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Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty
The coronavirus continues to spread and more and more countries are taking stricter and stricter steps to contain it as best as possible. With the health crisis in swing, people are debating what might be helping the Covid-19 virus spread. Some of them believe that it’s less a matter of personal hygiene and more a question of wealth.
One Twitter user who spent 9 years managing a pizza place shared their opinion about how restaurant workers in the United States, as well as other food and service industry professionals, might add to the corona-crisis.
According to them, this may happen because a lot of food and service industry workers aren’t able to afford health insurance, wouldn’t be able to take sick days if they get ill, and may end up spreading the virus to others at their workplace. In other words, the Twitter user believes that poverty is the coronavirus’s greatest ally. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with NomeDaBarbarian.
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One Twitter user shared their opinion about how poverty might help the virus spread across the US
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
The person explained that a lot of the people working in the food and service industries do not have health insurance
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Bosses expect their employees to work even after they had an accident
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Some believe that fine dining might put even more pressure on their employees
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Quite a few people working in the US service industry have it tough; some of them get penalized for resting
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Bored Panda spoke to Twitter user NomeDaBarbarian about their insights regarding the people working in the food industry and the coronavirus. The Twitter user stated upfront that they’re not a medical expert and said that it’s important to listen to them. “The most important thing to do to stay safe personally is to wash your hands thoroughly and regularly, clean electronics that you touch regularly, and do everything you can to avoid touching your face.”
According to NomeDaBarbarian, there are several things that can be done to make sure that people working in the food and service industries have access to health insurance and can take days off if they get ill. “Unions. Labor organizing. An actual left-wing movement in this country; the core of the Democratic party is center to center-right by most world metrics. Decades of long-haul work.”
“At present, it’s not just the individuals not having protection that’s the problem, it’s the entire structure of our service industry. Every small business is ‘lean’ staffed, meaning there’s no redundancy to cover sick people,” they explained. “Even if every person who got sick had insurance they could use, the act of them collectively calling out sick would cripple those businesses. This pressure keeps people (as is evidenced by the responses to my story) from being able to call out even in countries with much stronger safety nets.”
They continued: “It is my personal read of history that the way we are organized, which is a technology, is becoming obsolete. I’m not arrogant enough to claim to know what would be a better system, but I know ours is breaking.”
The response could be better
In the Twitter user’s opinion, the US government’s response to the corona-crisis could be much better. “120 people tested in NYC, and 106 of them turned out positive? That means that most people who should be being tested aren’t. Instead of South Korea’s roadside drive-through test centers, instead of Italy’s massive and coordinated response, we’re… Well, by all accounts, doing nothing.”
“We can’t even test all the people we know were in contact with a positive case and who currently have symptoms. My home state, Colorado, just had a woman visiting Aspen from Australia—on returning home, she tested positive. The people who were in contact with her here are developing respiratory symptoms. The CDPHE said, ‘Pitkin County health officials are working on a plan to get symptomatic people tested.’ Tests aren’t available. Precautions beyond ‘personal responsibility’ aren’t visible. Even those personal precautions aren’t being sufficiently communicated, or followed.”
Helping others stay safe
We also wanted to know what precautions NomeDaBarbarian was taking to steer clear of the coronavirus. “I normally get around by bike and mass transit; I’m cutting down on the latter and taking more time to get to work or any of the other places I need to go. Working in the restaurant industry, ironically, prepared me more for this—I already wash my hands habitually, and now I’m stepping it up. I’m avoiding touching my face or eyes. I’m working on potential plans with my crew at work should any of us get sick, as we have immunocompromised folks on-staff. If we get them sick, they die, so we’ve all got to be careful.”
“That’s the core of it, and something I need to stress—I, by and large, am already safe. I’m young, relatively healthy. Insured. It’s unlikely that I’ll personally be in any danger,” the Twitter user noted. “The work I’m doing isn’t to keep myself safe—it’s to keep myself from making others unsafe. I can survive this, but my coworker, the fifty-something-year-old former rocker who just watched his first grandkid take their first steps, can’t. His lungs are shot, and if I get him sick, he dies. That’s the core of it. Herd immunity. We’ve got to keep each other safe.”
