I feel like the person is failing to see beyond the scope of immediate surroundings. They’re seeing the manager as the village in this case. The manager being about as good as they’re in a position to be (because let’s face it, a McDonald’s shift manager isn’t exactly the 1% and has only probably been there a few months longer and can’t tell them to just go home and they’ll get paid regardless) looks a lot like “support” if you don’t look around for the missing friends, family, community daycares, social programs or charities.
An actual community would see you being supported to be with your child when they weren’t being otherwise cared for. Like a year of parental leave from the government, guaranteed job to come back to, and daycare for when you get back.
If it never occurred to you to look for those things, the closest person in authority you can see not being as bad as they could be can look an awful lot like a favor.
I feel like the person is failing to see beyond the scope of immediate surroundings. They’re seeing the manager as the village in this case. The manager being about as good as they’re in a position to be (because let’s face it, a McDonald’s shift manager isn’t exactly the 1% and has only probably been there a few months longer and can’t tell them to just go home and they’ll get paid regardless) looks a lot like “support” if you don’t look around for the missing friends, family, community daycares, social programs or charities.
An actual community would see you being supported to be with your child when they weren’t being otherwise cared for. Like a year of parental leave from the government, guaranteed job to come back to, and daycare for when you get back.
If it never occurred to you to look for those things, the closest person in authority you can see not being as bad as they could be can look an awful lot like a favor.