The worst job on the planet
I know there is a lot to say about cops right now. Many people might assume that is the job I am talking about. For me, the worst job on the planet isn't being a cop, the worst job on the planet is working at a front facing business in a customer service job.
Maybe that sounds like an easy answer, no one wants to work a job like that. Yet what do you see when you go to the grocery stores, the coffee shops and the retail spaces, you see customer service workers -essential workers. We don’t live in a world yet populated entirely by robots, jobs that we don’t want to do are still filled by people -just people that don’t look like us.
It’s easy to look at the guy who gave you too much hot sauce on your pizza or the person who added extra sugar you didn’t want in your coffee, as being people out to purposely ruin your day but that is often far from the truth. As someone who has been on the receiving of many an overblown incident, there is a good chance the person who messed up whatever you ordered didn't do it it for vindication, it was probably an accident because they are a human being just like you.
I have worked in coffee shops in customer service roles since 2011, almost 10 years now. Those jobs have put me through school and also gave me opportunities once school was finished, they have been a big part of my early 20s. In my time working indie shops, mom and pop shops, and big corporations I have seen everything. People make a lot of assumptions about those who work jobs in this industry and more often than not they are wrong. Most customers don’t know what it is like to work a line and be short staffed, most customers don’t know what it is like to be verbally assaulted or even physically assaulted for making the smallest of mistakes, most customers don’t know what it is like to be a customer service worker.
So why does that matter now? Surely these feelings aren’t new.
Well I have to tell you as someone from the industry, I can confidently say it is really hard to take the continued abuse during a pandemic. There are so many things going on in the world that are beyond my control, even something as simple as using the public restroom of a shop. I've never worked service industry in a pandemic, no one has, this is the first time we’ve found ourselves in this situation in decades. There is no guidebook, we are all in uncharted territory. No customer, business or worker is an expert.
What is the point of trying to pretend to be the face of an organization when you don’t feel truly protected by that organization? People who work these kind of jobs are not paid well. Turn-over rates can be as high as 80%, people don’t last in this industry, they are berated at every possible level. You are good until you are replaceable. This is precarious low paid work.
It’s hard to see yourself as essential when your job doesn’t treat you that way. The people who work grocery lines, and food service have kept food on the table for thousands during this time of need. Yet it doesn’t matter to big grocers like Loblaws who look to end pandemic pay for its lowest paid workers amidst a pandemic. In fact many business who brought in premium pay for workers risking their life during this time are looking to ending those premiums, but that probably doesn’t matter to you. As long as you get what you want for the most convenient and cheapest possible price, right?
As someone in the position of the worker, it’s hard not to be upset, and it’s even harder to know that it’s best to just shut up and obey than it is to speak up. People don’t work these jobs because they want to, they work these jobs because they need to. So why do we as consumers treat these workers with the lowest amount of respect? They are doing the jobs we don’t want to for a fraction of the cost, why are we so angered for the smallest possible things?
A lot of changes have been happening in the past weeks since the death of George Floyd and the rise of Black Lives Matter protests around the world. When we leave from this quarantine, many of us won’t have the same police force as we did when we went into lockdown. Maybe in this time we should extend what we change beyond the men in blue. Essential workers should get paid a living wage in an organization that guarantees them worker’s protection. Then at least if that worker puts mustard on a sandwich you didn’t ask to have mustard on it, you can complain that no one making a living wage should make such a mistake.
