A lot of businesses have staff off at the moment, and a lot more will have staff off in light of the new government advice for self isolation.
I work in a call centre, today we had maybe 60% of the staff that we would normally have for a Saturday. It was busy and with all the will in the world we can only deal with one call at a time.
All day I’ve been shouted at, I’ve been moaned at, I’ve been asked on pretty much every single call if I know how long they have waited. Yes funnily enough I do.
It will only get worse. A few people today said they were self isolating and using it as an excuse to catch up on admin and bills.
It sucks to wait in a long queue listening to crap hold music. But please just think it’s a person on the other end who is doing double the amount of work then normal. Who has the same stresses and strains and worries as you do.
My friend is a bus driver, they have a lot of staff off. They are doing their best but busses are running late/ being withdrawn. That’s not her fault. She is coming into work despite all of the risks because she knows without public transport the county will be in even more of a mess then it is at the moment.
My brother is a shop manager he has been verbally abused, he has been spat at all because people have gone mad and bought everything in sight. That’s not his fault he’s not hiding hand sanitizer or dried pasta in his office.
Please just be patient and be kind.