I too was abit shocked to see CMJ staying open after the other spas closed so I sent them an email to share my disappointment. Jasmin personally wrote me back from her personal email. In her words
"Thank you for your email and concern, it means so much that you have taken the time to reach out to us directly. Yes, this an unprecedented time we are finding ourselves in and it is very scary. We are taking it very seriously, regardless of what some are saying on Twitter - we even cancelled our St. Patty's day party on March 12 which was scheduled for March 13th BEFORE the WHO declared it a pandemic and before the government asked Ontarians' to self quarantine and before businesses were asked to voluntarily close. Many of our staff have chosen to stop working and we have supported their choice and even encouraged it. However, this happened so fast (the government asking non essential businesses to close) that many of our staff were not prepared financially so we are helping them by giving them some extra time and most have stopped working once they had enough funds to get them through the next bit. Some of these women have zero savings and have mouths to feed. The risk is still relatively low in Ottawa as there is only 13 confirmed cases all of which, are related to international travel. We are monitoring the situation daily and assessing risk daily and more then likely won't be open next week, we are just buying the ladies who want and NEED to work, some more time. Lets be real here, there is a huge possibility that this isn't going to be over in a few weeks - it may be months! And when you have no food in your cupboards and no diapers and no family to support you... I WILL NOT abandon my staff in their time of need, regardless of whether this causes you to look differently at CMJ. These ladies wont qualify for the goverment handouts or EI as they are in a cash business. Some spas closed without warning to their staff and some have asked us if they can come and work at CMJ just to make some last minute emergency money! I am also exploring a way to secure some emergency funds for my staff as well as other SW in Ottawa to help them get through this time. Contrary to the accusations of some, this has nothing to do with greed and everything to do with helping these ladies transition into the tough times ahead.
I hope this helps clarify things and I hope you understand where CMJ is coming from.
Kindest regards,
Elizabeth aka Jasmin
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After reading her reply I understood the situation better. Its not black and white. I will give CMJ the benefit of the doubt and will continue to support them when things get back to normal.
MMMGood
