7 ms·

“I did spend 9 years as a manager at a pizza place”

aerovistae 7y ago
I used to love the US and I came out of the 2010s hating it instead. Sigh.
- pstuart 7y ago
  It is an insane asylum, but we're not all crazy here. That said, it is crazy-making watching it crumble from the inside.
ethanbond 7y ago
This title could be better. Maybe "I spent 9 years as a manager at a pizza place... Nobody in the restaurant industry goes to the doctor when they're sick"? Or just the latter half? Much more informative than the first half.
- SilasX 7y ago
  Ditto. [1] HN seems to have a bizarre tolerance for cryptic headlines. (And the low character limit doesn't help.) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22519541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22519541
WilliamEdward 7y ago
One of the things that will shake up the US elections and put the entire country at risk is the fact that healthcare is so expensive. If you cannot get treated for coronavirus, you can expect the number of cases to spread and skyrocket.
- Consultant32452 7y ago
  I don't want to downplay the financial concerns but in the US we expect every hospital bed to be full by mid May. Many of those beds lack proper isolation for infectious disease, and we'll have run out of proper PPE supplies for healthcare workers, meaning many of those workers will cycle out of commission. Unfortunately every country is in a similar situation. People are going to go without appropriate care regardless of copays. Helping people cover out of pocket expenses is the easy problem to solve. https://twitter.com/LizSpecht/status/1236095180459003909?s=20 https://twitter.com/LizSpecht/status/1236095180459003909?s=2...
  - WilliamEdward 7y ago
    This is beyond simply getting a hospital bed, really. If people can't even stay at home because they're forced to make money, or they cant afford proper medication, well you get the idea.
  - maxerickson 7y ago
    That's an engineer extrapolating from an assumed doubling time. It's not an absurd scenario, the doubling time is from studies of other countries, but there's also no accounting for public health measures and individual behavior. Things like reducing time spent in groups (school, church, events) have a considerable impact on infection rates. The small number of cases in Hong Kong provides good evidence that such measure work.
  - heartbeats 7y ago
    > Undeserved panic does no one any good. But neither does ill-informed complacency. It’s wrong to assuage the public by saying “only 2% will die.” People aren’t adequately grasping the national and global systemic burden wrought by this swift-moving of a disease. 23/n Isn't the best approach then to do nothing? To be blunt here: if what she's saying is true, most of the vulnerable groups are going to die anyway. So why not just ignore it completely, and spend the healthcare resources on other stuff? I mean, if the choices are: 1. 2% of the population dies and the healthcare system and economy collapses completely 2. 2 + ε% of the population dies Then the second option is arguably preferable.
    - Consultant32452 7y ago
      I believe the unspoken plan is to let it happen but try to let it slow roll through the population at a rate I would describe as a controlled disaster. That's why planes are still flying except to the worst spots.
mabbo 7y ago
When people ask me why I moved back to Canada from the USA, knowing I'd be paid less and have higher taxes, I often have a hard time articulating what the difference is between the two countries. Why I prefer to live here. This thread sums it up nicely. No matter how down-on-my-luck I get back in Canada, I will always have a safety net. I can always walk into a hospital and be treated. I can take time off when I'm sick. I get time off if I have a kid. It's the law here and not just best effort by employers. It's for everyone and not just the rich.
- strathmeyer 7y ago
  Is it is big thing in America now to claim we don't have things we do like time off when we are sick or hospitals to treat us? What on earth is this post about??
  - gameswithgo 7y ago
    are you being obtuse intentionally? in the usa the hospital will send you a bill, thst is often ruinous
  - ethanbond 7y ago
    Umm, not everyone gets time off when they're sick. Did you read the linked thread? Many more people can't actually afford to go to a hospital without incurring irresponsible financial burden. Regardless of whether this is the "correct" decision by whatever calculation you do, there are plenty, plenty of people who arrive at the conclusion that they cannot afford to take work off and cannot afford to go to the hospital. Unfortunately many of those same people occupy "high centrality" nodes in our society - they handle food, they deliver packages, they operate or take mass transit, they clean homes/workplaces/restaurants, etc.
  - DubiousPusher 7y ago
    Lots of people in America don't have sick leave. Lots of people in America can't afford treatment for illness until they have to go to the emergency room.
  - throwlaplace 7y ago
Ghjklov 7y ago
I vouched for this post, as it's something that people need to be more aware of. While many people here can remote into their tech job, there are many people who simply do not have such privilege, and those are often the people who make your food and drinks. I too have mostly worked food service jobs, out of a job and looking for one now, and as soon as coronavirus hit the news, I knew that I would be eating out a lot less now because what the Twitter posts describe are completely accurate from my experience. I lived it.
- DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
  thanks for vouching :) not sure what happened here. I stepped away and this blew up, so I was also unable to change the title into something better. no idea though why this gets flagged (several times).
alexashka 7y ago
