WHERE WERE YOU ON A DAY LIKE TODAY?
At Goodbye Rita, we were considered essential work as we have an optics collection. This allowed us to physically travel to our offices, but we made the decision to keep our team teleworking like many other companies, so as not to take risks of any kind. Some of our staff are at risk and some had to travel by public transport. I am lucky enough to live close to our headquarters so going there was not risky, so I decided to take on all those essential tasks that could only be done from our headquarters.
I remember that our strong sunny season began and the famous "STAY AT HOME" arrived, At that moment we thought, now what? We all responded "now it's time to be more Goodbye, Rita than ever." We had our collection of prescription optics ready to go and scheduled to launch later, but COVID taught us, among other things, that the plans made so far were worthless.
We noticed 3 things:
1. People were literally "letting their eyes out" with the new way of communicating and exposing ourselves. Now our work and personal routines were based on videoconferences. Everything happened on a screen, our shoes, bags or pants were of little use... only our faces could be seen, so accessories such as glasses became essential . It was one of the few ways to change our look and there were many of you who chose us, THANK YOU.
2 . People were in need of everything that was to show love in a physical way. So Goodbye, Rita launched her “hugs you soon”. It consisted of the client buying some glasses and sending others to their loved ones accompanied by a personal note. If you were part of it THANK YOU again, it was me who wrote those dedications. I cannot explain to you with words what I felt at that moment, seeing the messages that you sent to your children, parents, siblings, friends... for me it was a gift to be part of that. I cried, I cried a lot and half of the time I didn't know if it was sadness or happiness.
3. We Spaniards once again demonstrated our optimistic essence, because we know that no matter how many clouds there are, in the end, the sun always ends up rising. Our sun collection shone again THANKS to you.
On a personal level, I remember the impotence when I felt that I could not help and another gift came into my hands, being part of the volunteering of the Fundación Madrina, a foundation dedicated to helping mothers with children between 0-3 years of age in situations of need. For weeks we took care of supplying basic necessities for the little ones, such as diapers, milk... (in hospitals they were expiring) and we prepared food for the mothers. I want to thank the MERCADO DE IBIZA restaurant in Madrid that, in the middle of the pandemic, did not hesitate to open its doors to store all the bags, light its stove so that more than 200 families did not lack a plate of hot food every day. The people behind this restaurant, the brothers Santi and Javi, are not only great professionals but excellent human beings THANK YOU for EVERYTHING.