A Cog in the Machine

You have no idea.

Today, I helped out for a bit on the front end. I wish I hadn’t. Because something happened that made me lose faith in my employer. As if I hadn’t lost enough.

Apparently, on the front end, the assistants had been offering boxes but not actually boxing the members’ items. Because we were told not to touch the items as much, due to COVID-19. The less we touch, the lower the chances of an infection. Hell, at the doors, we don’t touch the receipts anymore; we stamp them with a line stamp and call it good.

Well, we must have had someone complain. Because one of our managers said that we’re supposed to box orders. COVID-19 be damned.

So basically, we’re supposed to put ourselves at greater risk, because fuck us, I guess.

This is not the first time that my employer has put us in danger. Hell, I was hearing some of my co-workers saying that they thought our company wasn’t doing enough during this crisis, that they should have shut down the home office and actually done something to protect the employees there. But they didn’t. Our CEO said he wasn’t going to deal with “occasional critics” due to this crisis; as far as I know, there’s been no apologies to any of the employees who either caught the coronavirus and are okay, nor to the families of those employees who died.

Instead, we’re getting free hot dogs and pizza and soda. Thanks for putting yourself in danger. Here’s some food. Try not to have a nervous breakdown while on the clock.

I’m so disillusioned now. Again, I trust someone and they shit all over it; there are a handful of people who haven’t done that: my friend in Cali, my husband, and my cat. I’m too damned afraid to trust anyone beyond them, because every time I do, I get screwed over. Today is just another example of that.

Only this time, it could end up killing me. Thanks a lot, Costco. Maybe the hazard pay will cover the cost of a decent casket.