This will boil down to the cost of a human life at the end of the day, not unlike the speed limit debate where we know cars kill a bunch of people every year, and yet people want to get places 5 minutes faster. Historically, the cost of a human life has mostly been low but was offset by a sense of community. We've gotten rid of community by allowing people to migrate in large numbers. Migrate from state to state, from country to country, from job to job, from marriage to marriage, from casual sex partner to casual sex partner. All this migration makes it difficult to create lifelong bonds and without those, you really are screwed in the ways the twitter thread describes. It's uncomfortable and our current political and mass media setup makes it impossible to have long form conversations on these topics - so I just don't know how things can possibly get better for the average citizen. Sad.
- geofft 7y ago
  On the other hand, allowing people to migrate from marriage to marriage lets them create lifelong bonds that actually help them when their first partner turns out to be callous and uncaring. And there's nothing forcing people to migrate if they're happy with their current community. It's true that the old system was better for some people - e.g., callous and uncaring partners got to have someone obligated to keep taking care of them. I suppose it's a tradeoff.
- caconym_ 7y ago
  I think you're confusing "allowing people to do what they want" with "institutionalizing socioeconomic factors that push people apart and keep them there". When you have to drive 2 hours each way to and from the city every day to work your minimum-wage janitorial job in a tech office, how much time do you have left over to help build a community? When you're stressed to the breaking point, staring down the barrels of a hundred different problems without the money and/or time to solve all of them, depressed and anxious and not sleeping, how much time and energy do you have left over to build a community? These problems stem from the same root as those described in OP's link: a government that doesn't care about its citizenry, and corporations taking advantage of that fact to squeeze workers for all they're worth in order to enrich a very few at the top. But sure, let's prevent people from seeking better opportunities outside of their current abusive relationships with individuals and corporations. Great—that'll really level the playing field. I think you really hit the nail on the head!
sysbin 7y ago
USA taught me how little people can have as basic rights and because they think of "equality" without factoring in financial status; since they think everyone earns what they get in life. Majority of US is religious. So, I can see why people aren't demanding basic necessities for a decent quality of life and when that would make them feel they haven't earned success. Knowing the forgoing makes me believe something like loss of life from the coronavirus could possibly be what's needed to get people rallying for change. Otherwise the mentality will continue of I will get mine some day and before then I don't want things to change because I'll get rich eventually.
geofft 7y ago
This is the big reason I think we need to figure out as a society how to make it possible for everyone to keep a roof over their head and food on their plates even if they don't work at all. The question of whether lazy people will take advantage of the system is not a life-or-death question. The life-or-death question is whether highly motivated and desperate people will take risks they shouldn't because we make them take those risks.
- donatj 7y ago
  I am a highly motivated person, yet if I could keep my home and health without working I would stop working day 1. I would target my motivation at things I personally care about that don't help the economy in the least. My art, woodworking, finishing my stack of books. I am certainly not alone. This is why I think there needs to be some level of threat of destitution to keep society functional. Without it, this all falls apart.
  - geofft 7y ago
    What sort of things would you target your motivation towards? Would they be valuable for humanity? Is "the economy" really the right barometer? (edit: I see you added this - I think those are valuable for humanity! I wish you could spend your time on art and woodworking!) Personally, I spend a lot of my time keeping a hedge fund's computers working, because they pay me well for it (and I want to not only avoid destitution now, I want savings to avoid destitution in the future). I spend about zero time on any of my open-source projects, which would be more valuable for humanity as a whole, but I can't figure out how to get paid the same amount (or really anything) working on them. And I know my projects are valuable to the economy too - I arrived at this job to find that another team was doing a big migration onto a project I maintain (and haven't had much time for). I didn't know this in advance, and they didn't know I was joining their company. Besides - it's okay if many people lose their motivation to work, as long as enough people still work from intrinsic motivation. And you'd still have the motivation of needing to earn money for luxuries. Once you finish your stack of books, the survival stipend wouldn't cover buying any more books.
Waterluvian 7y ago
