To be fed up of the "I'm a key worker" line now

[Chishelled]

Fair play, I do understand that not every key worker is pulling this out at opportunity and that not all key workers are acting like entitled selfish twits, plus the fact DP and I (although only on day two) are both NHS - him as a doctor and me within mental health.

Our entire local facebook page is full of "I am a key worker, I need to get petrol, people are being so selfish" BUT why do key workers expect to be prioritised for petrol now, particularly when many of the ones posting work in our local hospital which is a 20 minute walk away??

It's just all adding to the scare mongering and hype by trotting out the "I'm a key worker, I need petrol priority...[it's going to run out again], plus plenty of people are having to commute back to work due to the end of furlough and the fact that offices are well and truly reopen - are their jobs seen as lesser?

I propose on the spot fines for anyone who uses the phrase "I am a key worker" to get preferential treatment from this point forwards [unless of course we go back into Lockdown again]

[VEGAS2016]

@Brainwave89 absolutely!

[SunShinesBrightly]

YANBU OP.
Line up all the critical/key workers (as defined by Gov.U.K.) and it will be a very long queue at the petrol pump.
I think this list below covers most people don’t you? 😅

Health and social care
This includes, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare
This includes:

childcare
support and teaching staff
social workers
specialist education professionals who must remain active during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response to deliver this approach
Key public services
This includes:

those essential to the running of the justice system
religious staff
charities and workers delivering key frontline services
those responsible for the management of the deceased
journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting
Local and national government
This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of:

the coronavirus (COVID-19) response, and the delivery of and response to EU transition
essential public services, such as the payment of benefits and the certification or checking of goods for import and export (including animal products, animals, plants and food), including in government agencies and arms length bodies
Food and other necessary goods
This includes those involved in food:

production
processing
distribution
sale and delivery
as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines)
Public safety and national security
This includes:

police and support staff
Ministry of Defence civilians
contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and EU transition)
fire and rescue service employees (including support staff)
National Crime Agency staff
those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas
Transport and border
This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response and EU transition, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass and those constructing or supporting the operation of critical transport and border infrastructure through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services
This includes:

staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)
the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)
information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response
key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services)
postal services and delivery
payments providers
waste disposal sectors

[wewereliars]

viviainsomina Are there no selfish people in mainland Europe then? We have a rubbish government, so the country is grinding to a halt.

Blaming the people suffering is just letting the government off the hook.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

@Orangedaisy

I wasn’t digging at you!! Sorry if you thought that. I appreciate dyslexia is real etc but ‘queue’ is misspelled so often on my social media feeds that it cannot possibly be down to dyslexia alone.

Since you'd never know what the cause of the SPaG error is, best to keep quiet about it. Send the poster a private message correcting them if you feel so strongly about it.

Posters who pull others up on their spelling/grammar errors are just tiresome.

[hellgirl]

There's a key worker on our local FB group asking for people to grab her a jerry can of fuel when they go to fill up

[CoffeeRunner]

@MissTrip82

I work in ICU.

Have literally never heard any of my colleagues describe themselves like this. Not once. Not ever.

IME it tends to be a phrase used by people quite a long way from genuinely key roles.

Exactly this. I work in the NHS (not a pen pusher who could work from home). Nobody at work describes themselves thid way.

DH's boss does though. Although she started WFH back in 2020 & has returned to the office for about 2 days since.

[SunShinesBrightly]

@hellgirl

There's a key worker on our local FB group asking for people to grab her a jerry can of fuel when they go to fill up

Maybe she could pop down herself and fill up an old water bottle (as seen on the news yesterday)?
People are crazy.

[VEGAS2016]

Any service that provides safety to the public should be given priority for fuel.

I pay to park at work (no gripes with it, just the way it is!) as I won’t park over a mile away to then have to walk in the dark, for my own safety. Im not unusual in this.

Even if someone lives within walking distance they tend to drive because of the safety aspect of walking home alone late. (Some of our support workers finish at 22.00pm)

[Chishelled]

@VEGAS2016 are all your hospital support staff, admin, managers, domestics, deliveries, lab staff, physios, phlebotomists, CEO, directors, etc all working shift patterns then?

I doubt it...

[anonymousanne]

@Oohlarlar

We run a caravan storage facility and I was asked if they could have a discount because they have a blue light card. Erm no, you can pay the usual fee just like everybody else!

Don't particularly think that's an unusual question (depending on how it was asked). A lot of places do blue light discount and a lot of my colleagues make a habit of asking everywhere as it's not always displayed but it's surprising where a discount is offered.

[olidora63]

@myusernamewastakenbyme

I'm sick to death of reading posts on fb from people calling others idiots for trying to get fuel...I live alone...im not a keyworker but my wage is the only one coming into the house...if i can't get to work i don't get paid...I don't have a husband to split the bills with...its all down to me.

