I’m Essential

What it is like being told to work in a city that is locked down.

It was a surreal thing to read online: Mecklenburg County was enacting a shelter at home order for three weeks. I’d seen it coming; as coronavirus cases rose in my city, it was inevitable. We had to stop people from going out and spreading the virus at all costs.

What was equally surreal- but not at all surprising- was the text message I got from my employer mere minutes later.

Now, I get texts from my supervisor now and then, but never from my employer. Texts directly from my company are sent for one reason: emergencies. The only time I got a text prior to this week was when we had tornado warnings popping up a couple months ago. That text had told me we were operating under adverse weather conditions and that I didn’t have to come in if it wasn’t safe to do so.

This week’s text told me something different: my job is considered “essential” and therefore I was expected to come to work regardless of the shelter order.

I’m not going to name names, but I work in the financial industry. I get that my job is, actually, essential. I’m a customer-facing employee, what we call the front lines. I’m who our customers are going to reach out to during this crisis. I- as well as the thousands of others who perform similar jobs to mine- need to be there, now more than ever, to help our customers who are experiencing hardships due to this ongoing pandemic. I get that. But it’s no less…