Everyone is rightfully scared of the potential fallout from the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus. But not everyone can self distance. Not everyone can stay at home safe and avoid contact with potential virus-positive folks (who may not even know they are spreading the virus).

Although most businesses have responsibly shut their doors (or been mandated to), essential businesses such as gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, the media, public transportation and hotels, to name a few, can’t. Consequently, their employees can’t. While some employees refuse to go to work out of concern for catching or bringing home the virus, those who do go to work must step up, work long hours to fill the void and serve their customers all the while praying this isn’t the day they catch the virus.

It is unconscionable to discover that these employees are being subjected to threats, verbal assaults, swarming, name-calling and other types of heinous behavior. Most likely those who are aggressive toward employees are scared themselves  – at least we’d like to think that’s the reason for such awful behavior – but put yourself in those employees’ shoes for a minute.

They have no control over what is on the shelves. Those are corporate decisions. They have little control over shoppers who are hoarding and, although some stores have put limits on numbers of items per person, that simply brings on more abuse of employees. They must follow medical protocols established by the CDCs – federal and state – which means not everyone can be tested.

Many of these employees on the front lines are paid the least. And yet, day after day they keep coming to work at great risk to their own and their family’s health. Perhaps they need the job/income. Perhaps they feel they are providing a community service. (They are!) Whatever the reason, every day the grocer, the pharmacy, the gas station, the hospital opens for business, it is because those employees show up ready to work hard and put up with whatever the public throws at them.

We should be thanking them not abusing them.

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