The New Front Line

It’s official: 2020 is the most challenging year the service industry has seen in our collective lifetimes. The novel Coronavirus has thrown us into complete turmoil. If shuttering our beloved businesses wasn’t painful enough, many Twin Cities restaurants also suffered complete loss or damage from riots. It’s been a heartbreaking year for all of us.

We have always been a resilient, tough industry where hard work and sacrifice are rewarded. In these challenging times, we are faced with the fight of our lives.

During the devastating shutdowns and quarantines of 2020, the service industry has been tasked with following, and adhering to, multiple changing restrictions. This myriad of regulations has placed the industry in an almost unwinnable position. Have you ever watched a cat chase a laser pointer? It requires a lot of energy, and the illusion that there’s actually something to catch is the only reason to keep moving. Our industry leaders are exhausted and tired of the game.

First responders and medical personnel are commonly placed on the front line when it comes to defending and protecting citizens from threat. What is unprecedented is the unwinnable position service industry staff is now placed in, as they are forced to become “Covid Cops” to an often-resistant general public. Ask anyone in the business these days, and they will tell you their jobs on “The New Front Line” are more stressful than they’ve ever been.

The Customer Isn’t Always Right

I was 16 when I got my first job as a waitress. I didn’t know much about anything back then, but one thing I was told right away is that the customer is always right and not to argue with them. Talking back to a customer is a sure-fire way to get yourself in trouble as a server. Just ask my myriad of bosses over the years and they’ll tell you that is something I always struggled with.

Things are different since the pandemic. We don’t like these regulations any more than anyone else. We are being pushed to the point of breaking, and we certainly don’t have it in us to get into a debate about the efficacy of mask usage or what we think about Governor Walz. The tables have turned, and refusing to wear a mask will get you kicked out of most restaurants these days. After all, we are at 50% capacity if we’re even allowed to be open! A person who treats the staff with respect is waiting for the spot currently being occupied by a potential covid-carrier whose tantrum is making the whole restaurant uncomfortable. It’s not hard to see what the right choice is.

Keep Our Chins Up

Let me make it clear that I am speaking to myself as much as the rest of you when I remind you to keep it positive. Like most of us, I have had periods of extreme grief, anxiety and depression as a result of the Great 2020 Dumpster Fire. Bursting into tears while mixing meatloaf for dinner would have been uncommon in my previous life, but under the current circumstances it seems normal.

Positivity and the pursuit of wellness are more important than they’ve ever been. I have a “wellness checklist” on a chalkboard in my bedroom. It reminds me to take my vitamins and turn on my sun lamp and do art and exercise. Even on the days I’m too exhausted to get out of bed, the chalkboard is there to remind me to take care of myself. The chilling, bony grip of depression has crushed me before, and I refuse to let it happen again.

We are all swimming upstream right now and sometimes we feel like we are drowning, but there will come a day when the storm will pass, the waters will calm, and we will be able to float with the current again. I look forward to that day, and will be here with you all until then.

Cheers,

Sarah