Please can we now ban the phrase -'key worker'

[Hoppybunny]

Way back in March it was relevant and distinguishing, but now the economy is creeping back to life why does every other post on mumsnet need to mention that they are a key worker! Surely every worker needs childcare provisions/access to shops etc and this badge of honour needs to end?

*There

Sorry tired, dyslexia and hangovers don’t mix

I am a keyworker but have never used the phrase.

But surely it's just a helpful way to identify those jobs that are essential to a functioning society, and for which certain services should be prioritised until a full, normal service resumes.

Our local garage is operating on a skeleton staff due to many employees shielding. They are open to fix cars, but are prioritising those of keyworkers because everyone suffers if they can't get to work.

I don't really think, now that the peak has passed, that we should still be getting discounts, free stuff or priority in supermarket queues. We are working normal hours and shifts, under conditions that no longer feel dangerous or unsafe.

Selling things on fb - lots of comments asking questions, offering for it, one post pops up - 'I can only offer X but I'm a key worker so please could I have it' - for something frivolous but nice to have like a tv or fancy headphones.

That has been quite annoying I have to agree.

DH has been (while furloughed) offering to get some shopping for locals who need help, generally meaning shielded people who have no other help or way to help themselves. Was contacted by someone who actually had the audacity to ask if the stuff he was providing was free (didn't want it otherwise) and could he bring it between a certain time as they were a keyworker and busy with stuff that week. Which was..kind of not the point of it and no, unfortunately we don't have unlimited income! Would be nice though. That might not have been so annoying if we didn't have a situation quite early on where a woman in our street was crying on the phone to him as her son had her card as he usually gets her pension and does her shopping and stuff and comes a couple of times a week with shopping/medication/cash, and he was currently ill with suspected covid and doesn't exactly live locally. Proper breaking her heart too bless her. Obviously he just got what she needed, its all since been resolved and her son/her were thankful but..having some chancer using 'key worker' to expect freebies off you when theres people in genuine need like that really grates tbh.

I also saw a GP who spends his life on twitter and is currently doing 111 work from home as he has diabetes (well known, am not a stalker!) sending out tweets to the likes of candle companies..hinting on how it would be lovely if they were appreciative of 'frontline NHS staff' like himself and sent out some free candles to show that appreciation

Lots of pisstakers.

But goes with the territory really. Anything in life, there will be pisstakers. Just wish they weren't quite so..blatant sometimes

Exactly the nhs is a huge organisation...many staff members will be back office admin, finance etc. I have no idea why they need priority entry into supermarkets or discounts in shops, cafes etc.

Ah the admin and stuff don't really. Certainly not many of them at least. But..the only way t help those who were actually frontline was a blanket rule. Otherwise it would be taking in proof of job title and stuff which is just not that realistic for a queue jump in a supermarket.

Yeah some took the piss, but as usual, it was kind of necessary so that those who did need the service badly could use it.

One thing this whole thing has taught me, is that pisstakers are more common than I thought they were. As are people who seem to get excited at the prospect of reporting others for breaking rules (whole street had issues with a neighbour a reporting terminally ill man for talking to his child and having a cuppa while they brought his essetials, and seemed quite gleeful at the thought they 'might' get in trouble too )

why does every other post on mumsnet mention that they are a key worker

Because of the moral value that got attached to people seen to do the right thing vs. not. You were only allowed out if you did this special thing that gave you a moral highground. Still playing out over facemasks: folk who see mask demands as OTT govt over-reach (which we have a moral obligation to oppose) & those who see mask-wearing as moral duty to strangers.

or... those who see a strong police force as a moral obligation or those who see demilitarised police as the moral priority.

I'm a bit sick of morality, can you tell?!

We both work in the veterinary sector (can’t work from home). ‘Key worker’ status was automatically applied to food animal/production vets and very judiciously applied to small animal staff providing emergency care, to avoid undermining public confidence/Covid control by continuing ‘business as normal’. Despite this, pets at home initially tried to claim every single member of staff as a key worker before a backlash.

Our particular setting is mainly staffed by young parents and quite a few older shielders. This made staffing a practice very difficult, we still had clients screeching at us for not being able to do routine boosters or personally deliver worming tablets to their front door.

To me keyworker isn’t a title or badge but just a means to an end, so that necessary stuff gets done - so that animals don’t suffer and cows get milked. I’m sure the majority of key workers are the same - people need food on the shelves, gas leaks need fixing, we all need our wages to hit the bank etc.

Everyone has found this hard in different ways. The keyworkers I know have only used school spaces when absolutely needed - the low uptake at our school would suggest those who can wfh are doing so. It’s the government now who need to think creatively about how to get kids back, downgrading keyworkers is not going to help, it comes across as sour grapes really.

Of course there will always be drama llamas who make a big thing out of their keyworker status and people trying to abuse the system (looking at you pets at home) but I think they are the minority.

haud yet again missing the point massively, as fluffy has tried to point out.

I have worked care of the elderly jobs before and seen many people die, but never in the same way as during the covid-19 peak. We had time to have long and empathetic discussions with the family, and provided extensive support for the patient and family, including spiritual sand emotional support. Families could visit their dying relatives, and patients were given a dignified death.

