ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Last month, a former Crazy Wisdom Bookstore employee spoke out online about the treatment they and other employees received over COVID-19 policy at the Michigan bookstore.
Arden Lis who identifies as an eclectic Witch had worked for over two and half years at the nearly 40-year-old bookstore that has been a haven for free thought and practically an institution in downtown Ann Arbor. Lis told TWH that throughout the pandemic, the store had kept in place COVID-19 protocols, like requiring masks for customers and staff, even once the state and city had dropped mandates.
However, at the beginning of January, Lis says that they and their co-workers learned that Crazy Wisdom manager, Sarah Newland and her daughter Ani Daher both continued to come into work despite testing positive and being symptomatic, potentially exposing their fellow co-workers and customers to possible infection with COVID-19.
Lis and the rest of the staff did not learn about the possible exposure until January 6, after most had been exposed to both Daher and Newland for several shifts–both women had concealed the information that they had symptoms from staff Lis says.
The established policy for the bookstore prior to this was, “if you don’t feel well, stay home, don’t come to work if you’re sick,” Lis said. “The store managed coverage if someone needed off.”
Once they learned of the positive test results of Newland and Daher, staff members requested COVID-19 rapid tests be administered that produced negative results before Newland and Daher were allowed to continue to work and possibly further expose employees to infection. According to Lis, Newland refused, even when a rapid test was offered to her for free by one of the employees.
The Crazy Wisdom Bookstore team was also coming into the period where they would all be working together to take inventory at the bookstore, and have extended contact with each other.
Lis, who is also a full-time psychology student, and has another part-time job working with immunocompromised kids, felt it would be irresponsible to risk exposure and opted to back out of working during inventory. Another employee who has immunocompromised family members resigned immediately.
“The thing that I feel is most important holding people accountable for their bad behavior, and this is absolutely bad behavior because they are putting people’s lives at risk—nonchalance attitude towards others with health issues,” Lis said.
In response, the seven employees prepared a document stating they would not be returning to work until both those who had tested positive could present a test showing they were negative, would like everyone to wear KN95 masks, and outlined some other issues they felt should be addressed that concerned both promised pay raises and holiday bonuses. Additionally, they felt that Crazy Wisdom should reimburse an employee who had already purchased KN95 masks for employee use.
Collectively, the employees felt they had been “mistreated, taken advantage of, and lied to” and the store owners, Bill Zirinsky and Ruth Schekter, could restore their trust and faith by meeting the demands they had outlined.
The response by Zirinsky and Schekter is what shocked Lis and their co-workers the most. Lis and their co-worker felt the response not only defended Newland and her behavior but also refused to accommodate the employees’ demands which they viewed as “falling prey to the polarization that is now so pervasive in politics and our culture and to stop communicating as humans.”
Part of the emailed response from Crazy Wisdom owners
The emailed response appeared to suggest that they viewed their employees as producing a collectively agreed-upon statement as a perceived threat.
“The document you presented using the language of ‘demands,’ ‘organizing,’ and ‘gotten nothing in return’ very obviously conjures up the images of large corporations and labor unions.”
The owners also disputed some of the allegations the document contained regarding promised pay raises and holiday bonuses. The responses appeared to follow a pattern with one sentence expressing gratitude for everyone who stuck it out through the pandemic and the next disparaging the actions taken.
The owners suggested that rather than employees choosing to “organize,” if they had each met privately with Newland, she could have addressed their concerns, anger, fear, and worked to resolve the issues and make sure everyone felt as safe as possible.
Instead of making any attempts to resolve the issue, the owners deemed the employees “had quit” and let them know they could have their holiday bonuses once they turned in their keys.
Lis and the other employees were stunned and disappointed by Zirinsky and Schekter’s attitude as it seemed to be an about-face from previous experiences, especially as it related to the policy during the pandemic.
They said, “Covid is something that I am not willing to negotiate you are either going to the thing that you are supposed to or I am not going to be around you.”
Lis’ partner contracted COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic and now is a long-hauler, going from being able to run a 6-minute mile to being out of breath just walking across the room. Lis said the owners knew this but “did not seem to grasp that just because the manager’s symptoms were mild that others with compromised immune systems might have far worse symptoms of infection.”
Crazy Wisdom Bookstore owners had announced late last year that they would be closing the physical location of Crazy Wisdom on February 15, 2022, after 30 plus years of being a storied retailer in the Ann Arbor Community.
TWH reached out to co-owner Bill Zirinsky, and manager, Sarah Newland of Crazy Wisdom for comment but received no response.
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