I feel that events like this are the "time to pay the piper" moments with what's wrong with American society. But don't expect to see the price paid. I expect to see a bail out in one form or another to kick the can down the road. It also reminds me that "Canada is like America put through a low pass filter." We have pretty much the same situation, but with milder extremes. When I worked in a kitchen I did see injuries and sickness get handled more properly because a doctors visit is free and employment insurance is a thing, so they still got paid for being off work. But I also saw the same issues with "you don't get paid if you don't show up" so people worked through short term illnesses. I saw someone step in a pot of scalding chicken broth/fat because they were so fatigued and the idiot who placed it on the floor was sick and fatigued and was skipping steps. To each their own opinion but as I get older (and indeed pay a crap ton more taxes) I'm becoming increasingly convinced that we need more socialism. This twitter thread is a great example of how we can all suffer when the most vulnerable of us suffers. I say socialism because I believe we need a baseline safety net where, "if you're not conributing, at the very least you're not doing harm." I've met a lot of people where I think "honestly I would rather you just stay out of the way." I think that's the hardest part. We have a culture of absolutely despising the idea of free lunches and free loaders.
- 1123581321 7y ago
  The US has unemployment insurance, but it only covers job loss (the employer typically provides the paid sick leave or workers pay a company like Aflac a small premium in their paychecks to gain it.) Are you saying a Canadian worker would file to claim the EI benefit of one day at the doctor? It appears to be more of an extended illness employment insurance benefit (up to 15 weeks.)
- lapnitnelav 7y ago
  I think America is anything but a society, more a bunch of folks that happen to be sharing the same tract of land, compared to other cultures. Hyper-individualism has its shortcomings and as you framed it, the piper has come to collect the money and there's been a lot interest owed. Hope we are wrong but wouldn't hold my breath. Disclaimer, haven't set foot in the US yet so I'm only extrapolating from what I have been able to observe from far away.
SilasX 7y ago
How did submitter conclude that "I did spend 9 years as a manager at a pizza place” is a relevant excerpt that could be used as the title? The thread is about concerns about health care policy and food service labor practices encourage the spread of viruses, if you want a heads-up.
heartbeats 7y ago
The incentives really are not in place. He's just scratching the surface of the rabbit hole. If quarantines become compulsory, the situation will be even worse. Imagine people actively covering up their symptoms and lying to doctors. It would be complete pandemonium. The title is not great. I would suggest "I spent 9 years at a pizza place, and I'm terrified of COVID-19."
remote_phone 7y ago
It’s in the best interest of restaurant owners to keep their customers safe and to monitor employees of sickness. Unfortunately I doubt they have the foresight to do this, because they’re probably living on the edge as well. But one incidence of coronavirus at their restaurant and their traffic will go to 0 immediately. The owner will go bankrupt almost overnight. Word travels extremely fast these days, especially over social media. For example I just heard that Stanford hospital has a dozen confirmed coronavirus patients there. If a restaurant has a worker diagnosed no one will go there immediately. A lot of restaurants are going to go bankrupt over the next 2-3 months unfortunately.
- heartbeats 7y ago
  No, it's in the best interest of restaurant owners that there are no documented incidences of coronavirus at their restaurant. To spell it out: if a manager knows someone has the virus, they will fire them. Therefore, the infected will try to cover it up. This will be the case even if healthcare is free.
- raverbashing 7y ago
  Agreed, but that's IF they manage to identify the source to the restaurant Which is not such an easy task as it seems
- dfdfdsfds 7y ago
  Think about Las Vegas.. Wonder why not many reported cases there?
ApicalDendrite 7y ago
There are a lot of regional differences within the US. In Massachusetts, it's a lot better than this: * MA has 40 hours of mandatory paid sick leave a year * Assuming that your employer doesn't offer health insurance, if you're a single person making minimum wage in MA, working 40 hours a week, you qualify for ConnectorCare, with $15 co-pays for primary care visits and no deductible. There's a $82/month premium, but you'd also qualify for a $276/month tax credit. There are still plenty of situations where a person making minimum wage wouldn't be able to afford a doctor's visit. For instance, if you miss paying your premiums your health insurance can be canceled. Or you could be working for an employer that offers health insurance, but with a high deductible. However, the situation here is a lot less bleak than the thread - for many people here working in the fast food industry a doctor's visit and a week's time off are affordable.
- wasdfff 7y ago
  Sick leave should be unlimited. Have the employee skype a nurse for 10 minutes if you think they are faking it.
wwweston 7y ago
Don't miss the re-tweet down farther in the thread: "I'm an epidemiologist. For 5 years I was specifically a flu/respiratory virus epidemiologist. I was asked on multiple occasions what I thought was the most effective thing we could do to improve the severity of flu season. That's an easy answer. Universal paid sick leave." https://twitter.com/Just_Eleanora/status/1233030130345246720 https://twitter.com/Just_Eleanora/status/1233030130345246720
foogazi 7y ago
After reading this I think I’m going to skip restaurants & fast food for a while
blartdfdsfsd 7y ago
You are all complaining about the system in the US but don't realize it is INTENTIONAL. A pure capitalist society doesn't want Sick Poor People who cant work. You are a drain on the wealth generation engine. Old Sick Poor people are even worse. Check out the Stanford Study https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/11/geography-income-play-roles-in-life-expectancy-new-stanford-research-shows/ https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/11/geography-income-play-r...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

