Walmart cashier: "We're not essential. We're sacrificial. I will be replaced if I die from this..."

[chia]

Link to tweet

"everything in this story, but especially this from a walmart cashier: "We’re not essential. We’re sacrificial. I will be replaced if I die from this. I don’t have a mask or gloves. The only thing I have is a stupid blue vest."




America’s Heroism Trap
Yes, we are grateful for every person working on every front line. But the language of martyrdom distracts from what we could do about it all.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/coronavirus-humans-vs-heroes.html

[beachbumbob]

1. in 3 months 3/4s of all remaining cashiers will be replaced by self-checkout lanes

this will happen at all retail levels and areas

[Ace Rothstein]

6. Doubt it.

The stores around me put them in and they were gone within a year. Heard both intentional and unintentional theft for the reasons why.

[Windy City Charlie]

9. Same here

A grocery chain here had the self-checkout lanes for a few years and then removed them. They found too many people weren't paying for items that didn't have UPC barcodes on them (donuts, produce, etc.)

[Newest Reality]

2. The Economy,

The great and illustrious Economy has become a cause to die for since there are more important things than living.

Mammon is demanding copious sacrifices now or it will rend asunder the profitable bottom-line. It appears to have been a Faustian deal all along.

That seems to be the official, Republican stance on the matter.

[mjvpi]

22. Bingo

The ideals of free enterprise are lost. I’m with Senator Warren. If you really believe in what we espouse, then we need take seriously the critics of our system and effect change. Otherwise capitalism is exactly what Karl Marx and Charles Dickens say it is.

[Newest Reality]

23. Excellent!

I concur fully.

Thanks.

[OldBaldy1701E]

26. Yep! (n/t)

[Raven123]

3. Brutal truth

[Hotler]

4. Correct. That is way there is a huge demand for retail worker in gorvery stores etc.

They are to be used as cannon fodder.

[mucifer]

5. I still don't understand why fast food is essential

[brewens]

12. I'm glad it is. Look at all the people that almost never cook that are used to getting more than

half of their meals that way. I would rather not have them forced to shop at my favorite grocery store for all their food. I think that was why when all kinds of varieties of canned foods were wiped out, I could still get most of what I needed, or a reasonable substitute. People that don't cook grabbed what they could just nuke.

[mucifer]

25. I worry about all the minimum wage workers at risk for covid

[Scarsdale]

29. Many without insurance.

When things calm down, maybe we can talk about Universal Health Care, like other countries have. The US system STINKS, unless you are a government employee or wealthy. Hard working people should not have to put off going to the doctor, or worse, taking their kids to see a doctor because of the cost. I read about one nurse admitting a man with the virus, hardly able to catch his breathe, asking "Who is going to pay for this?" How sad is that? We should all decide who PAYS for this - tRump and the useless "representatives" in the gop. Vote the whole useless crew OUT of office. Moscow Mitch is a billionaire, and his Asian wife is too. Get out of the way of progress, both of you.

[KentuckyWoman]

41. When someone cannot pay the power bill

Or the building owner got cut off, or one lives in a food desert ... Food from the fast food place matters

[JI7]

39. you aren't supposed to separate Fast Food from other Food. It's all under "Food"

[Ace Rothstein]

7. The stores need to provide protective gear but hyperbole doesn't help.

Cannon fodder? COVID isn't a death sentence and the vast, vast majority of people who get it will survive it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. "vast majority of people who get it will survive it"

Forum rules make it impossible for me to say what I want to say about this comment. Suffice it to say, it's heartless.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. Survive it possibly with damaged liver heart lungs. Well that's something I guess.

[bigtree]

16. so many people, including me, have underlying conditions that would make catching the virus fatal

...usually people whose health and age is such that they're at a lower risk that say stuff like this.

Protective gear like masks and gloves is certainly a way to limit the spread but are by no means ultimate, definitive protection against infection. It's truly a fearful thing for me to leave home for the store. That fear may well be the thing keeping me vigilant enough (I really hope so).

Do you work at a store that's open right now?

[Ace Rothstein]

19. I don't work at a store.

However, my wife is imunosupressed but still has to go to work every day and there are numerous people in my life that have conditions that make them susceptible to COVID. I have many friends and family that are first responders who are at risk. None of them use hyperbole like canon fodder or spread the doom and gloom that I read here.

I've also said that their employers should be providing them protective equipment.

[bigtree]

21. protective equipment doesn't eliminate the risk

...and the prospect of getting infected, even with masks and gloves is very much like Russian roulette. it's not like hospital gear and it's not complete or risk-free protection to wear a mask. Consider the panic I feel when customers and others flaunt the regs, mask down and closer than they should be, and it happens all of the time.

We truly ARE cannon fodder out here, and it's a minority of people who are in this position who think it's hyperbole to say or think so. Just because you or someone you know is reticent about expressing concern, doesn't make what you're positing here true. Maybe since you're not directly affected, you should take more heed of what those actually at risk are saying. People who feel they're fine don't automatically remove the risk from those who feel they aren't safe, so the bravado is really just an affront to our fears out here, not addressing them, but rather dismissing them out of hand. It's really unconscionable for someone out of harms way to push that line.

Other professions can shelter and collect unemployment, but we're forced to work, if we want to keep our homes and feed ourselves.

[chia]

38. Well said, and from the front lines. Wishing you continued health, safety and protection.

The word from the front lines is the word to be heard. I try always to respect the safety rules, and to thank the person helping me. You truly are on the front lines of an asymmetrical war.

