| Comment | Worked as a covid tester during the pandemic and people were lovely to us at first. Something shifted in late 2021 and people became absolutely disgusting towards anyone in a public facing role. Things reached a breaking point when an old man tried to spit on me. I have had three different public facing roles since then and I’ve had people scream in my face, call me very specific slurs and try to assault me. I now work in an office and people are somehow only slightly less evil over phone calls and email. People can tell me “it’s always been like this” until they’re blue in the face, but I absolutely think things got far, far worse during the pandemic. I think having constant access to things like food delivery services, Amazon delivery and drive through vaccine and covid testing facilities has made people expect the impossible.
People demand five star service at the push of a button and get infuriated when it isn’t happening. They don’t realise there’s a human behind the services they rely on. When I was a covid tester, several people became enraged when I said I couldn’t give them the results immediately. I’d explain that their sample had to go to a lab for testing. They just didn’t get the concept of something not being instant. Instant gratification has been a disaster for retail, hospitality and healthcare workers. |
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