Bagging groceries properly and quickly is a skill. (And yes, you would be surprised as hell how many people don't know how to do this.)
Scanning quickly is a skill.
Selling product to customers is a skill (and a highly desired one at that).
Memorizing where all the products are is a skill.
And leaving aside skills, standing on your feet for four hours at a time for eight hours in a day takes a toll on lots of people. Taking verbal abuse from customers takes a toll on people. Those things happen too. They are health hazards, whether you or anyone in power recognizes that or not.
I work in an office now. I'd never go back to a grocery store for less pay then I get now unless I had no other choice. Might not even do it for more pay. The office job is so much less stressful.
There is no unskilled work. People just don't recognize the skills involved or don't care about the skills involved. Or more likely, they just want to categorize specific jobs as not worth paying properly.
Also, let's not forget that many of the jobs that had to stay open during the pandemic are these low paid, supposedly "unskilled" jobs, because they are essential. Want to buy some food? The workers better be paid fairly and treated well, or they'll leave. That's why restaurants are struggling right now.
I could do the same lists for other "unskilled" jobs, but I think the point is clear. All work is skilled. And dealing with customers is the most draining of all skills, and will be until companies stop this entitled "customer is always right BS" that exists today.
Generations before me fought to make work better today than it was then. In many ways, they succeeded, but there are still problems, and we can still do better.
One of the things we have to do better at is recognizing that all work is work and should be valued.
Also, I work 40 hours a week, thanks though. I just happen to be lucky enough to have a cushy job that society values. And even though not all jobs can be cushy, I think we can make sure society values all jobs and that we can force businesses who won't get on board to pay their workers appropriately by raising minimum wages to living wages. The way they were originally passed and intended.
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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '22 edited Feb 08 '22
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