Corona Virus. COVID-19. The ‘Rona. Whatever you call this pandemic, it has affected every single person in the world in some way. Some good, most bad. Me? I’m just as cheery as ever. NOT.
As mentioned in a previous post (link here), I work at BJ’s Wholesale Club in Syracuse, NY. What does that mean? It means I’m essential. It means that unlike most people I know, I didn’t get told to stay home. That I can not go to work. People aren’t shopping as much as they were before – probably have enough food or are low on funds.
My mom who used to go to church twice a week, isn’t. And I’m doing the grocery shopping – picking up things as we need them. NOT hoarding.
My dad who has asthma is also staying home as much as he can. Thankfully the dog is keeping him plenty occupied.
Me? I had to cancel a vacation I’d been looking forward to since I got home from my semi-hellish vacation in January. I did take the time off still – staycations are interesting. My dog loves them – I get to visit her at my dad’s house more often when I’m not working.
People around me are panicking about the virus and constantly asking me why I’m not wearing gloves or a mask. I don’t need a mask – I’m not sick. Also, they fog my glasses up, and after a while it’s hard to breathe with them on, and they hurt my ears.
At BJ’s, we check receipts when customers leave the club. To make sure that the cashiers didn’t miss anything, and also sometimes the self-checkout registers glitch and things get missed. During this time, we’ve been told to not handle as many receipts if we can. I’ve actually been yelled at (by a customer) for NOT wanting to take her receipt. And then I’ve been told NOT to touch someone’s receipt. MAKE UP YOUR MIND. I have to be able to see what is on the receipt and if you’re going to throw at me don’t get pissed at me when I actually do my job.
Also why do people feel the need to bring their ENTIRE family to the grocery store? Yes, we’ve limited how many people can be IN the store at one time – 20% of our max capacity – but people are STILL bringing their entire families into the store. We aren’t your family outing. We aren’t a field trip because you’re bored and have no idea how to handle your kids being home all the time. I get if you have no one to watch your kids, but when BOTH parents and all the kids are in the store? WHY? I want to say something, but I can’t. Not at my job at least. I’ve seen entire families at the store, especially once the first of the month hit. There’s NO need. One parent stay at home with the kids. Or stay in the car! You complain that people aren’t social distancing, BUT YOU’RE PART OF THE PROBLEM. STAY HOME! Send ONE person out to do the shopping.
I’ve taken to shopping for a friend who can’t leave the house. I get their stuff, my stuff, and my dad’s stuff (if he needs anything). I leave my friends stuff on the porch. There are ways around it. STAY HOME. You’re not helping by turning the grocery store visit into a field trip.
Ever since the first of the month it’s been busier than it was a couple weeks ago. That’s normal. People get their Social Security, or whatever influx of income that they get every month. It’s still not okay to bring everyone with you when you come shopping.
The limits have changed greatly. When I went on my staycation the list was rather short. When I came back the list was a page and a half. Now? It’s based on the club’s sales instead of corporate-wide.
DON’T yell at me because I try to tell you that you can’t get SIX things of chicken when there are signs that say there are a limit of TWO. You have a huge family? That’s not my issue. Buy other foods. Buy FROZEN chicken. You’re going to have to freeze it anyway. There’s no way you’re going to go through all that meat before it goes bad.
DON’T yell at me for trying to do my job. I’m trying to get through this hellish nightmare as best as I can. We all are. The customers that are normally nice are being great. I had a lady ask if she bought a gift card if I could accept it. (We can’t). The customers that are normally complaining about everything or rude? They’re absolute nightmares now.
We’ve set up a different system at the registers. We line up customers on one side of the store and then send them down to each register when the previous customer leaves the line. There are two sides to the store though and some people try to sneak through. Hell, some people try to cut the line. Thankfully we have many employees to keep people from doing so.
This past weekend was Easter weekend. Were people staying home and NOT going to the grocery store? Oh god no. It was as busy as Easter normally is. The store has taken to blocking off parts of the store and putting arrows or signs up making aisles one way. Other stores have too. I even went to Walmart the other day and I was going down the RIGHT way, while so many people were going the opposite way. Did we not go to kindergarten?
This whole Corona thing needs to resolve itself soon. I’m able to go to work and I’m going crazy. People I know who can’t go to work or won’t leave the house because they’re at risk and they’re even more stir crazy than I am. My next vacation (Pop Mania in June) was cancelled, which I saw coming. I just hope to hell that they don’t cancel my Halloween plans.
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