Most days you can end any sentence with the words “but Corona.” 

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has pretty much ruined all your April plans. People can’t sit in restaurants anymore, they can’t go to the movies with friends and a lot of people have been unable to work, except for “essential workers.”

Essential workers, such as grocery store employees, cops, doctors, nurses and a myriad of others are the reason we are clearly still alive. These people still continue to go to work to make sure that we are fed, safe and healthy. All these jobs and tasks need to be appreciated now more than ever. 

Doctors, nurses, cops and all those workers may be appreciated on a regular basis, but most underappreciated jobs are food service workers. 

Before the COVID-19 spread, people always lumped low-wage jobs like food service with jobs only for high-schoolers and poor people who can’t get other jobs. But those people are heroes to people that can’t cook or are too lazy to cook.

Grocery store workers almost always experience some sort of disrespect during their jobs as well. Now people who work these jobs should be at their most respected because they come into work every day and restock shelves, slice deli meat, bake desserts and the bread that provides us with food in our homes. 

Without them, we would all more or less starve. 

If you really think about it, those that work in fast food and grocery are the most likely to catch the coronavirus. They’re at work for 40 hours a week and see hundreds of customers a day. During the time this is being written, these workers are being highly appreciated. 

They don’t deserve to go to work and hear customers complain about things that don’t matter in the long run. These people are working hard every day and should continue to be respected because they are working to make sure my family is healthy and fed. 

Hopefully, people don’t lose that respect when the epidemic is over. They deserve more than that.