'I'm a key worker' is the most overused phrase atm

[Imakeyworker]

Like a badge of honour. I heard one woman say it to 3 different people in a shop yesterday.

Technically I am a key worker.

Should I be letting everyone know about it?

I am a key worker too (who isn't these days?). I was going to say that I hadn't uttered it once but I did; my car is due a service and the garage sent me an email saying that they were open to service key workers' cars and was I one? Seeing as I commute 72 miles per day 5 - 6 days per week I actually did reply that I was and am having my car serviced this week. Apart from that, it had never occurred to me to try and use it as some badge of honour.

I have a friend who is a KEY WORKER!!! and mentions it at every opportunity. She also WORKS FOR THE NHS!!!!! (in an office on an industrial estate making up slides for training courses) and has this emblazoned across her FB profile.

It’s really fucking irritating to hear this woman bang on like she’s a respiratory consultant in ICU and we should all double clap for her.

She’s working from home and takes the afternoons off to home school - clearly vital, life saving work.

I guess technically I’m a key worker as I’m responsible for payroll and invoicing in a company carrying out essential work. I’m working from home but occasionally have to visit my boss to collect essential paperwork.

Who are all these "keyworkers" who are furloughed then? If you're furloughed and we're managing to stagger on without you then you're not really very "key hmm*

Half our workforce are furloughed. Basically we are gas engineers and electricians so whilst some of our work is essential (our clients include various prisons via a management company, several hospitals and care homes and we are regularly sending engineers inside these environments) a lot of our other work eg domestic, schools & factories, has dried up.

The key worker letter was useful in the early days to explain why our engineers were travelling up and down the motorway at odd hours to various prisons and hospitals and it meant they could if needed use schools for their children.

My police force is not requiring people to produce any documentation regarding their journey, I imagine most forces will be the same. Companies are issuing them, but they haven’t been asked to.

@10storeylovesong just came here to say big love and hugs to you. I cant even imagine how you are juggling all that. Can family help bring food round? You can have family look after children if that was your childcare arrangement before lockdown and you still need to work. But I dont know your personal circumstances so sorry if you've considered it. Please take care of yourself . Please use your badge to get into shops and ignore all those tutting and frothing as you can guarantee some will be out clapping every Thursday but heaven forbid a frontline essential worker asking to jump an aldi queue. Our local shops are still queuing round the block. I have the luxury of shopping anytime so I would be more than happy to stand aside for anyone wanting to go first if they are in your situation. I guess the post was really about those using the key worker term to get priorities when they dont really need them. We just all need to be KIND and try not to judge we dont know circumstances. Xxx

Yep. Lots of posts on the Facebook community pages basically asking for freebies because they’re key workers.

‘My car broke down & I am a key worker so need to get to work. Does anyone know some where open?’

Whilst I agree that a lot of the use of "I'm a key worker" is just attention seeking etc I do think that if it is relevant, such as in the context of the comment above, it is acceptable use.

A lot of garages are fully closed, some are open for emergencies only, others are only doing essential services and some are officially closed but will do the occasional emergency job if they can. If your car has broken down and you need to get to work - especially if you're in a place with bad/reduced public transport - then rather than calling every garage it is quicker/easier to use FB to streamline the process and put you in contact with the right people.

Putting the "I'm a key worker" phrase and that the car is needed for work means that you head off all the people who will tell you why dealing with your car isnt essential or they know XYZ who owns a garage and can take a look at the car but cant do any work till next month (which is no good if you need the car back asap) or they know a mechanic who can look at the car but cant actually do anything beyond diagnose the issue etcetc

I feel the same way. Sick of hearing it and my daughter is a nurse! Apparently my husband is a keyworker and he is a software engineer

Well the last few pages have been interesting.

I'm sure you were only attempting to be entertaining lemonblast but Jeez. 🤪😜🤪

Loads of really interesting posts though!
Will try and respond later but got to get to work!
I'm a KEY WORKER don't you know!!! 😇😇😇😇😇😇

According to the official list, I am not considered a key worker. Yet we wouldn't get research funding if I didn't do my job of submitting claims for it

Fine by me if they want to wear it as a badge of honour. They’ll only get respect and a high five from me. I’ve never been able to tolerate working with the general public so those that do are saints in my eyes. Thank goodness for key workers and do tell me. I’m likely to buy you a pint when this is over. Also more likely to donate to your fundraisers...

I wouldn’t dream of saying I’m a key worker. I’m a nurse. I’ve been a nurse for forty years. I’m still a nurse. To be totally correct I’m a theatre sister in vascular surgery but at the end of the day, I’m a nurse.

As for being a ‘key’ worker, I’m just doing my job. The job I trained for and the job I love.

Every dog has it's day! We created a monster by clapping!

At the beginning of all this, we only had minimal staff in the office as the rest had childcare issues/underlying health/lived with someone shielding, etc so we were flat out dealing with the massively increased workload with about 1/4 of the staff.

The managers gave us letters confirming key worker status in case we got stopped, so I (jokingly) made us all key worker badges, based on some cutesy thing I saw online. 12 of us now proudly (ahem!) wear our "I'm a Key Worker because I care" badges.

I'm technically a key worker.. not actually told anyone

I don't mention the issue unless someone asks me.
I think people are getting tired of hearing about key workers now anyway.

people like labels, it also makes them feel important, special and it makes some feel powerful.

Saw the best one the other day a car kept driving past with "key worker volunteer" actually written in sign writing on the back.

Outside of MN I've not mentioned it once and the only reason I mention it here is because it has a relevance to the topic in hand.

It's not a get out of jail free card but some people on here need to get off their high horse.

Shockingly keyworkers are at the epicentre of this entire Covid situation. Like it or lump it, it's all the same to me.

we do it because not everyone is a key worker who is working. we are the ones who have to go to work and risk our health whilst others don't take it seriously puting us more at risk

Oh yeah I know what you mean OP at the start of all this my sister was running round social media going on about how she was a key worker and how important she is what she actually does is sit in an office in a nursing home she isn’t putting herself in any sort of danger. She very quickly stopped with all her attention seeking antics when she found out that she isn’t allowed to use the NHS shopping hour because she doesn’t work for the NHS she’s in the private sector I admit I laughed when I got told that.

im a front line worker (i think) work in a supermarket chain i have commented on a few threads about certain situations which are relevant to me which have bad information on them but i haven't really used it anywhere else, although i have said im still working to the people at the garage as they were debating if i could wait till they had fixed my car (something small) so i could drive it straight to work afterwards instead of having to walk for 45 mins there and back... in the beginning it was important and quite significant for people to recognise the appreciation we have now received e.i cleaners, distribution and warehouse workers etc people who never get recognition at all and no funding and literally work on minimum wage but now everyone and there mums are key workers and its irrelevant to the situation were all key workers in some form or another weather your at home or still going to work were all still trying to keep the economy moving

@nurgle

You're key, but maybe not frontline.

So, are locksmiths key workers? Lol

They bloody are at the moment, we've just had to call one because we were locked out!