Risk in the age of the horrific
At a job interview, a woman was told by the interviewer that not only had she had Covid, but it had been virulent. "I ended up in the hospital, felt like I couldn't breathe." The applicant wanted to feign sympathy, but was only feeling fear. 'How do I get out of here?' The interviewer continued: "But that was months ago. I'm fine now." Relief? Another time, an employee questioned a hybrid work policy. "You are to come in more than once a week," she and her colleagues were told in a Zoom call. When she asked what that meant, the manager shot back, "just what I said." We are living in an age none of us imagined, and the business world is not out to protect us any more than it has protected coal miners from pneumoconioses and silicosis, explosions or chemical hazards. In 2019, who among us would have considered a food service or reporting job risky, let alone a trip to a largely unmasked Walgreen's or Kroger? At the start of the...