All of this was different in times of covid-19. We were having 5 minute phone conversations instead of hour long multiple face to face conversations. Patients were dying alone. Completely alone. Staff could only go into the room for minimal time to reduce risk to themselves, and lack of appropriate PPE.

We had no mobile phones or tablets to begin with for patient calls, so families couldn't even talk to them. I was telling patients that their families loved them.

The speed of death, circumstances and frequency is something that is completely unprecedented.

I am not a Macmillan nurse, I have said that I am a junior doctor.

I chose a speciality where patient death is fortunately very rare, so no, I haven't 'signed up for this'. In fact I haven't seen a single patient death since I started my speciality training. I then was pulled to covid-19 and everyone was dying.

Added to this is that our normality was completely lost. I was suddenly a pariah for working with covid-19 patients: even other doctors were scared of me, which meant I couldn't get the support I usually would from colleagues.

I was given hours notice of moving to a new rota, and working in a completely unfamiliar environment, for which I felt completely unprepared. I had not done general medicine for a long time, and was frantically trying to refresh relevant clinical knowledge.

Those who have seen the reality of working during the peak will understand.

As for other workers also worked in poor conditions, yes that is also terrible, but one person's experience in no way detracts from another's.

It's stressful and exhausting ... and despite working all through the Furlough Summer, with no holidays, many of us are facing redundancy anyway

I have utmost respect for those who were working in public in difficult and scary conditions at peak. This attitude pisses me off, though. Not everyone who wasn't a key worker was having a lovely fucking furlough summer.

On a family zoom a few weeks ago one of my siblings, a GP married to another GP, both working mainly remotely while their kids were in full time school, were talking all about how hard it is to still be working when everyone else is sunbathing... apparently forgetting that the rest of us were all still at work, and we weren't joined by my sister, a single mum, because she was working late trying to catch up on her full time job that she couldn't do in the day while caring solo for young kids and homeschooling her eldest.

Well I've been a keyworker for fifteen years, not sure what you want me to do about that? It usually means unpaid overtime, salary that isn't commensurate with the importance of the work we do and the risk we manage daily, regular pay freezes and a regular verbal kicking by the press and general public, until they need us of course. Lately it's also meant exhaustion, people assuming we have access to childcare when we don't and a few more blue light discounts. It's relevant to not only my current situation, but my experience throughout the last four months and the treatment I've had as a professional over the last fifteen years.

and despite working all through the Furlough Summer

How entitled are you? You have a job, you're paid for it...yet, you're up in arms that you weren't able to have few months off at 80% pay!

hibbledobble

I do think its kind of missing the point to be saying medical staff should expect death. Of course they should, but many have now seen it all around them, and in awful lonely ways too where thats not usually how it would happen.

I find the experiences in different areas quite odd in this regard as my sister was on the covid ward in a (generally) busy hospital in the north east..and she said it was almost the the majority of the 'peak' and a few staff were doing cleaning and such, as even other parts of the hospital were eerily quiet. It seems to vary HUGELY depending on hospitals, but not on how many infected were in the area, if that makes sense? She can't understand it all. Obviously London hospitals would have been really busy compared to others, but outside of London, regardless of how bad the area was hit, it seems to have been 50/50 hit and miss for being either full to the brim, or almost empty.

She says shes one of the lucky ones, having a quiet covid ward so she hasn't been as affected by it as others will have. Shes right in a way, though I wouldn't say any medical staff were 'lucky' really, especially those struggling for PPE (sister was reusing her stuff twice apparently)

Fucking awful situation. All round. But especially for those seeing it all upclose and personal each day.

I agree the hero thing does noone any favours though as it does somehow get translated to 'ah they dont care about being at risk, ppe isnt that needed' type thoughts seemingly!

I hop you are able to get help for the PTSD soon.

Do you mind explaining about not being able to get life insurance or a mortgage because you caught it at work though? Not heard this before and it might be something to tell my sister..as she managed to catch it at work (though was very mild)

*almost empty the majority of the 'peak' and a few staff were doing cleaning

Not sure how empty turned to the there..

I hate the phrase key worker, my parents are both "keyworkers" and they don't stop telling everyone. I think its really cringe.

Also the posts on Facebook "share if youre one of the people that still went to work the whole of lockdown" 🤢 cringe and gagging for attention

Hopefully there will be a change for the better in society. I've felt very grateful to supermarket workers and delivery drivers and bin men for continuing to work throughout. It must have been very frightening at very poor pay.

Thankfully I haven't had to use any medical services.

People need paid and protected properly no matter what they do. Not just now but going forward. Hopefully society can now see how vital everyone is and ends this ridiculous punitive austerity that has created a situation where people can not live on their wages.

I bet the majority of carers and supermarket workers are unable to manage financially without help, that's just wrong.

bat there is an open access page from the BMA explaining re life insurance etc. Hopefully, if your sister had a mild version and is not planning to apply for anything soon, she would be fine.

It seems that a certain period of time working normally is expected after having been off sick with covid-19, before an insurance policy is granted. I'm unsure of the time period.

