Lockdown is where middle-class people hide and working-class people bring them stuff

[havanacabana]

I’ve seen this quote on twitter a few times and realised there is actually a lot of truth to it. IRL most of the people I know who are truly able to ‘hide away’ are the middle-class, privileged ones who are currently on furlough or working from home. People I know on minimum wage are the ones having to go out and mix at work in supermarkets, takeaways, warehouses etc. to keep everything going.

Then I noticed my Hermes driver still out and about doing deliveries and remembered he gets paid per delivery, so would have lost a lot of money if everyone did like me

The point being made is why wasn’t he furloughed, like everyone else whose jobs put them/others at risk?

There were ‘essential’ deliveries to be done, for sure - and people needed to service those.

But there have been tonnes of goods produced and delivered that were not essential by any stretch of the imagination.

I didn't pronounce an opinion on communism, just my observation that it seems to be middle class people promoting it in this country.
Working class people often hate the very idea of it.

@TheKeatingFive

Then I noticed my Hermes driver still out and about doing deliveries and remembered he gets paid per delivery, so would have lost a lot of money if everyone did like me

The point being made is why wasn’t he furloughed, like everyone else whose jobs put them/others at risk?

There were ‘essential’ deliveries to be done, for sure - and people needed to service those.

But there have been tonnes of goods produced and delivered that were not essential by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s very rarely that I disagree with you but how would trashing the economy even more help?

It’s very rarely that I disagree with you but how would trashing the economy even more help?

I don’t think it would at all!

I’m trying to challenge this narrative that going to shops for inessential purchasing is selfish, but having people deliver inessential stuff to your home isn’t.

I really wonder if we’d have had so many m/c lockdown advocates if the Majestic wine deliveries and Amazon treats had not been available. But someone had to put themselves at more risk to keep those comforts flowing.

Ah, I understand now. Back to agreeing with you again. 😉

But didn't the peasants all get richer and stick it to the feudal overlords after the plague?

@VinylDetective I also had a moment of thinking @TheKeatingFive had been lost to the dark side 😱

Did this quiz for fun and apparently we are both working class
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cambridge-news.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/working-middle-upper-class-quiz-14599753.amp
I assumed the markers for middle class were a lot lower

It's ok, that quiz is a bit ridiculous. It just perpetuates the idea that the WC is a bit thick and uncultured. A few GCSEs, football and EastEnders and a Maccies and they're done

I think there are some intersections or race and gender within this. But overall there's a truth in this.

There are obviously some middle class and wealthy people still going out to work and some working class people at home. But there's clearly a wealth decide in the communities worst effected by covid. And I don't think this element can be overlooked.

Apologies for causing confusion 😆

My husband is classed as middle class and is going out to work every day. He's a dentist and literally working one of the highest risk jobs there are.

Sorry not responded to people who have questioned whether accounts can work for home.

Yes many can.

But please tell me what do you do with clients records when they bring them into the office? Do you distribute them to 130 members of staff and just keep your fingers crossed that they don’t get lost or data protection laws aren’t broken?

Of course you can do your job at home BUT some have to work in the office.

So I’m now off to hiding while I try to home school my children and do my job and roll around in my luxurious lifestyle.

Also can I ask, my DHs family is very much WC, he grew up with very little money. He’s now in a MC occupation....is he MC or WC?

This is why such sweeping statements are bullshit.

The only people I know who've been furloughed are on minimum wage. That might just be in the areas I know, but all the middle class people I know are working either from home or in person.

I know a lot of teachers, because that's my job. All the primary teachers I know are in school teaching classes of 10-15 kids at least half the week, with the other half of the week being used to provide for the children at home. All the secondary teachers I know are teaching remotely, but may be going in to school to do it depending on their family set up. So secondary teachers are more able to hide away, yes, but primary teachers aren't. Are secondary teachers more middle class than primary teachers?

