Some people work in hard conditions; it is time to call for a change.
In most places, I try to pay attention to employees, whose jobs make them work for long hours under hard physical conditions.
In restaurants and hotels, parking lots, malls, supermarkets, bakeries, sweet shops, and libraries men and women, of all ages, stand behind counters, fridges, cash machines, next to shelves, for seven hours or more per day with a brief lunch break.
I see fatigue on their faces; I feel the pain in their legs,back and hands.
I never refrain from asking them the same questions: Do you have a chair or a stool to sit on? How many hours do you stand up per day? For how many hours do you smell the carbon monoxide from cars exhaust? For how many hours are your hands soaked in cold water, inside the fridge or on the cold meat?
First, I get a smile! Then a deep sigh! And then a reply: “Ma’am, nobody ever asked!” they add: “No, we don’t have a chair to rest but we steal moments to sit. Our job has a regular schedule and a regular salary.”
Let us try to widen our thinking, intensify our efforts and help many tired workers, who spend most of their day at work, standing, sometimes in high heels for the longest hours.
Let us cooperate to make new laws, to create better conditions, and to care for hard-working employees in Lebanon and beyond.
