I was laid off from my office job in 2016 at the age of 61. Needing to bridge the gap before retirement, I took a job at a supermarket at one third the wages of my previous employer. This was pre-pandemic. I saw how hard my co-workers had it. The hours are brutal. There are no “weekends”. The pay is minimal. Respect from the public is welcomed, and rare. We are there to serve, stay out of the way, so that others can enjoy their nights, weekends, family dinners, and community gatherings. I saw many coworkers delay dental work in order to make a car payment. Life was hard, but we were considered “low skilled” and not college degreed, even though the majority of my coworkers did indeed have college degrees, myself included. We did not deserve a higher wage. Out jobs were the sort that high school kids did; common opinion from those with no true understanding of the business.
When the pandemic struck, many of the neighboring stores closed, their workers received unemployment payments and added Covid unemployment checks from the government – and yes those were good things. However, those of us at the supermarket were expected to remain at our posts and expose ourselves to the virus, as we were deemed “essential”. For the first 90 days, our employer gave us an $2 an hour payment but at day 91, that $2 was gone even though the virus remained and there was no vaccine. But we were “essential”. I watched the news that professional sports players were getting daily testing to stop the spread of Covid. Those of us at the supermarket were not tested. It was too expensive, I guess, even though we were “essential”. Besides, we got $2 an hour, for while.
As I drove to work each day through the affluent Metro West communities, I’d see the signs thanking “Essential Workers” for their service during the pandemic and all I could think was, we’d rather have the money you paid for that sign. A thank you is not enough.
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