INDIANAPOLIS — As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, essential workers are asking you to not put them at risk.
"My peers and my co-workers were taking it very seriously and at first, the customers did not and some of them still don't," Amber Everling, a Starbucks barista, said.
Everling has been working throughout the pandemic, so she's been following all the COVID-19 guidelines. She tells WRTV her biggest gripe is people who either aren't paying attention or are unwilling to wear a mask when they come in to get their coffee.
"For the sake of everyone around them, put the mask over your nose in the five minutes it takes you to get to your table or to get your coffee," Everling said.
Starbucks is doing their part according to Everling. If you've been to one during the pandemic, you have seen all the precautions and signs reminding people about the COVID-19 guidelines. She also said both times she's had to be out due to exposure to COVID-19, she's gotten paid for the full two weeks. She knows otherS are not so lucky. That's where she thinks the government should step in and offer some sort of financial assistance, but she doesn't have much faith considering the governmental response so far.
"The American government knows that a capitalist society cannot be maintained without everyone constantly working to maintain it," Everling said.
Everling is also studying music at Butler University. Between their rules for mask wearing and her job, she does not have much sympathy for those who say they cannot be bothered to put a mask on for a few minutes.
"Collectively on a long day, on my longer days, I could be wearing a mask for the 12-15 hours out of the 24 hours in a day," Everling said. "I'm not going to walk into a grocery store without a mask on and say 'this is my American right, you can't make me do anything. This a free country' because who benefits from that? Nobody. Nobody."