I used to love the US and I came out of the 2010s hating it instead. Sigh.

pstuart 7y ago
It is an insane asylum, but we're not all crazy here. That said, it is crazy-making watching it crumble from the inside.

This title could be better. Maybe "I spent 9 years as a manager at a pizza place... Nobody in the restaurant industry goes to the doctor when they're sick"? Or just the latter half? Much more informative than the first half.

SilasX 7y ago
Ditto. [1] HN seems to have a bizarre tolerance for cryptic headlines. (And the low character limit doesn't help.) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22519541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22519541

WilliamEdward 7y ago

One of the things that will shake up the US elections and put the entire country at risk is the fact that healthcare is so expensive. If you cannot get treated for coronavirus, you can expect the number of cases to spread and skyrocket.

Consultant32452 7y ago
I don't want to downplay the financial concerns but in the US we expect every hospital bed to be full by mid May. Many of those beds lack proper isolation for infectious disease, and we'll have run out of proper PPE supplies for healthcare workers, meaning many of those workers will cycle out of commission. Unfortunately every country is in a similar situation. People are going to go without appropriate care regardless of copays. Helping people cover out of pocket expenses is the easy problem to solve. https://twitter.com/LizSpecht/status/1236095180459003909?s=20 https://twitter.com/LizSpecht/status/1236095180459003909?s=2...
- WilliamEdward 7y ago
  This is beyond simply getting a hospital bed, really. If people can't even stay at home because they're forced to make money, or they cant afford proper medication, well you get the idea.
- maxerickson 7y ago
  That's an engineer extrapolating from an assumed doubling time. It's not an absurd scenario, the doubling time is from studies of other countries, but there's also no accounting for public health measures and individual behavior. Things like reducing time spent in groups (school, church, events) have a considerable impact on infection rates. The small number of cases in Hong Kong provides good evidence that such measure work.
- heartbeats 7y ago
  > Undeserved panic does no one any good. But neither does ill-informed complacency. It’s wrong to assuage the public by saying “only 2% will die.” People aren’t adequately grasping the national and global systemic burden wrought by this swift-moving of a disease. 23/n Isn't the best approach then to do nothing? To be blunt here: if what she's saying is true, most of the vulnerable groups are going to die anyway. So why not just ignore it completely, and spend the healthcare resources on other stuff? I mean, if the choices are: 1. 2% of the population dies and the healthcare system and economy collapses completely 2. 2 + ε% of the population dies Then the second option is arguably preferable.
  - Consultant32452 7y ago
    I believe the unspoken plan is to let it happen but try to let it slow roll through the population at a rate I would describe as a controlled disaster. That's why planes are still flying except to the worst spots.