Totally agree…absolutely no one knows what is going on in other peoples lives …everyone quick to judge !

[Tulipomania]

@Orangedaisy

Shall we add people who can’t spell ‘queue’ (que 😡) to the list for on the spot fines??

Yes. Seen this all over my local FB group today.

[Comedycook]

Discounts for NHS workers piss me right off. Plenty earn decent money...they're not working for free. There's loads of jobs that are less stable and more poorly paid than working for the NHS. I'm sick of them being treated like poverty stricken angels..

[Steelesauce]

I'm a nurse and I hate the key worker thing. Were all important! I needed fuel today after a weekend at work and I managed to get some with ease and no queue. Its all dampening down. I sent a text out to others I knew who needed fuel at my workplace of where I got it and they went and filled up too with no issues.

[VEGAS2016]

Managers-yes the manager comes in on call, come in for a midnight meeting.
Domestics- yes, someone has to do the steam cleaning of infectious areas don’t they (he works 4pm-4am)
Physio- on call (I’ve seen them in for an unwell patient!)
Phlebotomy- start at 6.30am
Lab staff- of course! Who else would process the blood results overnight?

Happy now OP?

I’m going to leave it there I think

[VolcanicEruption]

What about the key workers that nobody thinks about. My DS is an engineer in food production. An industry struggling to get skilled workers before this malarkey.
If a breakdown occurs and not fixed. Production grinds to a halt.

[MrsTophamHat]

YANBU, the key worker thing is absolutey cringey. My DH and I are both in that category.

They need to stop banging on about this petrol thing now. I have an 80 mile commute. I filled up no problem at all on Friday. I've driven past about a dozen petrol stations since then and have not seen one of them any busier than normal, let alone closed.

But all i was hearing on the radio was about the shortages - so therefore it IS on my mind, and I probably WILL end up filling up again before I would usually (on fumes!) just in case.

[MissyB1]

[quote Chishelled]@Mummyoflittledragon most people who work in hospitals work 9 - 5 roles or 7 - 7 roles; they aren't all on shift patterns at all.[/quote]
Yeah you don’t work in the NHS or you wouldn’t come out with bullshit like this.

[RoomOfRequirement]

This is not AT ALL feasible, and I don't drive to work so doesn't affect me. But wishful thinking is, if we got to the point of rationing, the first people in line should be those who, April 2020 as everyone else got to WFH or later furlough, were still going into work physically every day. Actual 'key workers'. They're the people we found we actually needed.

[Dentistlakes]

I think it would make sense for certain petrol stations to be designated to supply key workers only. That would stop them being accused of jumping the queue and running the risk of coming up against hostile behaviour.

[Comedycook]

@Dentistlakes

I think it would make sense for certain petrol stations to be designated to supply key workers only. That would stop them being accused of jumping the queue and running the risk of coming up against hostile behaviour.

Depends on your definition of a key worker? Linda on reception who could get a bus shouldn't be prioritized imi

[Comedycook]

Imo

[Icantrememberthenameoftheartis]

But, and I will probably be flamed for this! My sister is a Sister in theatre and on a Covid ward and throughout the whole of the pandemic she NEVER used her pass to jump a queue or even get a discount! And she said none of her colleagues have either. She’s been tempted, especially after a 12 hour night shift but couldn’t bring herself to walk to the front of the queue, past all the people patiently waiting.

[Dizzy1234]

I'm a "key worker" rail industry, worked throughout the pandemic but I've never said "key worker" out loud 🙄
Even several times when the key workers were squawking to queue jump in front of me in the supermarket due to their new found importance, I never once said "actually I'm a key worker too"
It's embarrassing and entitled behavior, there should be no preferential treatment.
I need to get to work, preferably in my car but if I run out of petrol I'll figure it out, walk, cycle, take public transport, car share etc

[user1497207191]

@VEGAS2016

Managers-yes the manager comes in on call, come in for a midnight meeting.
Domestics- yes, someone has to do the steam cleaning of infectious areas don’t they (he works 4pm-4am)
Physio- on call (I’ve seen them in for an unwell patient!)
Phlebotomy- start at 6.30am
Lab staff- of course! Who else would process the blood results overnight?

Happy now OP?

I’m going to leave it there I think

They're all "skeleton staff". How many overnight physios/phlebotomists do you have compared with daytime staffing? How many staff in the lab at 2am compared with 2pm? No one is disputing that there are a wide range of staff working in the middle of the night, but there is no way that the number on site is remotely anywhere near the number on site at the prime mid morning or mid afternoon peaks of activity. You said "most" staff which is simply untrue as most means over half. I'd hazard a guess that staffing numbers at 2am are probably 10%-20% of staffing numbers at 11am the next working day.