CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Despite most of North Carolina's nearly 900,000 small businesses being closed for two months, some owners say the majority of the community has been supportive. They say it's helped them stay afloat. But they also say a small fraction of the public has not been understanding of their efforts to remain in business.

This is the life many of North Carolina's small business owners are living these days.

“We're flying by the seat of our pants here, just to stay alive,” said Courtney Buckley. Even though the two “Your Mom's Donuts” locations in Mecklenburg County that she owns closed their doors nearly two months ago, “I have a staff of ten and we haven't had to let anybody go yet,” Buckley explained. “Everybody is employed, and we're looking to hire on somebody. I want to keep that.”

Through partnerships with the town of Davidson farmers market and a brewery, her donut business is now filling a hole. “We have turned into a full service grocery store.” Twice a week, customers can order for pick-up; meats, veggies, diary items, and stuff for the pantry. We place all of our orders, get everything in our shops, bag everything and label it, and distribute to our four pick-up locations,” she said.

They started with 30 to 40 boxes a week. But Buckley says they've pivoted now to delivering groceries to some 300 customers per week. It's a business function they had no expertise in prior to the pandemic.

“We have converted an entire grocery store to run off the website that wasn't built for that,” Buckley said. “We have a very, very simple web design right now that was meant for donuts.” She says it's brought out the worst in frustrated customers. “I get three to five emails a day from people who do not read the directions, and then are upset with us for how our system works, but we are trying our absolute best.”

She says 90 percent of customers have been understanding. But, sometimes, those not-so-nice messages can ruin it. “The one person that leaves a yucky Google review instead of emailing us or sends us a nasty email, because they tried to pick-up and we were already closed,” she described. “Our hours are on there.”

“It can be disheartening and I am definitely not alone in that complaint,” Buckley said. She says it's abuse that not only is uncalled for, but also misguided. “We don't have a complaint department so we don't have customer service,” she said. “You're literally, 90 percent of the time with these small businesses, catching the owner who's already stressed.”

She says it's something to keep in mind as we're all adjusting the best way we know how. “Just be kind and patient. Imagine you're talking to a person, not a corporation.”

Your Mom's Donuts provides groceries for pick-up twice a week, when customers submit their orders by 10 p.m. on either Monday or Thursday nights.