A little story about "Essential Employees" during the #coronovarius from a faculty perspective. Those of my students who still have jobs are often 'essential employees' but not MDs and Nurses, they're cashiers, secretaries and food servers. They're on the frontlines too
I start each class with a check in, just asking how they are doing and the level of economic stress that college kids are under is as bad as it is for adults, often with the added weight of student debt. #CoronavirusPandemic just makes it worse
One student works at a national chain, everyone is trained as a cashier, but the store only provides gloves not masks. She's refused to be moved from her station to the front, because she doesn't want to choose between health & her income but that's not the only challenge
Cleaning in these stores is hit & miss. Sometimes they clean shopping baskets sometimes they don't. Sometimes they scrub down the doors every hour sometimes they don't. Cashiers can be high risk for spreading & getting #coronavirus but often get little or no protection at work
At the same time, while many people with salaried office jobs are being laid off and furloughed due to #Coronavirus what was once a side job as a cashier for many students has evolved into an "essential employee" position and the only income for the entire family
I say this to encourage people to be just as supportive of the non-medial 'essential employees' as everyone else. Wipe down your debit card before handing it to a cashier. Maintain #SocialDistancing when asking a question of a store employee. Most of all BE KIND
Your cashier, bus driver, food delivery person, drive through server, they're encountering hundreds of people a day, risking #coronavirus to run your groceries and get you hamburgers. Most don't have healthcare, most are hourly wage earners. Try to show them some coronakindness