mabbo 7y ago

When people ask me why I moved back to Canada from the USA, knowing I'd be paid less and have higher taxes, I often have a hard time articulating what the difference is between the two countries. Why I prefer to live here. This thread sums it up nicely. No matter how down-on-my-luck I get back in Canada, I will always have a safety net. I can always walk into a hospital and be treated. I can take time off when I'm sick. I get time off if I have a kid. It's the law here and not just best effort by employers. It's for everyone and not just the rich.

strathmeyer 7y ago
Is it is big thing in America now to claim we don't have things we do like time off when we are sick or hospitals to treat us? What on earth is this post about??
- gameswithgo 7y ago
  are you being obtuse intentionally? in the usa the hospital will send you a bill, thst is often ruinous
- ethanbond 7y ago
  Umm, not everyone gets time off when they're sick. Did you read the linked thread? Many more people can't actually afford to go to a hospital without incurring irresponsible financial burden. Regardless of whether this is the "correct" decision by whatever calculation you do, there are plenty, plenty of people who arrive at the conclusion that they cannot afford to take work off and cannot afford to go to the hospital. Unfortunately many of those same people occupy "high centrality" nodes in our society - they handle food, they deliver packages, they operate or take mass transit, they clean homes/workplaces/restaurants, etc.
- DubiousPusher 7y ago
  Lots of people in America don't have sick leave. Lots of people in America can't afford treatment for illness until they have to go to the emergency room.
- throwlaplace 7y ago

Ghjklov 7y ago

I vouched for this post, as it's something that people need to be more aware of. While many people here can remote into their tech job, there are many people who simply do not have such privilege, and those are often the people who make your food and drinks. I too have mostly worked food service jobs, out of a job and looking for one now, and as soon as coronavirus hit the news, I knew that I would be eating out a lot less now because what the Twitter posts describe are completely accurate from my experience. I lived it.

DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
thanks for vouching :) not sure what happened here. I stepped away and this blew up, so I was also unable to change the title into something better. no idea though why this gets flagged (several times).

alexashka 7y ago

This will boil down to the cost of a human life at the end of the day, not unlike the speed limit debate where we know cars kill a bunch of people every year, and yet people want to get places 5 minutes faster. Historically, the cost of a human life has mostly been low but was offset by a sense of community. We've gotten rid of community by allowing people to migrate in large numbers. Migrate from state to state, from country to country, from job to job, from marriage to marriage, from casual sex partner to casual sex partner. All this migration makes it difficult to create lifelong bonds and without those, you really are screwed in the ways the twitter thread describes. It's uncomfortable and our current political and mass media setup makes it impossible to have long form conversations on these topics - so I just don't know how things can possibly get better for the average citizen. Sad.

geofft 7y ago
On the other hand, allowing people to migrate from marriage to marriage lets them create lifelong bonds that actually help them when their first partner turns out to be callous and uncaring. And there's nothing forcing people to migrate if they're happy with their current community. It's true that the old system was better for some people - e.g., callous and uncaring partners got to have someone obligated to keep taking care of them. I suppose it's a tradeoff.
caconym_ 7y ago
I think you're confusing "allowing people to do what they want" with "institutionalizing socioeconomic factors that push people apart and keep them there". When you have to drive 2 hours each way to and from the city every day to work your minimum-wage janitorial job in a tech office, how much time do you have left over to help build a community? When you're stressed to the breaking point, staring down the barrels of a hundred different problems without the money and/or time to solve all of them, depressed and anxious and not sleeping, how much time and energy do you have left over to build a community? These problems stem from the same root as those described in OP's link: a government that doesn't care about its citizenry, and corporations taking advantage of that fact to squeeze workers for all they're worth in order to enrich a very few at the top. But sure, let's prevent people from seeking better opportunities outside of their current abusive relationships with individuals and corporations. Great—that'll really level the playing field. I think you really hit the nail on the head!

