'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?

It’s funny as DH is technically a ‘key worker’. He works for a large bank, director level, high salary. He’s certainly never put his life at risk for anyone during his working day! Many ‘key workers’ under the governments definition are nowhere near frontline.

I think there is a lot of strange behaviour at the moment due to the crisis and some people need this to feel important.
That said I wish that government had left the term key workers to front line and given everyone else a different term.
It's like the land army/home front in the war, they were very important but it was the front line risking lives and ultimately had responsibility to end war.

Its makes people with a very boring low paid job, feel important. Most people who call themselves key workers are actually in the "cant work from home" category...like delivery drivers, shop assistants, etc.

It is indeed a badge of honour. Not that I don't appreciate them all of course. Although the ones who post this fact constantly on fb, the same ones who race to the front of of the shopping queue because they can even though they only work very part time, because keyworker, whilst letting everyone know over and over again that they are a keyworker, are quite frankly really irritating.

There are most of jobs that aren't front line NHS that we'd be in a terrible mess without. Water and energy supply? They haven't been mentioned at all in all this but it's kind of vital. Who's keeping Netflix going? 😁

People only need to be classified as key workers, to get the childcare.

Talking of shoehorning. I used to be on a board on another site where a woman would say she was about to do the private school run.

'keyworker' (usually said in a very heartfelt, solemn tone) has overtaken 'unprecedented' as the most annoying word of lockdown.

When this is all over, all these people loving the status "keyworker", will go back to being not very important again...so I say give them their 5 mins of feeling important for now.

So much of what we take for granted happens behind the scenes or not given much thought.
Power, telecoms, water, fuel... the minute those stop, there is potential for civil unrest, deaths, accident etc.
Even the checkout operators and shelf stackers doing what many of us would be hesitant to do.

It's made me appreciate them more, and whilst I dont envisage everybody is a superhero, I am grateful and we really would be up the creek without them.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

That said I wish that government had left the term key workers to front line and given everyone else a different term.

I think they've used the terms
'Frontline key workers'
and
'Those who can't work from home'

People are muddling the two up a bit I think!

'Essential workers' too...
Gas, electricity, banks etc etc

I saw one the other day.
I’m a keyworker, I really need a haircut as it gets in my eyes at work.
Get a grip love.......really get a grip (or two for your hair), or trim your fringe.

Question for those of you who say that you’re key workers, but are furloughed or working from home?
Who defined you as a key worker?

I don't think I'd heard the phrase before this pandemic, apart from when referring to a nursery keyworker.

Turns out both dh and I are keyworkers.I have a letter to say so too! However I work part time and my job can be done entirely from home. Dh has to go in 1 to 2 days a week (as the thing he needs to go in for is happening a lot less) but is given minimal work the rest of the time as there is very little he can do from home. This is fortunate school won't take children of keyworkers if at least one parent is WFH!

BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup - I just took the term to mean useful to keep the country running rather than what they do is risky.

@AlexCabot

LOVE that! 🤗

The only relevance I can find of being a "key worker" (actually critical worker) is a child-care one. If they have children those children can be sent to school rather than needing to be kept at home.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Me me me meeeeeee, got a certificate everything. Now... I do have a very essential job, but we are currently on a rota that means I'm only in for one week out of three. I'm doing far more BBQ-ing and sunbathing than working.

One of my colleagues has the FB I'm a keyworker thing on her pic, she's the most annoying twat I know. Enough said.

There was a list of key workers that came out near the start. It was quite vague but later my professional body (or NHS England, I can’t remember which) clarified it.

I'm a key worker, but I don't feel we should be termed key workers.

We are supermarket staff. We deal with the public, but that's our job. I even feel a bit stupid about the big perspex screen I have to stand behind. Okay, we didn't sign up for CV-19, but we deal every day with people with colds, flu, noro, loads of infectious illnesses that we'd prefer not to get.

We just wash out hands, shudder at those who put cash/cards in their mouths before passing them to us, and hope for the best.

And field the remarks about lack of yeast/bread/toilet rolls as best we can.

It makes people with a very boring low paid job, feel important

All those unimportant checkout operators, cleaners, warehouse workers, delivery drivers...

Funny how important those boring low paid jobs have suddenly become to the nation, isn't it?

I have this guy on my FB (husband of a family member so awkward to delete),

He served in Afghanistan 20 years ago and hasn’t worked since due to PTSD.

His wife is a mental health nurse and supports the family on her wage while he does volunteering work.

He is now volunteering for St Johns ambulance (why if he can’t work due to PSTD? Surely this is going to be traumatic work?) and posts continual memes about being a key worker and how everyone should be staying at home to protect him, the hero.