“All I know is the service industry. This Covid job is totally out of my element.”

David Kotke, 58, has been a bartender his whole life. When the pandemic hit, his bar closed permanently. For the first time in a long time, he was left without a clue of what came next. David was planning to retire from that same bar in a few years time. He was unemployed through most of the pandemic until recently, when he got a job as a COVID-19 nasal testing technician. It’s the first 9-5 job he has ever had.

Carmella D’Acquisto: So, tell me about what it’s like to swab strangers’ noses?

David Kotke: Oh gosh, it’s a lot. You’re pulling the swab out of the nose and there’s so much junk and drool coming out, it’s gross. So now, I can tell who is going to be an okay swab, and who won’t be.  look at people and go “Oh, I like those noses, those will be good noses to swab,” (laughs) what has happened to my life?

Q: This is your first time out of the service industry. How do the two jobs compare?

A: Yeah, it’s my first ever 9-5. The covid place will pay my bills. They start everyone at $18. Because of who I am, the owner is one of Gus’s best friends, they gave me more so now I’m $20. In a month, I’m up for a raise to be at $22. I get overtime every week at $30 an hour. Yeah, it’s like woohoo—I’m a swabber. But it works for now.

One nice thing about my job is they sought me out, with my service background, my ability to be hospitable with kids and people. When the kids are scared, you have to pull out the charm. The kids can be terrible. “Mommy don’t make me do this, no mommy.” It’s super intense. You just walk away and you feel like a terrible person making kids cry. The women are okay, but the dudes! They pull away, squirm, and complain.

Q: When Hudson (Kotke’s bar) closed at the beginning of the pandemic, what was the first thing on your mind and your biggest concern in that moment?

A: For me, being as old as I am, I basically was shell shocked because I planned on retiring from Hudson. This was going to be my last job, I just figured I’d ride Hudson until it was time for me to retire. When we sat in the office and Gary and Dan told us what was going on, Jenny and I started staring at each other. I’m looking down and my eyes are starting to water, and I am trying not to cry. Then Jenny started crying and I lost it.

The concern, first, was we were being hit with an unknown pandemic. The world just shut down, but we were still around closing and cleaning up. Everything around us in the Third Ward was shut down. It was a ghost town; it was eerie as crap. Who do we talk to, what do we do?

I think reality didn’t really hit right away. For the first week after Hudson, it was kind of like “oh, okay, this is nice.” Then I realized that no one was going out, no one was leaving their house, stores were closed and you couldn’t get toilet paper for god’s sake.

Once the reality hit, then the depression hit. There were times where I didn’t leave the house for three weeks. For the first year (2020), I put gas in my car probably six times. I did not leave. I had groceries delivered, I had my little tight circle with my two neighbors, but that was really it. Thank heaven at that point, we were getting such good unemployment and bonuses, money wasn’t the first concern. Then with all the deliveries, you blow right through that even though you’re not doing anything.

Q: Having that year plus away from work, have you ever had that kind of time off of work in your life?

A: Never. I have always worked. The longest I went without a job was possibly two weeks after Ron and I got married. For a while it was kind of cool but you couldn’t do anything. You couldn’t go to restaurants, they were all closed, or movies, they were shut down. Then depression got pretty bad. I had some interventions with a couple different friends. I drank myself through the old back bar stock from Hudson. Then after a while, my life became repetition. Get up, sit around, make some food, start drinking a bit.

I also got paranoid about going out. There were times you and I were going to get together and sit on a park bench, but we were like, “can we do it another time.” Part of it was fear of not knowing. We didn’t know when a vaccine would come. Nobody knew, we just saw on the news people dying left and right.

Depression was the biggest issue. I’m still fighting it. But now that I’m working again, I’m super tired but I’m getting myself out of that funk. Having schedules, places to go and responsibilities helps. I’ve never had a 9-5, ever in my life. So everyday my alarm goes off ay 7 a.m., Rochelle calls me at quarter after eight every morning to make sure I’m on the road.

Q: You’ve been working for 30-40 years straight; this was your first extended period of rest. Did you rethink your prioritizes about work moving forward?

A: Yes, for sure. For a while, I had several different people sending me hiring information for all these different places. “Marcus center is looking for ushers,” all different things. I didn’t know. Part of it was being confused and lost. I didn’t know if restaurants would be open and back in the same way, or what was going to be the new restaurant dining mode.

I contemplated, I don’t want to be cliché, but I thought, “what do I want to do with the rest of my life?” All I know is the service industry. This covid job is totally out of my element, 100%. I was very worried because I’m older now. I’m 58 and have not been in the business for awhile. Who wants to hire someone at my age when they can hire someone cheaper, younger and more up to date in the industry.

I doubted myself a lot. I still do. I’m working on that aspect of cleaning up. I’m trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Will I be a swabber for the rest of my life? Probably not. But it’s a good paycheck. It goes away a little too fast though.