[Scarsdale]

30. "covid isn't a death sentence"?

Tell that to the relatives and friends who could not even bury their loved ones. Over 50,000 people HAVE died from this.

[Ace Rothstein]

31. I've lost a relative to it just this week.

It is here, it is widespread and it isn't going away any time soon. I came to the realization weeks ago that I'll probably know multiple people who end up passing from it.

[chia]

44. I'm so sorry for your loss. :(

Was just mentioning to a relative of mine that everyone I'm related to/is a close friend - we're all there now, to the point that we know someone who has it, and it's only a matter of time for any of us to get it, no matter how we try to do all the right things.

[demmiblue]

8. K&R

[dewsgirl]

10. I see they have finally gave them masks at ours.

[bigtree]

14. really feels that way

...and it's mostly true, despite the 'temporary' $2 'heroes' raise they gave us.

[iluvtennis]

15. It is UNACCEPTABLE that a billion dollar company doesn't provide gloves and masks to its workers. nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

33. But wouldn't that cut into executive bonuses?

Reaganites made it so that parasites (overhead, in bookkeeper terms) are more important than people who do the actual work of producing wealth.

Further reading:

Someday it will be crystal clear to all just what a terrible president Ronald Reagan was-

Someday it will be crystal clear to all just what a terrible president Ronald Reagan was--he stuck the knife in the heart of the American dream, launched us toward our polarized society, was racist, corrupt, fiscally irresponsible, bad at the job.
( graphs )

The biggest business con of 2019: fleecing workers while bosses get rich

Robert Reich
The truth is, American corporations are sacrificing workers and communities as never before, in order to further boost record profits and unprecedented CEO pay.

Americans know this. In the most recent Pew survey, a record 73% of US adults (including 62% of Republicans, and 71% of Republicans earning less than $30,000 a year) said they believed major corporations had too much power. And 65% believed they made too much profit.

The only way to make corporations socially responsible is through laws requiring them to be – for example, giving workers a bigger voice in corporate decision-making, making corporations pay severance to communities they abandon, raising corporate taxes, busting up monopolies, and preventing dangerous products (including faulty airplanes) from ever seeing the light of day.

639 Billionaires In America Won't Tell You: 2020 Is The Oligarch-Minigarch Year

Why American and Britain are Self-Destructing

There are only two societies in the rich world where life is getting shorter, poorer, meaner, and more hopeless — fast. Where life expectancies, incomes, and savings are all falling. America and Britain. Where middle classes have imploded, people live hand to mouth, and upward mobility has all but vanished. Where the idea of living a better life is somewhere between a joke and a distant memory. Where entire generations of young people — at last count, three, Gen X, Millennials, and Get Z — live worse lives than their parents and grandparents. Just two such societies where trust, happiness, and purpose have all imploded catastrophically — while depression, rage, anxiety, and suicide are all surging.

[iluvtennis]

34. + 1. nt

[CaptYossarian]

17. Many employers take out life insurance policies on their workers.

Only a small percentage of the general public know about this because it's not exactly advertised.

Since the business is paying the premium, guess who the beneficiary is?

This goes beyond just being replaced physically. There's a profit motive involved. Yes, premiums will go up, but the death benefit more than covers that.

Plus, the more seasoned veteran worker gets replaced by a lower wage newbie. Greed Over People.

[jalan48]

18. And the Walton family thanks you for your service!

[lpbk2713]

24. But they won't pay for your funeral.

...

[jalan48]

27. "The World's Wealthiest Family Gets $4 Million Richer Every Hour"

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/richest-families-in-the-world/


Jim Walton $53.4 billion
Alice Walton $53.1 billion
S. Rob Walton $53 billion
Lukas Walton 18.5 billion
Christy Walton $8.8 billion
Ann Walton Kroenke $7.7 billion
Nancy Walton Laurie $6.9 billion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family

But hey, they're the job creators! (Labor is always expendable though)

[ancianita]

20. The words of the collectively used and abused, hopeless, no self esteem spouse.

[IronLionZion]

32. Death creates lots of new jobs

I pay a little more to support small local stores who value their employees but not everyone can afford that.

Since we're sacrificing low wage workers these days, those with money can kick a little bit to food banks so low income people can eat too. https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

[bigtree]

35. kick

[uponit7771]

36. K&R,

[ck4829]

37. This is going to create lots of trauma, it's been traumatic for me and I was already a hypochondriac

I've recently become "essential"... and every day I wake up with these thoughts:

What if I come down with it today?
What if I already have it?
What if I'm a carrier and I am making other people sick?
Will it be minor? Will it kill me?

[bigtree]

42. +1

[SoonerPride]

40. I said I'm another thread the work is essential but the workers aren't

The problem with America’s Fucked up version of capitalism is that certain work is essential

School teacher
Grocery stocker
Super store checker
Nursing home attendant
Nurse
First responder


These jobs are essential. The work is essential.

But society treats these WORKERS as inessential. They are often denied decent pay. Little to no benefits. Little to no social appreciation. Little to no PPE. And they are often looked on as replaceable cogs in a machine.

The opinion piece by this WalMart employee is on the money.

[ffr]

43. During the good times, it was probably easier to swallow a cashier's job at Walmart

But with republicans whitewashing public safety so callously. Some people are beginning to see how unfair our economy is. Employees have become an expendable commodity.