sysbin 7y ago

USA taught me how little people can have as basic rights and because they think of "equality" without factoring in financial status; since they think everyone earns what they get in life. Majority of US is religious. So, I can see why people aren't demanding basic necessities for a decent quality of life and when that would make them feel they haven't earned success. Knowing the forgoing makes me believe something like loss of life from the coronavirus could possibly be what's needed to get people rallying for change. Otherwise the mentality will continue of I will get mine some day and before then I don't want things to change because I'll get rich eventually.

geofft 7y ago

This is the big reason I think we need to figure out as a society how to make it possible for everyone to keep a roof over their head and food on their plates even if they don't work at all. The question of whether lazy people will take advantage of the system is not a life-or-death question. The life-or-death question is whether highly motivated and desperate people will take risks they shouldn't because we make them take those risks.

donatj 7y ago
I am a highly motivated person, yet if I could keep my home and health without working I would stop working day 1. I would target my motivation at things I personally care about that don't help the economy in the least. My art, woodworking, finishing my stack of books. I am certainly not alone. This is why I think there needs to be some level of threat of destitution to keep society functional. Without it, this all falls apart.
- geofft 7y ago
  What sort of things would you target your motivation towards? Would they be valuable for humanity? Is "the economy" really the right barometer? (edit: I see you added this - I think those are valuable for humanity! I wish you could spend your time on art and woodworking!) Personally, I spend a lot of my time keeping a hedge fund's computers working, because they pay me well for it (and I want to not only avoid destitution now, I want savings to avoid destitution in the future). I spend about zero time on any of my open-source projects, which would be more valuable for humanity as a whole, but I can't figure out how to get paid the same amount (or really anything) working on them. And I know my projects are valuable to the economy too - I arrived at this job to find that another team was doing a big migration onto a project I maintain (and haven't had much time for). I didn't know this in advance, and they didn't know I was joining their company. Besides - it's okay if many people lose their motivation to work, as long as enough people still work from intrinsic motivation. And you'd still have the motivation of needing to earn money for luxuries. Once you finish your stack of books, the survival stipend wouldn't cover buying any more books.

Waterluvian 7y ago

I feel that events like this are the "time to pay the piper" moments with what's wrong with American society. But don't expect to see the price paid. I expect to see a bail out in one form or another to kick the can down the road. It also reminds me that "Canada is like America put through a low pass filter." We have pretty much the same situation, but with milder extremes. When I worked in a kitchen I did see injuries and sickness get handled more properly because a doctors visit is free and employment insurance is a thing, so they still got paid for being off work. But I also saw the same issues with "you don't get paid if you don't show up" so people worked through short term illnesses. I saw someone step in a pot of scalding chicken broth/fat because they were so fatigued and the idiot who placed it on the floor was sick and fatigued and was skipping steps. To each their own opinion but as I get older (and indeed pay a crap ton more taxes) I'm becoming increasingly convinced that we need more socialism. This twitter thread is a great example of how we can all suffer when the most vulnerable of us suffers. I say socialism because I believe we need a baseline safety net where, "if you're not conributing, at the very least you're not doing harm." I've met a lot of people where I think "honestly I would rather you just stay out of the way." I think that's the hardest part. We have a culture of absolutely despising the idea of free lunches and free loaders.

