'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?

And by the way, you don't need to prove that you're a keyworker to be entitled to go to work! Where do these fictional rules come from?

This is just an example of the government deliberately choosing language to manipulate people.

Call them 'critical' or 'key' workers and they'll feel special and keep working. Hint that there is widespread respect for them because they're all so important and they'll put themselves in harm's way.

Similar to this are the people who are part of the government volunteering - constant FB statuses of "I'm on phone duty, please don't ring me" as if their phone is ringing off the hook all day at the best of times!

Doesnt matter if working from home... if you are helping to keep the essential parts of the country running, you're key.
If you are in your kitchen buying masks for the NHS, or delivering fuel to ambulance stations, or teaching the children of those people then you're an essential cog in the system and without that work, things would fall apart.

That is quite different than painting and decorating a house where the occupants can safely distance. That is continuing to work because it is safe to do and you cannot work from home, but not key.

I was browsing FB the other day and there was an advert for a nanny on my parents group, I don’t know what the wife did but the husband works for a private bank where you need a serious amount of money to get an account (I was rejected ) and he said he was a key worker as people might need help with mortgage breaks.

I mean that might be true and I was just there to watch the online fall out but I thought he perhaps needed to judge the audience better 🤣.

Both Dh and I are on the list of essential/key workers.

Other than joking between ourselves - we'd have not put Dh down as an essential worker before this - we've never used it elsewhere. We've not said it to get anything, go priority on anything it used it as an excuse to jump lines, etc. But tbh I haven't heard anyone else do that - no one I know anyway.

Do people really go around saying it?

This thread is hilarious

‘I’m a keyworker but I’m very critical of other people who say they’re keyworkers ‘

Mortgage handlers... key workers my arse

I met my friend the other day in the supermarket and she had her NHS badge round her neck. She’d finished work 5 hours before

So all the people who've had to contact their mortgage companies for payment holidays would have been fine if those operations had closed down Vertical?

Of course there's no need to shout about it but there are a lot more people than those working in the NHS that we would struggle without.

Dislike all the "frontline", "at war" stuff. It's not a war.

We've not said it to get anything, go priority on anything it used it as an excuse to jump lines, etc. But tbh I haven't heard anyone else do that - no one I know anyway.

It doesn't entitle you to priority anything, apart from sending your kids to school!

OH got his 'keyworker' letter a while ago and I laminated it an all

It's to show if you get stopped by the police, though as he goes to work at 5am and see's virtually no one on the road he figures he's safe from being stopped

But yes I have seen some excessive 'I'm a keyworker dontcha know' type stuff bandied about. I assume it just makes people who have worked in umnremarkable jobs feel a little bit more important

@Lemonblast Randomly, because of some training I'd had, school couldn't open for that day if I wasn't there. As others have now had the up to date training I'm back to working from home, although there is very little I can do.

I'm one (mental health nurse in the NHS) but rarely use the term. Have never jumped supermarket queues etc. The only exception was a couple of weeks back. I'm doing The depot clinic atm so basically visiting people ay home to administer injection. I'd been out several hours and was bursting for a wee. Of course atm there are no shopping centres, McDonald's etc to go to. I ended up going to Morrison's and went to security at the front of the queue, showed my ID, explained my situation and asked to use the customer loos.

I get a bit embarrassed by it all tbh. We're just doing our jobs.

Oh and both me and Dh are working from home throughout this. I have a health condition which means I can't go on rota to be in class but I'm also very busy at home overseeing the whole home learning stuff.

Dh is working normal hours but from home. He calls in the office one afternoon a week to exchange files and sort mail.

I hear you @Imakeyworker, I am frontline nhs but don’t boast about it as a lot of the posts on my Facebook are just that! Boastful!

I feel the same about all the thank you nhs signs out and about and the clapping, we were hardly appreciated so much before now why the big fuss now? No one really gave a hoot about my job before and now all of a sudden everyone is interested! I can bet a pound to a penny it’ll be forgotten about again just as quickly! Then you have all these people screaming for pay rises for us and carers etc which I agree with we would her better pay rises etc but there won’t be the money for any pay rises for a while after this!

He did get whipped for saying he was a key worker and it was right at the peak of the viral deaths when he wanted a nanny, temporary as the baby’s nursery was closed.
I can’t remember what the criteria was for getting an account with the bank for business but I remember him trying not to snort when I told him the turnover of mine.

I will never forget how rude he was. I did enjoy seeing him get torn apart which is probably really awful of me.

We have two key workers in our house - they have certification. They are 15, and have paper rounds.

But look at us. Still the old 'divide and conquer' strategy from those in power. And still it works. Always it works.

"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?"
They are clearly not key workers. Being Furloughed is an alternative to being redundant, which means they werent needed...

I got a letter from my work about being a key-worker and therefore my child is entitled to a nursery space.....I work part time, in the evening in a job that frankly I really wouldn't consider to be essential. I'm a little embarrassed to be classed as a key-worker if I'm honest and don't mention it (except on here because nobody knows who I am )

Goaty - I've read on MN of people trying to use it to jump lines at supermarkets, etc. That's what I meant.

I don't know anyone in real life who'd try that but apparently MN have seen people doing such.

I dont think it is all bragging. Some of it is pride.
I dont think many nurses do the job for financial gain, and loads must feel utterly undervalued, but there is probably a real sense of pride that when an emergency happens, their contribution really matters, and the public see it. Fair play.
I dont think those types have any air of self importance, just satisfaction in the acknowledgement of their work being important.

That is in stark contrast to those who consider it to mean THEY are specifically important people

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
I agree. I hope they will continue to be appreciated more after this, especially by people who looked down on their job.

Lemon

The point is, the list of key, essential, critical workers is very long.
Front line workers are everywhere too.

When the list first came out someone at work made the comment 'so practically anyone who works then'.

We are ALL doing something worthwhile - lots of pieces of the same jigsaw.