Health crisis and economic turmoil
The internet user’s tweets got more than 10.6k likes and were reshared a whopping 5.8k times. Their opinions about income inequality were supported by a lot of readers, some of whom thought that the situation was “terrifying.”
The virus has spread further in the US over the weekend. At the time of writing, there are more than 565 confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus in the country. The death toll from the illness now stands at 22. 19 of these occurred in Washington state which currently has the highest number of ill individuals.
At least 8 states have declared states of emergency, including Washington, California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Utah, and Oregon. And even some Congressmen, including Ted Cruz and Paul Gosar, are self-quarantining after having interacted with an individual who later tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, the world economy continues to take hard hits as global trade and security suffer. The S&P 500 futures slid down by 5% on Sunday evening; Dow futures fell 4.9%; Nasdaq Composite futures were down 4.8%. In other words, we’re witnessing some economic shocks that we haven’t witnessed since the last recession.
Some people shared their own experiences working in the industry
Image credits: XianJaneway
Image credits: Lily_Warrior
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Poverty is a complex problem
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Some bosses can fire their employees at any moment
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
A lot of adults end up working jobs that some see as being meant for high school kids
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Universal paid sick leave might help alleviate the spread of the virus
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
A lot of people are hard-pressed to continue working no matter what
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
The coronavirus continues to spread in the US
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian
People shared their experiences working in the food and service industries
Image credits: queer_hellenic
Image credits: queer_hellenic
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Image credits: genteelhart
Image credits: genteelhart
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What do you think ?
Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
Poverty will kill Americans infected with Coronavirus, but still the loudest ones will blame the Chinese (and everyone who looks like east Asian). I hope I'll be proven wrong about this one. I really do. It's already happening in various European countries. These are difficult times. Let's not lose our minds.
Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
Well, we keep voting in the business. They are just so smart in making their own money that we think they will clean things up. Sorry, businessmen are in business to make money, whether they are working as a politician or CEO. And their friends are all doing the same, so they help each other out. If you want more of this, vote for Trump or Biden. Biden's not a crazy, but he's owned by corporate America. It will just be more of the same.
Biljana Malesevic 5 years ago
It's the same in Serbia, maybe even worse. People work with food sick and contagious, and not only they don't want to lose money and take sick days, they literally CAN'T. They are not allowed to. It's horrible. Once, I wanted to take something in bacery and the woman working there was clearly very very sick, she was barely standing. I just left, and didn't touch anything. Sounds like a coward, but I can't do anything there and I am single mom. I can't risk it. But someome will buy pastry there and get the flu and infect their whole family. It's awful! People need to have right to get sick days!
Yugan Talovich 5 years ago
Giving billionaires tax breaks is a smart move, giving farmers money for markets lost through stupid policy is a smart move, but keeping citizens healthy is socialism... I don't understand it.
Talia Johnson 5 years ago
Disgraceful, yet every time someone in Europe expresses the wish that the US too had universal healthcare, some US person says 'but your taxes' - let me tell you, our taxes are manageable, and we can go to the doctor! Are the national health systems perfect? No. But having lived in the US, the UK and France, I am grateful every day that I don't still live in the US, as much as I loved it when I lived there.
Ripley 5 years ago
Totally agree on the taxes! Here in Australia where the "average" wage is ~$75K (this varies wildly, of course), the tax that you would pay on that average wage is approximately 22%, which is pretty much the same as the G'nome chap. And as a citizen we are entitled to medical care at low to no cost. We also have compulsory worker protections so that an injury like the one suffered (second degree burns) would be covered by Workers' Compensation, and that even a casual worker would be covered and protected. Where this starts to fall down is the practice of "contracted" workers such as Uber, Foodorama, and the like who are treated as a small business sub-contractor, and are not covered by the business es insurance.
Load More Replies...
