Power To The Pandemic Workers

When the COVID-19 outbreak and global pandemic was first announced, many of us got into a state of panic, worry about our future and what it holds for us. In my case, I was worried, and thought it may have been an overreaction, a situation similar to SARS but not as serious.

I really started to take this pandemic seriously when weekdays became every day weekends and me complaining about going to work became nonexistent. I started to miss the hustle of walking to work, learning at school, dealing with coworkers I didn't get along with and coming home with news and drama from my busy day. Now, I'm so eager to get back to work and to every day life with normal human interaction but who knows when that day will come.

When we hear the term "essential workers", we automatically think of nurses, doctors and those who are working directly with people that are less fortunate than ourselves. As a whole, I see those who are still working during this pandemic, regardless of what field they're in, as essential.

Much like most of our population, I've had to resort to buying some essential items online, along with some non essential items (oops). It got me wondering how companies are still able to supply us with all of our essentials during these uncertain times. We have such busy, fast paced lives now that we have a tendency to only think about what we want and what we need that we don't think about the ones who help us get our essential goods.

My friend is a nurse in one of our cities' hospitals. Nurses, doctors and other medical staff already go above and beyond to help us when we need them the most. During this pandemic, I couldn't even imagine the amount of insane hours of work and overtime these people would have to work. My friend has mentioned some of their work schedules: 12 hours shifts with only two 15 minute breaks with only two other co-workers alongside them.. it blew my mind! It made me feel so grateful for their service and countless amount of hours worked to help us all get better while putting themselves at risk.

Another friend of mine works in one of our local grocery stores and has told me about some crazy stories that have happened during some of their shifts. Apart from the high demand for more employees because of the pandemic, the workers' shifts have been around the clock, mostly overtime (much like in the medical field). I've been told that some shoppers have been kicked out of the store for not following safe, basic protocols (not wearing gloves while touching lots of produce, taking more than the limit for some essential items, not obeying the social distancing measures, the list goes on). I believe them, I've experienced some of these things! I've had another shopper pick a fight with me simply because she wanted to cut in line and I didn't let her. Little things like that that the staff have to deal with is crazy. I'm very grateful for the grocery store/drugstore staff that help us get our essential goods and needs quickly and smoothly!

All in all, what I'm trying to get at is that we all need each other. We're all human beings who need and feed off of each other's feelings and energy. No matter what role you play in our society, everyone is essential and every worker is an essential worker and we are so thankful for all of you! If you don't hear it often enough, you should because we're grateful and thankful for you!