Covid Journal, April 12, 2020
The longer we’re cut adrift, the sooner we’ll learn to row.
Most of us are thinking about food these days. I’ve repeated this theme several times in the past few weeks, and I’ll continue.
Passover, Lent and Easter get their origins not from religion, but from starvation. In the Western world and northern hemisphere, our food cycle was pretty much tapped out by the beginning of spring and feasts were really only held once we knew we collectively had something in the ground, ready to kick off a new season of growing, eating and surviving.
Passover marks the trauma of losing our children during more harsh times when food wasn’t shipping in from the south and distributed by hard-working, minimum-wage-earnng employees. Easter marks the sacrifice that people made so that others could continue on. I don’t mean any disrespect to many who are celebrating the holiest of holidays in the Christian world, but socioligist/anthropoligists would agree with these descriptions.
But the context seems eerily familiar. Slaves, in a sense, making billions for the pharoahs and ‘owners’ of the means of production.
1. I don’t have toilet paper
2. I don’t have sanitizer
3. I run out of milk, eggs and meat daily
4. I promise if it’s out on the shelf … it’s not in a hidden corner of our back roomThose are the predictable ones, now for the real stuff
5. I have been doing this for 25 years I did not forget how to order product
6. I did not cause the warehouse to be out of product
7. I schedule as much help as I have, including many TMs working TONS of overtime to help YOU
8. I am sorry there are lines at the check out lanesNow for the really important stuff
9. My team puts themselves in harm’s way everyday so you can buy groceries
10. My team works tirelessly to get product on the floor for you to buy
11. My team is exhausted
12. My team is scared of getting sick
13. My team is human and do not possess an antivirus… they are in just as much danger as you are. (Arguably more) But they show up to work everyday just so you can buy groceries
14. My team is tired
15. My team is very under appreciated
16. My team is exposed to more people who are potentially infected in one hour than most of you will in a week (medical community excluded, thank you for all that you do!)
17. My team is abused all day by customers who have no idea how ignorant they are
18. My team disinfects every surface possible, everyday, just so you can come in grab a wipe from the dispenser, wipe the handle and throw the used wipe in the cart or on the ground and leave it there… so my team can throw it in the trash for you later
19. My team wonders if you wash your re-usable bags, that you force us to touch, that are clearly dirty and have more germs on them than our shopping carts do
20. My team more than earns their breaks, lunches and days off. And if that means you wait longer I am sorry.The last thing I will say is this
The next time you are in a grocery store, please pause and think about what you are saying and how you are treating the people you encounter. They are the reason you are able to buy toilet paper, sanitizer, milk, eggs and meat.
If the store you go to is out of an item.. maybe find the neighbour or friend that bought enough for a year … there are hundreds of them… and ask them to spare 1 or 2. They caused the problem to begin with…
And lastly, please THANK the people who helped you. They don’t have to come to work!
I get it. I really do. We bought some takeout the other night and I tipped $40 on a $60 bill. When I went shopping last week, I bought a gift card and gave it to the cashier. She almost cried.
We all have to try to help each other. If we don’t, we’re nothing.
And yes, the manager offers up a very thorough list of some very valid points to remember when shopping these days.
My question? Where are the people that run these companies?
The Sobey family owns Empire which owns FreshCo. Where are they in all this and why are they leaving it to a single manager to fend for civility? This is a company that has ANNUAL revenue of $21 billion and continues to rake it in.
Same with the Westons . And the Pattisons. And the Waltons in the US. Also, in the US, BlackRock fund advisors are listed as one of the biggest owners of Costco.
BlackRock happens to have roughly $7.4 TRILLION in assets under management. TRILLION.
And let’s not forget Amazon, with Jeff Bezos’ personal net worth being roughly $125 BILLION.
And they are all nowhere to be seen.
These are absent landlords.
The longer we’re cut adrift, the sooner we’ll learn to row.
We will find that we don’t need them, but they need us.
At this time of year, let’s also remember that the primitive origins of Easter are also about renewal.
It’s time for new rules and a new way of treating this planet.
The longer we wait, the easier it will be for the pharoahs to keep us in bondage.