Ah right thanks. Fairly sure shes not looking to change policies or apply for a new mortgage or make any changes for a while so glad it wont affect her. Quite shit that it could affect others though given its hardly their fault that they caught it at work! Mind a lot of shit things are happening, or are about to happen when the crisis is over really. Government will be back to cutting health services to the bone for sure, cannot appreciate the work the NHS/staff do for too long now. No doubt more years of pay freezes for nurses aswell, to pay for the pandemic!

I find 'NHS Heroes' even more crap than key workers. Completely meaningless embarrassing nonsense.
In my house being an 'NHS hero' barely gets you a cup of tea
There have been years of stealth attacks on the medical profession and suddenly we are all to be revered as godlike which is equal bollocks . Happy medium would be good with adequate PPE.
This one's on the money though ( if a bit old now)

Because every client of the organisation I work for is vulnerable in some way (MH, LD or physical disability), all staff were designated key workers.

While a lot work in a residential setting and many of the rest genuinely deliver F2F support to very vulnerable people, I don't really feel that my role (welfare rights) or the person who looks after the housing management database are really keyworkers, so for me it's rather devalued the term.

DP is also a keyworker. He's a payroll manager, for one of the emergency services. Because it's an emergency service, everyone who works for them is considered a keyworker, down to the bloke who cuts the grass verges at HQ!

I've felt very grateful to supermarket workers and delivery drivers and bin men for continuing to work throughout

I've been quite unfathomably cheered by the way the binnies have been round every Monday at their usual time. It's been like the one constant bit of normality all through lockdown.

Mind you, we have great bin men, always cheerful, never moan and will take the bags out of the bin if I forget to do it myself.

I know key workers who are working from home who can send their children to school

That's taking the piss.

Three of my colleagues are in this position, and not one of them has sent their kids to school, they've all managed to WFH and look after their kids. Two of them have partners who can't WFH, so they haven't been able to tag team, either.

Everyone's found it hard in different ways. Being furloughed is all well and good but not when the company realises you're expendable and lays you off as soon as govt money dries up. Working from home with homeschooling in absolutely no way involves soaking up the sun baking cookies and relaxing, in my case it's driven me to drink unhealthy amounts, damaged my career, and led me to be more stressed than even my nasty divorce. Children get to stare at screens and stay at home that but then you see them pining for a game if football or sinking into themselves as they start to disengage and as a parent you see the damage being done in front of your eyes. People still working have normality, routine, adult company but greater health risks, those elderly or shielding may be able to "enjoy the garden" presuming they have one but with zero or virtually other human contact and what is largely the mental agony and subsequent agrophorbia of solitary confinement.

I don't think this pandemic is bringing out the best in a lot of us. The suspicion, jealousy, sniping and snitching is depresing.

I'm as guilty as anyone. I helped some people out and found myself irritated by the additional pisstaking, I offered stuff from my own cupboard, they said no could I go to shop and get X y z etc instead. I felt like bloody ocado.

Yes I find it ridiculous. It made total sense at the start when it was healthcare/emergency workers, teachers, transport, food production. But then it broadened so it basically means those lucky enough to cadge a letter that means their child can go to school. I think it's offensive to those genuinely working in critical jobs. It's also offensive to those of us working in jobs that need doing where we can't get a letter or aren't sharp elbowed enough to ask for one. I even worked weekends in a covid related job but maybe stupidly didn't get a keyworker letter because I could do it from home. I didn't tell the school either because I wanted the spaces to go to those in need...but what do I find out? Most NHS workers are keeping the kids at home and a quarter of the school are now going because one parent is a project manager or an engineer or any of those regular, often work from home jobs (and no they're not working on a big covid project, just regular ones)

So yes it's a real kick in the teeth and barrier to those working. My kids can't go to the summer holiday club because it's only for key workers, but even if there is a stay at home parent they get a space. Me and my husband both work full time.

They should make childcare provisions for key worker children and keep education separate in my opinion. If the only way you can get an education is by having a key worker in the family it makes it massively unfair and divisive.

I am a front line 'key worker' and I hate it. I feel that I am one of the lucky ones, still getting full pay, still going out to do a job I love and yes I have worked harder than ever over the past few months but I don't need any special treatment, I wont even use my NHS ID to my advantage, if I had no food in and shifts/circumstances stopped me from shopping then maybe I would but DH is able to do all of those things.

The entitlement is too much, as PP said on social media - phone wanted for keyworker etc is awful.

I don't need free food, give it to a family struggling on furlough.

YANBU OP

As an add on I think we should be clapping all those people working from home with small children! How do you do it?! I think you are the amazing ones.

Someone sitting behind a big plastic screen with sanitizer on tap on their arse in a supermarket is not. It's a job that needs doing but it's not key because in an ideal world we would all have stayed home, not gone to supermarkets at all and been delivered our goods

Well I was bloody delighted that supermarket staff were designated keyworkers.

Having never done online shopping apart from a few times in 2009 when I had my arm in plaster, we couldn't even register for online shopping, never mind get a delivery slot.

And I hate online shopping (always found I had to go the fucking shops anyway for things that were out of stock and inappropriately subsituted) so I would have been murderous with rage.