The great covid pandemic has been blamed for just about everything you can imagine and a few you can’t that are just too special. Covid has been the scapegoat for illness, social disconnection, rudeness, social anxiety, low staffing, high prices, low availability and low levels of common courtesy and decency. For some, hiding your face with a mask is a green light to either be your nasty self or show people what you really are. These people are the snappy, mean, intolerant, disrespectful miserable people who seized an opportunity to be themselves well, partially because half their face is hidden. The reality is that no one really wants to see their other half.
A woman in Arizona who works for the government has used covid as a reason to segregate herself from her office and coworkers for 2 full years by “telecommuting”. A man in the same office has used covid the same way, to “telecommute for safety”. I’m a bit curious as to how you mend fences, dig ditches, cut down trees and do manual labor on a job site from home, it is a trick I desperately need to learn. What really gets me is that the woman has decided that she will continue working for the government but will never go back to the office. How is it that she has been given this choice? Does her employer not have a say? If I told my employer that I never wanted to see them again in person, I’d no longer have an employer.
On this same jobsite an employee who has worked hard in person for years, always the one stepping up for tasks and following through watched as a contractor was awarded a contract in the amount of $100,000 for something that he could have done with government equipment for about $20,000. When he offered to save the government money by incorporating this into his job he was told “get over it the contract is done”. She was angry that she was expected to "deal with this crap" in person. Covid for almost 2 years gave her the excuse to stay home and "telecommute".
On another government job location site, the person in charge noticed a social media posting and didn’t like the comment, not because it was nasty or rude but because the commenter did not side with the lazy in uniform and instead pointed out that things could be done better implying that if you work you might make a difference. They do not want to work so they called his boss and complained that “he was not supporting his team and is making their job harder by making people expect them to work”. His boss called and complained that a peer called her, and it made “her” look bad because she had employees who did not play the same game.
I went into a grocery store for supplies and a teen was working the cash register, half his face was covered in a mask. I said hi, he kept scanning, when the end came, he just blankly stared at me, so I asked what the total was, and he pointed at the screen. The older man behind me shook his eyes and said the mask has made every smart mouth into a silent asshole. At one time, that sort of comment would have made me laugh but this day it didn’t. When the kid’s manager walked up to ask how my day was, I said it was nice until my visit to his store and he asked why so the old man told him. The manager apologized and I said thank you, but you are not the problem that is when the kid said I don’t know this white lady, I don’t have to talk to her, I don’t like her kind and she can’t see me anyways so why bother. When the manager replied, your job is customer service, it doesn’t matter who you like or dislike you greet all customers, the boy replied jobs are stupid so is this damn store. I am just here for supplies; I don’t need attitude, nor do I expect servitude, but this kid threw my groceries at my cart not into it and I had never seen him before today. He did the same to the black woman before me, so race wasn’t his motivator, he was just a little shit. The manager said it was the 4th time this week he had the same issue with the kid. The old man belted out why the hell is he still here? The manager just shook his head and said no one wants his job...you guessed it….covid.
I left the cart of groceries and did not pay, instead I drove across the street to the God-awful Walmart and filled a new cart. This time there was a lovely young girl at the check out who painfully took great care of each item and asked questions about many of the items with real interest. She was about 16 and it was her first job. This young lady was kind, funny and trying very hard to do her best and I made sure I told her I appreciated it. She in turn thanked me for being “a nice customer, most are so not” and I left thinking that your 1st job should be a fun, memorable experience not a nasty attack from mean people who feel shielded by their mask….covid.
I’ve watched so many people driving while masked and I wondered if they have carvid instead of covid? Are they so scared of covid that they believe their car is infected or has the media driven them into fear insanity?
2020 for most was a horrible year, for me it was fabulous! I worked from home in my jammies, had coffee on my porch with my dog each morning and never had to rush or smile at a horrible coworker. I did not have to pretend, and I was more productive. I also took great vacations and went places that everyone else was avoiding and that was fabulous because I was able to enjoy those places in peace instead of crowds so thank you COVID!
Covid brought us the buy online, park your car, text us and we will shop and load for you, fabulous if you like others selecting your goods. It does make it more pleasant for those of us who shop in person because it removes many from the store.
Covid is supposed to be the reason our store shelves are empty, slow supply due to slow staffing but when I enter the store I see loads of crap heavily stocked and the stuff we need is really the only items missing, so again excuse….covid.
As the Ukraine / Russia war ramps up media outlets who shoved covid, vaccines, and testing have shifted their focus and are no longer talking about the virus, seems all we needed to fix a pandemic was a war.
Covid, I think will be an excuse many will use to justify bad behavior for years to come, will war become the excuse that creates the opposite? I hope so. I’m not buying the covid excuse, I think nasty people are just nasty people. I prefer the good ones like the sweet young girl in Walmart.
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