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It's unfortunate that "essential" became the label for shelter-in-place-exempt jobs, because it implies that non-exempt jobs are frivolous. That implication ha

It's unfortunate that "essential" became the label for shelter-in-place-exempt jobs, because it implies that non-exempt jobs are frivolous. That implication has become a meme - you even hear the usually-well-reasoned Jon Stewart barking about how the pandemic has uncovered who's actually essential and how poorly they're paid. I'm glad that the coffee shop can stay open for the sake of everyone involved, but I think we can all agree the world would be worse off if Google didn't exist. The ability to build a search engine (or any other piece of the Internet) from home doesn't preclude its ability to be fundamental infrastructure for our lives. I know your point is more nuanced than that, and I know it's true: some jobs aren't very productive. But it also points to this false dichotomy of essential vs frivolous jobs that seems to be shortcutting a lot of people's ability to reason about the economy right now, so I thought it was worth tagging-on to your comment to point that out.

bitwize 6y ago
> That implication has become a meme - you even hear the usually-well-reasoned Jon Stewart barking about how the pandemic has uncovered who's actually essential and how poorly they're paid. This is the closest we've come to an exploitable global crisis that could serve to precipitate the long-hoped-for revolution. Do not expect even the well-reasoned to leave it on the table.
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
> I think we can all agree the world would be worse off if Google didn't exist Very, very strong disagree. Though I do agree with the general concept here that many essential jobs can be done from home. I also think many companies chose to use their "essential" status to drag people to the office who should've stayed home. Management personnel by and large should've stayed home even when line jobs had to be done on-site. HR, finance, etc. are great examples of staff that should work from home even at an "essential" business, that I often found did not switch to WFH during stay-at-home orders. Many essential businesses could have half their staff working from home and continue essential services, but many would just say their business doesn't work remote and call it good.

bitwize 6y ago

> That implication has become a meme - you even hear the usually-well-reasoned Jon Stewart barking about how the pandemic has uncovered who's actually essential and how poorly they're paid. This is the closest we've come to an exploitable global crisis that could serve to precipitate the long-hoped-for revolution. Do not expect even the well-reasoned to leave it on the table.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

> I think we can all agree the world would be worse off if Google didn't exist Very, very strong disagree. Though I do agree with the general concept here that many essential jobs can be done from home. I also think many companies chose to use their "essential" status to drag people to the office who should've stayed home. Management personnel by and large should've stayed home even when line jobs had to be done on-site. HR, finance, etc. are great examples of staff that should work from home even at an "essential" business, that I often found did not switch to WFH during stay-at-home orders. Many essential businesses could have half their staff working from home and continue essential services, but many would just say their business doesn't work remote and call it good.