A satirical look at those who were – briefly – given a sense of power & pride by the Coronavirus madness.

 

I am proud to say I have been the Covid warden for 355.com for the last 2 years now. I think I did a good job; even thought I was misunderstood and have had to suffer for it because there were a few ignorant, super-spreader idiots who made things difficult. Through the adversity of the terror of Coronavirus and the threat of extinction, I stood up and enforced the rules to save lives, but made myself unpopular, even though others told me not to bother, because I put the safety of everyone ahead of the few. And now, the government seems not to care, and has abandoned the rules that were there to protect us, leaving me feeling unwanted, unneeded, and discarded by the powers that be.

Now we are told by the government that all the rules don’t matter like they once did and that companies can relax the rules. But as times change, people are being laxer as the threat – apparently - is lessening. Yes, Covid has a survival rate of 99.7% and yes, I know it is only slightly more dangerous than the common cold, but don’t be fooled. I heard on the bbc that the threat may return at any moment, so I for one will still be vigilant, wear my mask, and obey the distance rules that I think protected us for the last two years.

When I started at the company, 16 years ago now, I was just a shop floor picker and packer, but worked my way up to picker and packer supervisor over a ten-year period of hard work, many fall-outs, and a lot of misery for those that stood in my way. I liked the job, as much as you can like a job when the boss is unappreciative and everyone is bad mouthing you behind your back, just because I like to stick by the rules and care about standards.

Anyway, then Covid happened. We had a few months off work, a real struggle for me as I was forced to think about my life and career, which was painful. I was bored and felt depressed because I don’t have anyone who loves me to share the loneliness, but soon enough the government announced the return-to-work path and started letting people back into the office. Yet, for this to be successful, we needed to follow the Covid rules so that everyone was safe, and that meant we needed people in those companies to help the rest comply with government rules and guidance. I think the boss knew I could be relied upon more than many and I was made the Covid enforcer for the company, there to ensure that people were made aware of the rules, tested regularly, and followed the guidelines to keep everyone safe. Sounds simple? But for many a reckless idiot, not so easy.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the rules are not there so small people like me can feel a brief sense of security. No, believe me or not! The rules are there so that most people can feel safe to go about as they wish, with the rules, and enjoy their life as best as they can. I took it very seriously when I was asked to assist the responsible return to the workplace.

It was simple enough; I set out the procedure for signing in, keeping your mask on when not at your desk-station, and washing your hands every 4 minutes to keep the infection transmission down. If you had symptoms, you must test and isolate so that everyone else can be safer. If someone in the team is positive, the rest must then get tested to ensure we are still safe. Yet, within a few weeks, I noticed people were not following the rules.