Imitating 5 years ago
Left the ER having just been diagnosed with pneumonia and bronchitis (with no medical insurance at the time) with just enough time to drive home and change into my work clothes and drive in to my opening shift at Starbucks... where I worked for about 3 hours before the shift lead felt comfortable enough with her shift to allow me to go home early. To be fair, the Starbucks culture that I had come to know would have never found that acceptable, but this particular location had some pretty terrible employees/leadership. This was also the same location that said I was required to attend an all store "mandatory" meeting two days after being discharged from the hospital after having a major invasive surgery on my hip... only after the meeting did the district manager approach me and say I didn’t have to come - and I think that only was after seeing the horrified faces on some of my coworkers at how they could have required me to be there.
Uncommon Boston 5 years ago (edited)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
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Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
And these sick people will handle food that will be eaten, and the virus will spread much faster all b/c McD's and similar can't bloody well treat employees as human beings. When you b***h about union dues? Well, this is what unions were trying to stop happening...
Bill 5 years ago
Before we do Medicare for all how do we get rid of the obscene profits in pharma and huge bonuses in Healthcare? Those are the first issues to tackle.
Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
Vote for politicians who are willing to rein in big pharma, etc. Vote in politicians who are willing to tax corporations, who benefit from healthy employees. Besides, if you give $1 million to a billionaire, it's going to be stashed overseas or pay bonuses to the bigwigs. If you give $1 to a million average people, that money is going right back into the economy. Corporate America is literally killing the goose that laid the golden egg by underpaying & mistreating & laying off workers to make their numbers look good when the the bigwigs are ready to retire & need the stock price up when the sell. The less money people make, the less they buy, the more people who are laid off due to low sales, the less money people make. It's a vicious circle. And we wonder why the middle class corporations go out of business. But individual CEOs are stilling making plenty, so they just don't care. They've got their, so who cares about the future of the company.
Load More Replies...
We'llSee 5 years ago
Its the same in retail too, 20 plus years and still can't take off or miss a day, biggest retailer in the US still sucks! Something has to change, everyone deserves a few common sense policies. It's out of control, getting medical care and needed medications SHOULD be for EVERYONE!
Bob Beltcher 5 years ago
Can attest to this 100%. Back when I delivered pizza (most drivers also answer phones and make orders) I was very I'll one time for over a week and didn't miss a day. On one occasion I threw up during my shift. I was lucky because I felt it coming and I was cutting pizza at the moment. Right next to me was a trash can so I made it in there. Once done, I tied up the bag, replaced it, and went back to work. When I had a free moment I took the bag to the dumpster but I never missed a beat on the oven.
Bob Beltcher 5 years ago
Oh, and not once did my manager ask me if I needed to go home. One of the younger cashiers told me I should and my response to her was "Are you going to pay my bills?" I was 19 at the time and already understood.
Load More Replies... Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
Poverty will kill Americans infected with Coronavirus, but still the loudest ones will blame the Chinese (and everyone who looks like east Asian). I hope I'll be proven wrong about this one. I really do. It's already happening in various European countries. These are difficult times. Let's not lose our minds.
Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
Well, we keep voting in the business. They are just so smart in making their own money that we think they will clean things up. Sorry, businessmen are in business to make money, whether they are working as a politician or CEO. And their friends are all doing the same, so they help each other out. If you want more of this, vote for Trump or Biden. Biden's not a crazy, but he's owned by corporate America. It will just be more of the same.
Biljana Malesevic 5 years ago
It's the same in Serbia, maybe even worse. People work with food sick and contagious, and not only they don't want to lose money and take sick days, they literally CAN'T. They are not allowed to. It's horrible. Once, I wanted to take something in bacery and the woman working there was clearly very very sick, she was barely standing. I just left, and didn't touch anything. Sounds like a coward, but I can't do anything there and I am single mom. I can't risk it. But someome will buy pastry there and get the flu and infect their whole family. It's awful! People need to have right to get sick days!
