Since March, 2020, after Massachusetts closed down "non-essential businesses" and venues which could spread COVID-19, shuttered schools, and enacted Draconian restrictions on those services or businesses that remained open, we've been hearing the same prediction repeated again and again.

"We'll never go back to 'normal.' Things will always be different." Officials said it. Pundits said it. Health care professionals said it. Even the Courier said it, once or twice.

But only now are we starting to find out what that really means.

After the Blizzard of '78, states and municipalities implemented very different procedures for handling forecast large storms. Despite the ridicule constantly aimed at weather forecasters for dire predictions that don't materialize, we all have learned to prepare for the worst. Consequently, there have been huge storms, but no more Blizzards of '78.

After 9/11, air travel was never the same again. Security around transportation increased by several factors of ten. Getting on and off a plane is a total pain in the tush now--but there have been no more 9/11s.

Now we're taking off our masks (but still carrying them with us), hugging, and going to public places again. But things are different. We're more aware of how close other people are to us. We think more about "germs." People have gotten used to healthier habits. We will probably have fewer cases of flu in future seasons.

But there are other changes which may be far deeper and more profound than personal hygiene routines.

The pandemic shut-down threw hundreds of thousands of people out of work in Massachusetts, including self-employed, contract and gig workers who didn't qualify for ordinary unemployment benefits. Two massive federal COVID emergency relief bills allowed unemployed persons to collect not only extended unemployment benefits, but additional federal benefits. These still weren't enough for some families who fell behind on rent or mortgages. But in other cases, the COVID emergency payments were an unexpected boon.

Now that employers are hiring again, many businesses who pay low wages are complaining bitterly that they can't find applicants. They complain that unemployed people would rather sit around collecting benefits than go to work.

But they're not being honest with themselves.

It's not that unemployed people don't want to work. The real truth is that hundreds of thousands of people, after being kicked to the curb by employers who fired them, instead of getting Paycheck Protection loans and keeping their staff, see no reason to trust management. They had to scramble to cope, and the COVID unemployment benefits allowed them to consider, for the first time, a change in career goals. Many of them could pay off debts. Many had both the time and the funds to get training.

So, it's true: lots of unemployed people don't want to go back to work at jobs that pay crap, give them irregular, unpredictable and erratic hours, subject them to managers who are abusive, incompetent and sexually harassing, and have them serving a public that harangues them and even assaults them simply for doing their jobs. The COVID benefits have given them a chance to find better work, sometimes working for themselves, and that's what they're doing now.

Managers who can't find help need to take a good hard look at themselves, their attitude toward their staff and the amount they think they should be investing in employees. You get what you pay for. Some employers are finding that when they increase salaries and benefits, they suddenly have all the qualified applicants they could want.

Plagues have always radically and permanently changed economies. The plagues of the late Middle Ages made the Renaissance possible, destroying the old rigid hierarchies of class and occupation levels, permitting much more social movement and the growth of a strong middle class.

We haven't lost enough people to COVID-19 to have that extreme an effect, for which we should be thankful. It's the measures we took to stop the pandemic and cushion the hardships for those most affected that have made changes which will be far-reaching. Remote and hybrid work is here to stay; people are going to have different expectations from employers and managers. The $15.00 minimum wage is inevitable. Companies are going to have to invest more in labor, because it's getting easier and easier to hang out a shingle or start a business. The metaphor of the small mammals taking over the earth from the dinosaurs applies here.

Next time you eat out in a restaurant, give your server a generous tip. When you go to the local discount store, smile and say something nice to the sales associate who helps you. That person is being paid squat, and they don't have to be there. Imagine that you were in their shoes, and treat them accordingly. It's one of the oldest ethical rules on earth.

Inanna Arthen