@BestBuy @BinnysBev @GameStop @MichaelsStores @HobbyLobby @officedepot @StaplesStores @guitarcenter @AdvanceAuto @autozone @Lowes @HomeDepot @Menards @Sears
During this time of uncertainty and panic, I plead anyone and everyone to listen to what I have to say in this thread.

These businesses are NOT “essential.” Despite their official reasonings, it can be a matter of risking your well-being for a product you otherwise might not have needed. In these troubled times, there has to be a definitive line drawn for buying something NECESSARY.

This brings me to my point of materialism. It can become super easy with the quarantine to be drawn to purchasing non-essential items; especially when it is so easy to do considering how materialism coincides with anxiety and compulsive consumption.

I fully understand that the feeling of panic and restlessness are increasing more with each passing day. So I ask you all to ask yourselves this: was it worth risking potentially endangering yourself and others for a new AUX cord or a new brush for your paint set?

Consumers, customers and guests, I ask you to avoid needless splurges and to restrain yourselves no matter the cost. Boredom can lead into impulses, which is detrimental in today’s current climate. In this, I ask you to be strong and remain secluded for as long as you can.

There’s also the debate to be had for transportation, especially taxis, buses and trains. Even car dealerships are still open. If people are ordered to stay at home, why have a transportation service open? This MOST certainly goes for airports and hotels as well.

As for these non-essential businesses; no matter your reasoning, no matter your status, no matter the costs, something has to be done. Having your employees, your cashiers, your managers on the front lines only adds to the problem. This alone can turn the tide.

Minimizing the amount of operational businesses can help with keeping the safety of both consumers and employees. No matter how many precautions you are taking at your locations, this can only go so far at preventing the spread of infection. Sacrifices MUST be made.

Some businesses are even enticing employees to come to work regardless, enforcing the age-old threat: “If you don’t like it, there’s the door.” If an employee is disillusioned at their employer’s decision to remain open, they can choose to not come in, but won’t receive pay.

This doesn’t happen 100% of the time, and in some cases are compensated, but the fact is that most have no choice in the matter without a threat to their livelihood. I can say from experience that this is happening and this is can drop moral in a workplace by a tenfold.

I happen to work for @autozone and am fully aware that I could get fired for speaking out against their decision to remain open. I have also chosen to #StayAtHome despite being unpaid for my time off. I encourage those who can to stand with me in my decision to fight #COVID19.

I should also mention that I took this leave in light of one my commercial district managers and one of my store location managers have taken ill. I live in one of the most populated cities in America (Chicago) and those odds of my store coming under fire are extremely low.

I have been concerned for my well being for a while, with much confusion and fear taking hold of my humble store. I work as a commercial driver, delivering parts from shop to shop. Being in the position that I’m in, words cannot describe these past few weeks.

I was often given the question whenever my concerns and disillusion were raised, “You want to work or no?” It was a basic guilt trip. Even though I’m only a part-timer, I can guarantee you this much: you cannot buy protection from the way that I feel.

@autozone and the list above aren’t the only companies that are in this non-essential category, there are plenty of others that can be in this list as well. These are merely the more popular enterprises in their respective markets and I’m sure this scenario isn’t uncommon.

The only kinds of establishments that should remain open are grocery stores/supermarkets as well as police stations, hospitals, waste removal, etc. It is ludicrous to me how many of these “essential” businesses are remaining open, needlessly putting workers and customers at risk.

I applaud this New York Times article for calling out some of these corporations. This only goes to show how insane this madness is. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/coronavirus-essential-retailers.html

All in all, I plead with everyone who has been following along this thread so far to: make a stand, to be on the side of life, to put aside compulsive spending, to make sacrifices, to stay safe, to be strong, to understand the circumstances that are within our grasp.

I am merely a part-time employee, a cog in a much bigger machine. I normally wouldn’t overstep my own boundaries, but this HAS to change. I understand what this might do to shareholders and to the economy, but if this doesn’t change NOW, then it will never change.

When you’re a business whose products are optional for survival and NOT essential, paying attention to numbers in a crisis like this is quite frankly, asinine. Numbers shouldn’t define whether or not you should remain open. What should are the amount of lives that are at stake.

I am aware that the #coronavirus has drastically damaged the market, and some companies may not survive. What I ask may sound like the impossible to some, but this is a good time to implement other options for business. Layaway, pre-orders, etc.

The corporate entities that I have pointed out, I mean not to make enemies, I only ask yourselves to take what I have said into consideration. I might just be grasping at straws here, but this has got to be FULLY addressed. Now is the time for action, not just employee policies.

For everyone else, please help this word get out. Not every business is essential. I’d like to also point out that GUN STORES AND SMOKE SHOPS are still open in some cases. The more we minimize the amount of traffic, the more we can keep people at home.

@BillGates stated that a total shutdown is needed for us to recover. This should’ve been done before all these states slowly started ordering shelter-at-home orders. And you’d be surprised how many people are still out and about even with that order here in Chicago.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for listening and follow me in this movement that I would like to call #essentialmeansNECESSARY. If this movement works, then it would do more good than harm.

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”