“Of course I was careful about not getting sick. I washed my hands, sanitized religiously, didn’t see loved ones in person, wore my mask. People talk about the dangers Healthcare workers had to face at the height of the pandemic, and of course they deserve so much respect for what they’ve had to endure. But us minimum wage workers were at risk too. Working food service left me exposed to everyone. Just because I was so careful about not contacting the virus doesn’t mean my coworkers and customers were too. So of course I got sick. Everyone I worked with got sick. And many of us were still working while symptomatic until finally too many of us were infected to stay open and business shut down for a couple days while we quarantined. Thankfully we all recovered, and then we went right back to working the same job, business as usual. Because what else can you do when you’re living paycheck to paycheck?“