Initially, I held out in hopes that things would turn good as quickly as they went bad. When the pandemic started, I was only in my third year as a junior associate with the company that hired me straight out of college. I remember my first day inside that near perfect commercial HVAC. It was so comfortable even though I was wearing a suit all day. Working in the downtown business district was a big positive as well. I actually did pretty good for the first 3 years of my employment. So when we got sent home from the zone controlled HVAC of the office at the beginning of the pandemic, I wasn’t all that worried. There had been talk that the company would lay off a bunch of people and the new hires would be the first to go. I sort of blocked that out as I went home to my apartment to start working remotely. But sure enough, within the month I was given my pink slip without the possibility of rehire in the near future. I was basically cut loose with no income, an apartment with poor HVAC and a mountain of student loan debt. My parents immediately offered their basement in their new place for me to stay. But I really tried to stay in my apartment with different online gigs and even bringing in a roommate. However, the financial realities were such that I ended up taking my parents up on their offer. Their new place has a furnished basement and there’s a ductless heat pump down there as well. It really is kind of like its own apartment and was a great spot for me to be able to regroup and get through the rest of the pandemic.