The owner of the wine bar "Pinot u Bruna" Bruno: What helped him survive? Savings, new work and the bank's approach. She postponed his mortgage for nine months, which was time to save him. He hasn't sold a single bottle since. "I have not received anything from the state yet. I am a single-person s.r.o. and in the first wave of help, I did not fall into any of the selected categories. I asked for help in January 2021, they had 30 days to assess, 5 days to correct and 30 days to pay. They changed it to 30 working days. Last week alone, I received € 1,000 in first aid for September and October. And it is still not announced when we can apply for help in the coming months, "complains the owner of the Pinot wine bar near Bruno. It closed for the first time for a longer period on March 15, 2020, when two smaller groups in a panic canceled private tastings. He later switched to window sales until the terraces were allowed in May. It worked that way until October, until the second wave hit. There was suddenly no interest in window sales or orders. "Even the most stable customers have disappeared somewhere, it's been the fifth month," Bruno comments on the unhappy situation. At the beginning of the year, he started looking for a job and ran into another problem. Nobody wants to hire a person in his fifties with the experience of a sommelier. The only offer came from a place he would never have expected - from the charity Nota Bene. It is best known for selling street magazines to homeless people. Less well known is their distribution of food and clothing to the poorest of the poor. Bruno remained in the gastroservice like he had never expected before. Delivers food aid to magazine vendors and helps where possible. "In a way, it was a virtue out of necessity, only they offered me a job," he adds. His income is enough to make a living, his savings will disappear. How long will it last? "If this continues, we are heading for bankruptcy. Maybe I'll keep it until May. Only open terraces will save us. Otherwise, we could lose everything, because we guaranteed a house for the loan. "
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Life in a time of pandemic

Stories of different people during a pandemic
author

Boris Németh

professional photographer, .týždeň
Boris Németh (1979) He studied photography at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. He completed his post-graduate studies in 2011 and currently works there a as part-time teacher of photojournalism. He has worked at .týždeň magazine as a photojournalist since 2006, while exhibiting in Slovakia and abroad. He has worked with documentary and photojournalism in several authorial cycles and series. Awards and grants: 2017 – The Best of Photojournalism – Honorable mention Magazine Story Opener, Honorable mention Magazine Recurring Feature or Series, The Best of Photojournalism, Slovak press photo (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), Slovak press photo, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2015 - Open society foundation, Open society foundation, Bratislava, Slovakia, Journalism Award (2011, 2013, 2014, 2016), Open society foundation, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2011 – Photographer of the year, Central European House of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia, Czech press photo 2009, 2011, 2018, Czech press photo, Prague, Czech Republic, 2009 – Nomination World Press Photo – Joop Swart Masterclass, World Press Photo Publications: Premeny Slovenska (2012), Premeny Slovenska - 1150. výročie príchodu sv. Cyrila a Metoda na územie Veľkej Moravy (2013), Na ceste (2013), Identity - Premeny Slovenska (2016), Homeland (2016), Europe (2018), Krajina (2018), Hey Slovaks! (2018), Jar, ktorá zmenila Slovensko (2018), Bratislava - Košice a späť (2020). Collections: Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia, Central European House of Photography Bratislava, Slovakia, Gallery of Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia, VÚB Foundation, Bratislava, Slovakia. borisnemeth.com