1/ I’m in line at the grocery store right now and if you are like the customer currently at checkout yelling at the cashier and demanding she remove her mask when she answers you because you can’t understand her, I have something I want to share with you...

2/ We are all dealing with a pandemic health crisis— together. I recognize that there is a lot of stress and anxiety right now... millions are unemployed, people are worried about rent, food, healthcare. Patience can wear thin in quarantine with other people. Stress is real...

3/ But now think about the cashier I’m watching deal with this customer. She has the many of the same anxieties as everyone else. Having an “essential job,” she may now be the sole provider for people she previously shared that obligation with...

4/ While we are all expected to stay home to stop the spread, she is expected to go to her job and be exposed to the rest of the community while she works all day. She has to transact with people coughing in her personal space and still go home at night to her family....

5/ Imagine the anxiety of being a front line worker who DOESN’T work in a hospital - who HASN’T gone to school for or been trained in how to properly protect themselves or their family or safely decontaminate their personal items when they leave work....

6/ And now imagine dealing with all of that for a minimum wage. And having a store that once had rush hours after work on Friday have them every hour you’re open. There is never a lull in the checkout line. People are anxious and want to get out so they tell you to hurry....

7/ People are frustrated that stuff is out of stock so they complain to you about it as if it’s your fault. People get combative when you explain that each customer only gets one pack of toilet paper or wet wipes. People letting go on you as if it’s your job to absorb it all...

8/ The yelling at cashiers, making demands of stockroom workers — it’s BULLSHIT. CUT IT OUT. You may be going through some hard times but that DOES NOT give you a right to mistreat a grocery store employee. They are keeping us all fed right now. They have the inglorious and...

9/ thankless task of dealing with EVERYONE. So if you’re like this customer giving lip to the cashier, stop. Check yourself. Be better. Thank them for doing their job. Tip them.

They are the heroes we all need but some of us most certainly don’t deserve.

End thread.