I also know a lot of people in hospitality, as that's my sister's job. They're furloughed. The hotels she was doing housekeeping for are shut, or operating at a minimum level so all housekeeping staff and restaurant staff are furloughed. She did temp work in bars as well. Bars are closed. Some are doing takeaways, but mostly pubs are closed, so their staff are furloughed. I'm not sure anyone would claim that housekeeping and bar staff are middle class, would they? My sister certainly isn't, she survives on minimum wage most of the time, with changeable hours.

Medical staff are another group I seem to know a lot of, not quite sure why, maybe location. Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, speech therapists, etc. They are all at work, physically, getting close to their patients. They seem pretty middle class to me, but they may well be seeing fewer patients than normal, maybe that counts as hiding away (does hiding in a hospital make you safer?).

Yes, there are a lot of middle class jobs that let people hide away working from home. And yes, there are a lot of working class jobs that can't be done from home. I wish there was more I could do to make those working class jobs safer. Is there a campaign running anywhere to try to make them safer? I know any deliveries I get are contact free at our end, they've disappeared to the end of the drive before I've opened the door. Is there a way to make the depot end safer? What about factories? I haven't been in one since I left my temp job in one about 25 years ago. Each factory must be different in their set up and how easy/difficult it would be to increase distance between staff and ventilation to improve safety.

I would really like to support any campaigns to make working class jobs safer!!!!

Hell already be hated for being male and pale anyway. He might as well be hated, and rich!

Isn’t this due to govt failure to protect both working and middle class people, inadequate workplace inspections/fines plus inadequate support for those with low wages?

I read a paper on poverty in Scotland (by the Poverty Commission) published September 2020 acknowledging that people doing manual work on low income are the most likely to die from Covid, staying this is partly because they had roles which were carried out out of the home. Higher earners are far more likely to be able to WFH, as well as have access to better nutrition and healthier environment, so yes, there is truth to it.

[quote trulydelicious]@mysonsnose

My son however probably will be seen as a through and through middle class person because of how he will be brought up

You know once he finally jumps class he will be subject to hate by the likes of the OP and will be made to feel guilty for his 'privilege'?[/quote]
Hell already be hated for being male and pale anyway. He might as well be hated, and rich!

We are wc and have deliveries, in fact not even working atm.
Why add to the spread when you can have stuff delivered.
Although, click and collect is good for stores offereing it.

Right from the start of the March lockdown I thought this.

In our ‘nice’ village lots of middle class teens and young people who had PT minimum wage jobs were pulled out pretty much overnight by their middle class parents who deemed the £7.50 an hour they were making not acceptable in comparison to the risk of catching covid.

‘Oh yes Reuben is really missing his little Sainsbury’s job but it just wasn’t worth the risk and we wanted to limit our exposure as much as possible. He understands of course but it’s so hard for the kids isn’t it?’

So Reuben has been safely sat at home avoiding covid and eating his parents weekly Ocado orders whilst regular adults reliant on their supermarket jobs still go in every day.

You know once he finally jumps class he will be subject to hate by the likes of the OP and will be made to feel guilty for his 'privilege'?

Let me find a tiny little violin

@TheKeatingFive

Then I noticed my Hermes driver still out and about doing deliveries and remembered he gets paid per delivery, so would have lost a lot of money if everyone did like me

The point being made is why wasn’t he furloughed, like everyone else whose jobs put them/others at risk?

There were ‘essential’ deliveries to be done, for sure - and people needed to service those.

But there have been tonnes of goods produced and delivered that were not essential by any stretch of the imagination.

I should think he is self-employed. Most of the delivery drivers with plain vans are. Maybe he could get the self-employment grant, but I can't know that without knowing what his accounting situation was etc (it is stricter than furlough with a lot of conditions).

So the fact remains that he needed the deliveries to continue to earn his income.

When you say 'working class' how are you defining that? I don't earn a lot but can WFH. Confused ...

We are not hiding. We don't have a choice. Sick of being made to feel bad about rules imposed on me. I have lost my job, my husband is WFH, we are not hiding but have been told to stay home!!!!