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The Way We Work Now
I’m an NYC Mover Packing Up People’s Personal Belongings Over FaceTime
When New Yorkers started fleeing the city to escape the pandemic, moving companies swept in to pack up their lives
The Way We Work Now is a series chronicling how people’s lives and careers have fundamentally changed because of the pandemic.
Louis, 22, works for a moving company based in Brooklyn. After Covid-19 spread to New York, he worked seven days a week, moving up to four apartments a day as people fled the city. Louis spoke with Mai Tran about returning to work after he and his family, all essential workers, believed they caught Covid.
I joined the moving company three years ago. I needed to make extra money because I was going to Kingsborough Community College to study accounting. The managers gave me the name Louis because customers didn’t understand my real name, and I looked a little Spanish. To make it easier for myself and for others, I got an English name. My first position was as a helper — I just listened to the foreman and did whatever they said as efficiently as possible, without breaking any items. After one year I got promoted to being a foreman driver.