Yugan Talovich 5 years ago
Giving billionaires tax breaks is a smart move, giving farmers money for markets lost through stupid policy is a smart move, but keeping citizens healthy is socialism... I don't understand it.
Talia Johnson 5 years ago
Disgraceful, yet every time someone in Europe expresses the wish that the US too had universal healthcare, some US person says 'but your taxes' - let me tell you, our taxes are manageable, and we can go to the doctor! Are the national health systems perfect? No. But having lived in the US, the UK and France, I am grateful every day that I don't still live in the US, as much as I loved it when I lived there.
Ripley 5 years ago
Totally agree on the taxes! Here in Australia where the "average" wage is ~$75K (this varies wildly, of course), the tax that you would pay on that average wage is approximately 22%, which is pretty much the same as the G'nome chap. And as a citizen we are entitled to medical care at low to no cost. We also have compulsory worker protections so that an injury like the one suffered (second degree burns) would be covered by Workers' Compensation, and that even a casual worker would be covered and protected. Where this starts to fall down is the practice of "contracted" workers such as Uber, Foodorama, and the like who are treated as a small business sub-contractor, and are not covered by the business es insurance.
Load More Replies... Imitating 5 years ago
Left the ER having just been diagnosed with pneumonia and bronchitis (with no medical insurance at the time) with just enough time to drive home and change into my work clothes and drive in to my opening shift at Starbucks... where I worked for about 3 hours before the shift lead felt comfortable enough with her shift to allow me to go home early. To be fair, the Starbucks culture that I had come to know would have never found that acceptable, but this particular location had some pretty terrible employees/leadership. This was also the same location that said I was required to attend an all store "mandatory" meeting two days after being discharged from the hospital after having a major invasive surgery on my hip... only after the meeting did the district manager approach me and say I didn’t have to come - and I think that only was after seeing the horrified faces on some of my coworkers at how they could have required me to be there.
Uncommon Boston 5 years ago (edited)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
And these sick people will handle food that will be eaten, and the virus will spread much faster all b/c McD's and similar can't bloody well treat employees as human beings. When you b***h about union dues? Well, this is what unions were trying to stop happening...
Bill 5 years ago
Before we do Medicare for all how do we get rid of the obscene profits in pharma and huge bonuses in Healthcare? Those are the first issues to tackle.
Suzi Gauthier 5 years ago
Vote for politicians who are willing to rein in big pharma, etc. Vote in politicians who are willing to tax corporations, who benefit from healthy employees. Besides, if you give $1 million to a billionaire, it's going to be stashed overseas or pay bonuses to the bigwigs. If you give $1 to a million average people, that money is going right back into the economy. Corporate America is literally killing the goose that laid the golden egg by underpaying & mistreating & laying off workers to make their numbers look good when the the bigwigs are ready to retire & need the stock price up when the sell. The less money people make, the less they buy, the more people who are laid off due to low sales, the less money people make. It's a vicious circle. And we wonder why the middle class corporations go out of business. But individual CEOs are stilling making plenty, so they just don't care. They've got their, so who cares about the future of the company.
Load More Replies... We'llSee 5 years ago
Its the same in retail too, 20 plus years and still can't take off or miss a day, biggest retailer in the US still sucks! Something has to change, everyone deserves a few common sense policies. It's out of control, getting medical care and needed medications SHOULD be for EVERYONE!
Bob Beltcher 5 years ago
Can attest to this 100%. Back when I delivered pizza (most drivers also answer phones and make orders) I was very I'll one time for over a week and didn't miss a day. On one occasion I threw up during my shift. I was lucky because I felt it coming and I was cutting pizza at the moment. Right next to me was a trash can so I made it in there. Once done, I tied up the bag, replaced it, and went back to work. When I had a free moment I took the bag to the dumpster but I never missed a beat on the oven.
Bob Beltcher 5 years ago
Oh, and not once did my manager ask me if I needed to go home. One of the younger cashiers told me I should and my response to her was "Are you going to pay my bills?" I was 19 at the time and already understood.
Load More Replies...
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