Thread | On Saturday, a customer wrote a very long email complaining about the rudeness of one of my staff in the context of #socialdistancing at the store.

I wrote back. 1/
I explained the extreme pressure retail workers are currently under, the mental load of having to remember all the added procedures designed to keep everyone safe, while being 100 times more exposed to the virus than the privileged who can work from home.

/2
In essence, I asked him to excuse us if we’re not all smiles when we ask you to step behind the line for your own safety. And that what comes across as rudeness is just mental exhaustion. And yet, my staff at NU still manages to be lovely 99% of the time. They are my heroes.

3/
If we pay our service workers what they deserve, people will stop treating service work like inferior work. Workers will see their job as a career. Businesses who employ them will benefit in every possible way. And we will win collectively as we build a fairer kinder society. /8
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