Omar Brown is evening supervisor in the Silverman Media Library. He has been working at UB for nearly four years.
What do you miss most about work before the pandemic? I’m a night owl. I truly miss the evening-shift energy of communicating ideas with other professors and helping faculty, staff and students with basic-to-advanced media projects.
What’s the hardest thing about working during the shutdown? I don’t find anything hard about working during the pandemic. I have a first-responder mentality and work ethic. I run toward the danger to help those in need, regardless of the obstacle.
What helps get you through the day at work now? When I finish completing my tasks throughout the day, I take breaks and create virtual modular electronic music compositions. (Before there were synthesizers as we know them, there were modular systems by American pioneers such as Robert Moog and Don Buchla.) I also like beta testing developers’ open source graphics and visual effects software.
Anything else you want people to know about how it is to be an essential employee working during a pandemic? In my opinion, being an essential employee shows proof of an individual who’s intelligent, trustworthy and does what it takes to get jobs done. The upside is that you are validated and trusted to maintain a service during any circumstance or situation. The most important thing is when people see a worker with essential status who is calm and reserved, it puts the observer at ease and in a safe place.