“I think the pandemic really gave industry workers a footing to stand on and get started,” Hanley went on. “People were patting industry workers on the back, saying we’re ‘essential’ and that they couldn’t function without us. Now that things are going back to normal, it’s like, ok, pay us, and support us as if we’re actually essential workers. Regardless of a pandemic or not. In the heat of it all we were still serving you. Doing something you’re not willing to do. The pandemic, as shitty as it was, it’s an opportunity for industry workers, in cafes, bartenders, the industry as a whole, to be like: You wanted us to prove our importance to you? We have. Now let’s keep that going.”
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