Greeting Hivers! I am Iris from East Java, Indonesia. I am a working mom of an adorable boy with an energy of firecracker with a soul of wanderer and a stray cat tendency. I work as a part of QC team for furniture manufacturing, which often made me travel to rural areas in East Java to visit the local factory. As most of Asean countries, this month we celbrate the Eid Holiday or Raya Celebration and right after that, we suddenly find ourselves caught in a precarious and unexpected storm called Tariff!
Actually, my line of work are closely related to the US situation because we exported furnitures from Indonesia to the State and this sudden policy really shake the factories that I worked with because most of the time they only do export and only a very little local orders.
The first day after the we came back to work after long Eid holiday was very strange. Usually, workers came back with cheerful and warm mood after well rested week, but that day was very gloomy. The production line was almost empty and all shipments was put on hold. We have some products that were ready to ship but had to sit quietly on the warehouse.
The first week was very strange and haunting. No phone calls, no emails, no urgency that usually pumped our adrenaline to rush with the shipping schedule. We just wait and wait for our government feedback and an update from the Stateside that getting chaotic day by day. It was sad to see the factory so empty with only some workers do the repairs because the management could not take any action before we got a green light to ship.
Usually we welcomed the working days after Eid with greetings and small talk, but this month we were caught by sudden goodbye because many workers had to left the factory. I realized then that the uncertainty was scarier than the actual fact because we could not take any action besides came up with as many as scenario on how we continue our business. The factory that usually so lively and bustling with energy now became eerily quite.
Thankfully we got some good news on the third week of April, because some of our buyer finally released our shipment. However, the factory managements still threaded the situation carefully. Seemed like, they didn't call the contract workers yet because the production was running very slow, but I was still grateful to see our products moving albeit in a very slow pace.
Honestly, I got very stressed due to this situation until my insomnia came back and made me feel so bad. However, thankfully that our team was solid and we were encouraging each other to stay strong. There was nothing that we can do except keep doing our job as much as we can and make sure that we only gave the best.
I am very lucky thatbour company didn't have to let anyone go so far and we were able to negotiate the best term with the factory owners. I just hope that this global crisis will be resolved soon. I believe that everyone right now are trying to figure out the best way to adapt to this new situation that might change the global market permanently. We would not know if the situation will be better or worse, all we can do is keep going and adjust the sail no matter where the wind blows.
Just like the street stall owners in my thumbnail picture. I am sure that when she opened the stall, there were many vehicles that parked on the side of the road so she had to sell her goods so far away from the roadside. And when the impromptu parking lot was gone, then she suddenly finding her self in middle of the road. So, I thought she preferred to keep going and serve her customer wholeheartedly. Yeah, perhaps that kind of simple mindset will help us to stay strong and calm in this stromy days.
Keep chin up and do your portion the best way that you can offer. I believe together we can face this situation together. Thank you for reading my post, I hope your situation are better no matter where you are. See you on the next post Hivers!
