Rode through a pandemic as "essential." Laid off when the boom was over.

During the pandemic, delivery workers and those of us supporting the operation were told repeatedly how important we were. Essential workers. Keeping the country fed. Leadership sent emails about how proud they were. The pandemic boom drove massive growth. They hired accordingly. When the growth stopped — when people started going back to restaurants — we became a cost problem. The people laid off were largely those hired to support the growth that benefited shareholders. The shareholders kept their gains. We got three months' notice and a reference. "Essential" is a word that means different things to a company depending on what month of the economic cycle you ask.