A waitress came in sick to work. An Ohio US Senate candidate tweeted about it. Then it got ugly.

[turbinetree]

Haley BeMiller
The Columbus Dispatch

Published 3:21 p.m ET Aug. 23, 2021

Republican Josh Mandel peppers his Twitter account with photos of restaurant workers and other people he meets on the campaign trail for U.S. Senate.

Over the weekend, one such tweet landed a northwest Ohio brewery in hot water.

The former state treasurer visited Inside the Five in Perrysburg Friday and took a photo with a waitress who he said came to work sick because they were short-staffed. His tweet came as the delta variant takes hold across Ohio, leading to COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers not seen since the winter.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/23/ohio-senate-race-josh-mandel-praises-waitress-who-came-sick/8246987002/

Mandel is one twisted POS....and fuck you....

[Hekate]

1. I saw the photo of Mandel with the waitress and she did not look well at all...

That was everything that’s wrong with the food and beverage industry, right there.

She needed her minimum wage job and likely has inadequate health care.

HE is an idiot.

[blm]

2. 🤬

[Caliman73]

13. Not just food & beverage, but understand their unique pressures.

Most of us have been conditioned in the US, to go into work sick. We receive "praise" for our "work ethic" which basically means that we drive ourselves to sickness to help wealthy people continue to collect significant profits, while they always search for ways to cut their costs, including cutting back any benefits we may have.

The pandemic taught some, that self care is important, especially when your illness can be spread to others and make them get sick and die. You saw, especially from Red states, but also from Blue, the push to "open back up". You see how people who are concerned about going back to work and getting sick, and able to manage on the unemployment, are treated. They are "lazy" and "coddled" not brave like those who were forced to go back to their low paying jobs.

Our whole society is messed up. In many European countries, they work hard, but they get significant breaks during the day. They get good benefits, including 4 to 6 weeks of vacation a year. We get worked to death and think of it as some kind of "honor" or badge of courage.

[Hekate]

3. This from Mandel, & I hope he has the opportunity soon to "muscle thru" whatever she's got...

“While so many people are getting paid by the government to sit home and do nothing, Brianne muscled through feeling under the weather and came to work," Mandel said in a statement. "She should be applauded for being a dedicated team player, not having herself and her brewery attacked by lazy woke liberals."

[gratuitous]

7. Mandel said a lot of nice things about the waitress

But that doesn't mean he thinks she should earn a living wage or have paid sick leave. And that's the way he'll vote.

[ShazzieB]

8. Dedicated team player, my ass!

People go to work when they don't feel well to avoid losing income that they badly need, because they have a terrible boss who demands it and don't want to lose their job, or both. NOT because they're "dedicated team players."

Praising an employee who does that is such an incredibly Republican thing to do! I can't even.

[Hekate]

10. I know, I know

[marble falls]

4. He's a big dope, she didn't come in to make any points. She came in to make the rent.

[SoCalDavidS]

5. Are People Here Defending Her Actions?

She endangered her co-workers and Everyone she came in contact with, by going to work.

I don't care her reasons, it was 100% Irresponsible.

[Hekate]

9. No, I see no one "defending her actions." We're bashing the politician & a system...

… that does not give low-wage sick people paid time off.

When I was infected with strep throat by a co-worker who “heroically” never missed work, there was absolutely no excuse for her: we were support staff at a major university and had a very generous benefits package that included health insurance and paid sick leave.

Food and beverage workers, not so much, unless they are members of a strong union, like my ex-husband was.

[Treefrog]

11. There were several threads about this yesterday.

I’ve seen no one defending her - simply recognizing she probably went to work sick because of bills.

[haele]

12. Apparently she thought it was allergies

Not defending her, but I understand coming to work with a seasonal allergy and have done so - that isn't being "sick" as work sees it; that's having congestion and watery eyes and being uncomfortable but not being contagious or unable to work.
I've been there, took the benedryl, brought the Vicks, and went on my business.
On edit - However, I wouldn't have her working waitress or front of the house while she was sneezing or coughing. That's a bad look dealing with customers, COVID or not.

I think the Congressman actually made it worse calling her sick when she wasn't contagious.

Haele

[Caliman73]

14. Sometimes, when you have no good options, the bad option is best.

That is not a defense. That is a fact of life in the United States. She maybe could have called out sick, but then maybe she would have lost her job. It is easy for people to sit back, not knowing her situation, and pass judgement.

I have worked in industry which demands you go when you are called. I have worked sick and injured so that I could keep a crappy job. I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to get an education and work in a field where employee wellness is considered so that I do not have to face that choice anymore.

There is a difference between understanding and defending.

The focus is on the asshole Republican politician who is trying to hold this worker up as an example of "a great worker" when we should really be focusing on what is wrong with society that a person who is sick and potentially contagious, feels they have to go to work regardless.

[rurallib]

6. I hope she waited on him and he got the 'up close' service.

ETA - I would bet he is not vaccinated