It’s Not Wages That Are Keeping People Out Of The Workplace — It’s Consistency

Most people are earning less on unemployment, but at least they’re earning it regularly.

If you caught the H1N1 virus (also known as the swine flu) in Bellingham, Washington, in 2008, it might have been my fault. I was 21 years old, in my final year of college, and working as a waitress in an all-night diner. One night after a shift, the pain in my lower back was so extreme that I texted my dad to ask how I would know if I was passing a kidney stone. By the next day, my symptoms had grown well beyond body aches; I was shivering, my forehead was sweating, and I was hunched over like an osteoporotic octogenarian.

I called my boss, telling him I needed to take the night off. There was just no way I could serve cheesy fries and Bud Lights from 10 pm until 6am. He told me that if I did take the night off, I might as well take every other night off, because he would fire me. We were too short-staffed. I had to work.

So I did. With the swine flu. I served food to people — including seniors and children—without any kind of protection or precaution. Because I needed that job.

This is just one of the reasons why I don’t believe people when they sneer about unemployment as the cause of a…