I don't work at Foot Locker, but I work at a retail store. I don't want the windows that I have Windexed broken. I don't want the shelves that I have organized, cleaned and stocked knocked over. I don't want the merchandise that I have taken care of, ticketed and mentally inventoried destroyed, stolen or strewn all over the place. I don't want the cash register that I count at the end of every shift taken to finance fun for people who are exploiting an unnecessary tragedy that has been compounded by self-righteous irresponsibility into many unnecessary tragedies.
Before COVID-19 put everyone on temporary leave, I verbally criticized my employer to the point of almost being fired. One of my main criticisms was the register; the technology needs to be updated. The cost of the pandemic to my employer has already made the improbability of updating the business's technology into an impossibility.
There is also an emotional cost to vandalism. Even if the broken glass and products are replaced, it's not a good feeling to think about people breaking into where you work, walking around, taking what they want, and treating a place that you have tried to make hospitable into a war zone.
That's not even to mention the paperwork. I don't want to dwell on that; if I do, I might change my mind about thinking that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed and instead apply for a gun license.
I have worked in customer service for 30 years. I don't appreciate the encouragement or amused dismissal of looting by people who, I'm assuming, haven't.
Regardless of my life's nearly constant upheaval, kind people have always hired me, and because of that I can contribute toward my independence. Most of them could have paid me more and there are other things that nobody likes about working that everyone who works has to deal with. However, there's no excuse for the damage that's been done all over the country. Breaking things and stealing have nothing to do with free speech.
Do I want to work in customer service for the rest of my life? Probably not, but maybe. I like helping people.
Not this year, not next year, not soon, is my employer going to buy new registers. I'm going to have to use that old register that conks out so it doesn't read the bar codes and I have to punch in a line of numbers for every item in a purchase, while the customer stands there and a line of customers also stand there. No store renovations this year or next year. Maybe fewer raises, maybe fewer $25 bonuses for everyone. Maybe fewer employee benefits. That's just from COVID-19; I don't know if any of my employer's stores have been looted. I do know that I am a racial minority at the store where I work. It's a diverse workforce. Without question, places that have been looted do not only employ white racists.
