This sub seems to be predominantly an echo chamber for low wage workers to vent their frustrations with their shitty bosses and the evil corporations they all work for. As someone who has been there/done that with many terrible min wage jobs and egomaniac managers, I feel you and stand in complete solidarity.
With that said, I think it's easy for the main message to get diluted in all of that. Better pay can make your life easier. Better managers can make your work day less miserable. But the system we live in that relies on forced/coerced labour for mere survival is the actual issue here.
After years of retail abuse I quit my job and started my own business. I work alone (own and operate the whole thing) and I make a modest but livable wage. But my life is still miserable because of work. I have to spend everyday dealing with insufferable clients who think that I should kiss their asses. I get physically injured almost daily. Every last drop of my energy is drained out of me for the mere luxury of a roof over my head and when all is said and done I don't have any energy (and not much left over money) to do anything enjoyable.
I have had to work through this pandemic in clients' homes where their children run around coughing and picking their noses, and refuse to keep their masks on. Every day I am forced to put myself into situations that compromise my health and safety and make me very uncomfortable all because I will be homeless if I don't. That is not okay no matter who you work for or what you do.
I am currently going through some seriously stressful shit in my personal life that would be made significantly less difficult if I could take time off but I can't because there is no one else to pick up the slack and I don't get PTO. I have just found out that a client I just saw has tested positive for Covid right as this is all going down.
The last year of my life has been pretty hectic and there have been several situations I have been in that could have become complete chaos if I had contracted covid at that time, including having to stay with severely immunocompromised family members for weeks at a time. These are situations in which I think to myself “The risk of catching covid right now is not a risk I can afford to take.” and yet I do not have a choice but to take this risk because no work means no money, and no money means poverty.
That's not okay. None of this is okay. The system is broken. We are ALL being exploited by the ruling class. No one should have to choose between making ends meet and protecting themselves/their family from illness. We need a revolution.