty, unsure of how to make ends meet, and are now turning to unemployment.
“(I’m) praying. Praying that the next call will come in for work and you know, whatever leads will get us through the next day,” Stacey said. “It’s kind of like somebody punching you blindsiding you and you just never saw it coming.”
Most of the money Stacey made came from tips, and with spring break around the corner, he said he and everyone at the restaurant was looking forward to extra customers and more tips.
“Spring break is kind of our saving grace because our Chili's is full, our town is full,” Stacey said. “We were all just embracing that spring break is coming (and we’ll) see the money coming in, bills getting paid. So we went from what we were expecting to be a feast to famine.”
Stacey tried to apply for unemployment, like many other Coloradans who are suddenly unemployed, but the state’s Department of Labor and Employment’s website would not work.
Cher Haavind, the department’s spokesperson, said that was because too many people were trying to apply at once.
“It is unbelievable the pressure that we've seen on the system in just a mere seven or eight days,” Haavind said.
She said the number of unemployment applications in the state jumped from 400 to 4,000 in a week.
The hike in applications comes from Coloradans who were suddenly unemployed because they worked at what’s been deemed by state government as nonessential businesses, including bars and restaurants, and ski resorts. Gov. Polis also made the qualifications more lenient.
Now, residents do not have to wait a week between losing their job and filing for unemployment, and they do not have to show the state government they are actively searching for a job.
“Those two things combined, we hope, will cut down some of the barriers and the processes and streamline those processes so that we can more quickly get the benefits to the people that need them,” Haavind said.
She said that money to cover the cost of more people applying for unemployment will come from the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and a $2 trillion dollar stimulus package that Congress passed Friday.
But Gov. Polis said in a March 20 press conference that the state needs to help those that are unemployed beyond unemployment checks.
Polis signed an executive order encouraging financial institutions, landlords and utility service providers to avoid evictions, foreclosures and utility shut-offs.
“We want to ensure that people aren’t losing their home or utility service, because of a public health emergency that wasn't your fault. The spread of the virus is not your fault,” Polis said at the press conference.
Stacey was able to successfully apply for unemployment. He still works at Chili’s part-time, but he’s searching for another job to have enough money to cover his expenses.
“(I’m) honestly a little nervous. I put my faith in God,” Stacey said.
He said the scariest part about the COVID-19 outbreak, and his reduced hours at his job is no one knows just when it will end.
