on the one hand I get where people are coming from when they comment “except healthcare workers (or some other specific exception) because their job has people’s lives at stake”
but on the other hand– all jobs have lives at stake.
the shelf-stocker who is trusted to give correct answers about when the pharmacy department is open, which may determine whether someone gets the lifesaving med on time or misses a weekend’s worth of it
the maintenance guy who is trusted to correctly fix the stove so the tenant doesn’t go another week with a gas leak
the delivery driver who is trusted to bring the customer food so she can live another day while unable to leave the house due to her disability. And to follow the substitution preferences and not bring her something she’s deathly allergic to. And to drive safely and not fucking kill anyone on the way there.
every job in the world has some circumstances where doing it right can save lives and doing it wrong can end them. if you think of a job where you can’t imagine this, imagine harder.
but.
BUT.
this does not mean we don’t get a pass to be shit at our jobs for lack of a living wage
but. BUT.
it also does not mean our labor does get a pass to be shitty toward the people whose lives are in our hands
IT MEANS
NONE OF OUR EMPLOYERS
GET A PASS
TO RUN ON SUCH A FUCKING SKELETON CREW THAT ONE MINIMUM-WAGE EMPLOYEE’S FUCKUP CAN MEAN LIFE OR DEATH
OR TO PAY ANY OF US SUCH A SHIT WAGE THAT WE HAVE NO ENERGY OR TRAINING OR ABILITY TO DO MORE THAN A SHIT JOB.
end rant
.