Eater: One year into the pandemic, restaurant workers are exhausted, anxious, and feel both exploited and expendable

The past few days have been marked by a collective tallying: of firsts and lasts, of what was but now isn’t, of what is not but could have been. This was the day 12 months ago that I last saw any of my friends outside the confines of a screen. It was the second week of March when I first noticed someone wearing a mask in public. Exactly one year ago today I felt nervous about being at work, unsure if even being there was a good idea. The last meal in a restaurant. The first recognition that “normal” was not coming back anytime soon.

On March 9, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Mandated shutdowns soon followed: On March 15, the mayors of Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco announced impending lockdowns that would close restaurant dining rooms, among other public spaces, to slow the spread; the next day, New York City would shut down indoor dining, and much of the country followed. The early days of the plague year were marked by confusion (do I need to wipe down my groceries?), worry (did my brother’s roommate get him sick?), naivete (this will be over in two weeks, right?), and yes, panic — over one’s health, over the status of one’s livelihood, over the practical matters of day-to-day life that suddenly seemed impossible to achieve…