1123581321 7y ago
The US has unemployment insurance, but it only covers job loss (the employer typically provides the paid sick leave or workers pay a company like Aflac a small premium in their paychecks to gain it.) Are you saying a Canadian worker would file to claim the EI benefit of one day at the doctor? It appears to be more of an extended illness employment insurance benefit (up to 15 weeks.)
lapnitnelav 7y ago
I think America is anything but a society, more a bunch of folks that happen to be sharing the same tract of land, compared to other cultures. Hyper-individualism has its shortcomings and as you framed it, the piper has come to collect the money and there's been a lot interest owed. Hope we are wrong but wouldn't hold my breath. Disclaimer, haven't set foot in the US yet so I'm only extrapolating from what I have been able to observe from far away.

SilasX 7y ago

How did submitter conclude that "I did spend 9 years as a manager at a pizza place” is a relevant excerpt that could be used as the title? The thread is about concerns about health care policy and food service labor practices encourage the spread of viruses, if you want a heads-up.

heartbeats 7y ago

The incentives really are not in place. He's just scratching the surface of the rabbit hole. If quarantines become compulsory, the situation will be even worse. Imagine people actively covering up their symptoms and lying to doctors. It would be complete pandemonium. The title is not great. I would suggest "I spent 9 years at a pizza place, and I'm terrified of COVID-19."

remote_phone 7y ago

It’s in the best interest of restaurant owners to keep their customers safe and to monitor employees of sickness. Unfortunately I doubt they have the foresight to do this, because they’re probably living on the edge as well. But one incidence of coronavirus at their restaurant and their traffic will go to 0 immediately. The owner will go bankrupt almost overnight. Word travels extremely fast these days, especially over social media. For example I just heard that Stanford hospital has a dozen confirmed coronavirus patients there. If a restaurant has a worker diagnosed no one will go there immediately. A lot of restaurants are going to go bankrupt over the next 2-3 months unfortunately.

heartbeats 7y ago
No, it's in the best interest of restaurant owners that there are no documented incidences of coronavirus at their restaurant. To spell it out: if a manager knows someone has the virus, they will fire them. Therefore, the infected will try to cover it up. This will be the case even if healthcare is free.
raverbashing 7y ago
Agreed, but that's IF they manage to identify the source to the restaurant Which is not such an easy task as it seems
dfdfdsfds 7y ago
Think about Las Vegas.. Wonder why not many reported cases there?

ApicalDendrite 7y ago

There are a lot of regional differences within the US. In Massachusetts, it's a lot better than this: * MA has 40 hours of mandatory paid sick leave a year * Assuming that your employer doesn't offer health insurance, if you're a single person making minimum wage in MA, working 40 hours a week, you qualify for ConnectorCare, with $15 co-pays for primary care visits and no deductible. There's a $82/month premium, but you'd also qualify for a $276/month tax credit. There are still plenty of situations where a person making minimum wage wouldn't be able to afford a doctor's visit. For instance, if you miss paying your premiums your health insurance can be canceled. Or you could be working for an employer that offers health insurance, but with a high deductible. However, the situation here is a lot less bleak than the thread - for many people here working in the fast food industry a doctor's visit and a week's time off are affordable.

wasdfff 7y ago
Sick leave should be unlimited. Have the employee skype a nurse for 10 minutes if you think they are faking it.

wwweston 7y ago

Don't miss the re-tweet down farther in the thread: "I'm an epidemiologist. For 5 years I was specifically a flu/respiratory virus epidemiologist. I was asked on multiple occasions what I thought was the most effective thing we could do to improve the severity of flu season. That's an easy answer. Universal paid sick leave." https://twitter.com/Just_Eleanora/status/1233030130345246720 https://twitter.com/Just_Eleanora/status/1233030130345246720

foogazi 7y ago

After reading this I think I’m going to skip restaurants & fast food for a while

blartdfdsfsd 7y ago

You are all complaining about the system in the US but don't realize it is INTENTIONAL. A pure capitalist society doesn't want Sick Poor People who cant work. You are a drain on the wealth generation engine. Old Sick Poor people are even worse. Check out the Stanford Study https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/11/geography-income-play-roles-in-life-expectancy-new-stanford-research-shows/ https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/11/geography-income-play-r...

deleted 7y ago

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