oh and i HATE patronizing posts from middle-class people about how grocery store workers are heroes. theyāre not doing this for you or the country. theyāre doing this because they need money.Ā āNew Yorkers Planning 2-Minute Clap For Essential Workers On Fridayā fuck off. grocery store workers donāt need you to clap for them. they need to be able to make the choice of whether or not they want to be on the frontlines of this thing without having to risk homelessness or starvation. they need to be fairly compensated for the risk theyāre taking and an extra two dollars an hour, or for increased wages to only kick in if they opt to do overtime isnāt enough. like, grocery store workers and otherĀ āessentialā retail workers should be appreciated but that appreciation needs to be TANGIBLE. and working right now should be voluntary. when well-off people make posts about how grocery store workers are heroes, it just comes across that theyāre grateful there are still people around to wait on them and theyāre purposefully overlooking the fact that the āsacrificeā essential retail workers are making is coerced.Ā
As someone that does work in a grocery store - THIS. Itās so fucking patronizing to listen to the customers thank us for being open. You want to thank us? STOP COMING IN TO SHOP. I know ppl will say, āwell donāt go to work thenā I wish I could not go to work, but if I were to tell my employer I donāt feel safe, I would lose my salary, pension, and benefits and as a single parent. I can not afford to do that.
This entire thing has me completely enraged bc the big corporation keeps putting out PR pieces about how āweāre protecting our frontline workersā, and Iāll tell you how they are protecting us - by not limiting the amount of customers into the store at one time. by NOT allowing us to screen customers from coming in that have very clearly and visibly COME BACK FROM VACATION SOMEWHERE FROM OUT OF COUNTRY. By not procuring is proper PPE. In fact, we were explicitly told to NOT WEAR GLOVES bc it might frighten the customers.
They tell the general public that they are reducing hours to give us time to stock, clean and rest. Which is horseshit. I donāt know who they are expecting to do all this extra sanitizing, but it certainly isnāt the staff who are run off their feet trying to keep up with the demand from ppl coming in BC THEY ARE BORED AND HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO. As for resting? I put in 50 hours last week and will do the same this week.
Itās infuriating, and I am completely and utterly disgusted by it all.
The extra $2 an hour is a spit in the fucking face
