Glen Campbell’s advice to the Covid Scrooges
I’ve always been a Glen Campbell fan, especially his mournful Jimmy Webb ballads like Galveston, and By the Time I Get to Phoenix. But I never loved one of Campbell’s biggest hits, Try A Little Kindness. So why did I find myself humming the trite ditty the other day? Perhaps because kindness has been a word used by many, including our prime minister, as we continue to battle Covid-19.
Over the past month, I’ve witnessed many small acts of kindness. There are ripe figs on our kitchen table, and we don’t have a fertile fig tree. The homeless man living at our bus stop has extra blankets. (‘‘Don’t walk around the down and out. Lend a helping hand, instead of doubt.’’)
Yes, there are critics of the Government wage subsidy, but when you realise some Americans have been waiting more than four desperate weeks for their cheques, then you marvel at the speed of the assistance. Yes, some landlords have been unscrupulous, but others have offered rent reductions. On my daily walks, I notice scowling people who seem irritated that we dare inhabit the same footpath. But there are far more who smile or say hello as one of us moves to the side, or walks on to the road, to ensure social distancing.
But though kindness seems a plentiful commodity, for every dozen Bob Cratchits there is always an Ebenezer Scrooge. While the nation celebrated that the move to level three would ensure fast food could be ordered, Uber Eats made it clear that the whopping 33 per cent commission it charges to restaurants would not change.
Jacinda Ardern told us to buy local, and in Wellington a fast food group, At Yours, has been started, with the support of WellingtonNZ, which will give a $10 subsidy per delivery up to $500.
It’s great to see people supporting local businesses, but you have to wonder why we weren’t doing this sort of thing already, and why multinational fast food outlets occupy such a hallowed place in New Zealand culture. Time spent queuing for Maccas might be better spent asking your local fish and chip shop or Chinese takeaway if they do contactless pick-ups.
If you have a KFC or Pizza Hut addiction, be aware that the full-time drivers are not entitled to any holiday pay, sick leave or the minimum wage. They simply receive $9.50 per delivery and must supply their own vehicle and petrol. The Hobbit laws are alive and well and living in Wellywood.
Thanks to Covid-19, the outsourced cleaners at Victoria University were earning as little as 80 per cent of their already low wages. The university generously offered to top up these wages.
However, according to the E tu¯ union, the contractor, OCS Group NZ, one of the country’s biggest cleaning companies, refused the top-up ‘‘for some ambiguous reason’’. To pass on the money to the cleaners was apparently outside its normal contract conditions. Labour market ‘‘flexibility’’ has become a buzzword with employers, yet the minute there is a truly flexible arrangement that would benefit all, the company isn’t agile or flexible enough to deal with it. (‘‘Narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets.’’)
Sadly, Victoria University snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory when it became known that it was charging students in hostels $150 a week to ‘‘look after’’ their rooms, which they cannot access during lockdown.
If I locked my car at the supermarket car park and someone asked me for $10 to ‘‘look after it’’ while I did my shopping, I would call the organised crime unit of the police. Unsurprisingly, students have already said they will refuse to pay the ‘‘looking after’’ fees, and the hapless vicechancellor, Grant Guilford, will have yet another self-created PR disaster on his hands. (‘‘If you see your brother standing by the road, with a heavy load, from the seeds he’s sowed.’’)
Time spent queuing for Maccas might be better spent asking your local fish and chip shop ... if they do contactless pick-ups.
It’s tough for businesses at present, but why does some of the worst behaviour come from the super-rich? Multi-millionaire Moby closed his vegan Los Angeles restaurant as Covid-19 hit, then cancelled all employees’ healthcare before announcing an ‘‘indefinite hiatus’’.
According to Variety magazine, after hearing nothing from their employers for a month, the worried crew of Ellen DeGeneres’ TV show have been told to expect a 60 per cut pay reduction, even as the show continues to air. Meanwhile, DeGeneres tells her audiences each day to ‘‘be kind’’. (‘‘If you see your sister falling by the way. Just stop and say, ‘You’re going the wrong way’.’’)
Closer to home, while I’ve received many sweet messages from cultural organisations about the need for us all to tautoko each other, I’m also aware that producers who had to cancel events because of Covid-19, through no fault of their own, have been hit with substantial cancellation fees from venues.
So trite as it may seem, let’s hope everyone rates kindness as a human quality every bit as important as enterprise and self-sufficiency over the next few months. ‘‘Just shine your light for everyone to see.’’