This story is part of a collaboration between Central Connecticut State University and University of Central Lancashire.
Liam Grimley from the University of Central Lancashire contributed interviews.
Full transcript:
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS CHANGED OUR WAY OF LIFE… THE EFFECTS ARE BEING FELT ALL OVER THE GLOBE… GROCERY WORKERS ARE NOW VIEWED AS ESSENTIAL… THEIR JOBS ARE DEEMED IMPORTANT AND THEY RISK THEIR HEALTH ON A DAILY BASIS IN BOTH THE US AND THE UK… THE WORK IS SIMILAR IN BOTH COUNTRIES, BUT DOES ONE COUNTRY SUPPORT IT’S WORKERS MORE? ARE GROCERY WORKERS GETTING THE RECOGNITION THEY DESERVE? I SPOKE WITH EMPLOYEES FROM A WHOLE FOODS IN WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT AND MY PARTNER LIAM GRIMLEY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE INTERVIEWED A GROCERY STORE MANAGER IN HIS HOMETOWN OF ARMAGH IN NORTHERN IRELAND…
JAY SODEBURG IS A TEAM TRAINER AT WHOLE FOODS IN CONNECTICUT… HE, LIKE MANY GROCERY WORKERS IS STILL ADJUSTING TO THE NEW REGULATIONS IN PLACE…
“There’s a lot different regulation, maybe more regulation. Just how how we have to operate throughout the day. The fact that we have to come in a very specific door. We have to get a thermal image taken of us, wear masks so that that whole thing, none of that existed before. All the registers are spread apart. There’s only about half of them open. We have one line for all the registers. We have a max capacity that we have to keep under. I think there’s a state capacity rule. And then we as a company also have our own capacity rule. And we have to factor in a given take for all of the employees. So, like, I think it’s something like 80 people in our store, but we allow in right now 50. We’ve got to have somebody that we have to have a bouncer, basically. So that’s very different. We have a guy that stands at the door and tells youwhen you can to win, make sure you have a mask. We hired people to all day and the entire time we’re open pretty much wipe down the carts as they come back in that way, all of them are sanitized. We are we’re sanitizing everything all of the time. Just endless amounts of precaution. I do I feel that it does make me feel safe.”
SOCIAL DISTANCING IS THE NEW NORMAL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD… GRIMLEY SPOKE WITH CHRISTOPHER CASSIDY, A MANAGER AT HIS LOCAL HOME BARGAINS… CASSIDY DESCRIBES THE MORAL OF HIS STORE WHEN THE PANDEMIC FIRST BEGAN…
“Well, a lot of changes have been implemented. Obviously, social distance and back and things and morale start was a bit worried and low. Obviously, people were very concerned. But obviously as a company, we’ve a lot of staff, some just to reassure staff was physically or mentally to in terms of also making sure that they’re providing the correct information for people to reassure them that they’re there for us if we need any questions asked to go to head office.”
CASSIE MOREE, A STUDENT AND PART-TIME CASHIER AT WHOLE FOODS IN CONNECTICUT, FINDS COMFORT THROUGH HER CO-WORKERS…
“I feel like we all have a positive impact to one another. We always go to work. And, you know, I’m always happy to see you guys there. So, these I know now that when I see you, I know that you’re not feeling sick, that you stay away from work. And that’s the kind of thing that I like seeing. We are a strong team. I believe we all know, we’re all there for one another no matter what. When I lost someone just recently, I had a couple of co-workers, you know, reach out to me.”
FOR WORKERS IN THE US AND THE UK, THE EXPERIENCE WITH HANDLING CUSTOMERS HAS BEEN SIMILAR… THE MAJORITY OF CUSTOMERS APPLAUD THEIR EFFORTS AND SO FAR, THEY SEEM TO BE RESPECTING THE NEW POLICIES AS WELL…
“Again, staffers, our customers are obviously happy with. The steps are put in place, they are open to it. Thank us for all to see, all our hard work that we’re doing, and you’ll see where queing people at the front door, marshelling, the front door. As they’re leaving, they’re thanking us again. For all the hard work in store, they’re very approachable to us and they abide obviously the social distancing aspect of things. And so. Yeah. Very positive from the community.”
“If I were to say anything positive about all the different things that are happening, I’d say the biggest positive and mostappreciated positive of all of this is that I think the majority of customers are actually being nicer. They’re being verbally appreciative. They’re being more patient. I feel there’s a lower percentage of difficult customers right now. There are still difficult customers and there are some thatare more difficult than usual, given that everybody is on our side right now when we need somebody to do a thing. Wehave like an army behind us being like they’re doing their best, you know, and these are the rules. Follow them. So, it’s I feel that actually is probably helped a lot of us working not lose our minds.”
NEW REGULATIONS BRING NEW JOBS… THESE STORES NEED MORE EMPLOYEES TO MAINTAIN SANITATION AND FOR NEW JOBS SUCH AS ‘GROCERY CURB-SIDE PICK-UP’…
“Over the last two months, has been linked to covid-19 and obviously fear was that they had lost their jobs. Obviously with being now employeed with us. Obviously, that’s a very positive impact because they’re pleased that we’ve been able to offer that job. Obviously then staff that have been here currently seeing that we’re trying to work with the community as a whole to find that safety and security for each and every person that we have employed because obviously at the end of the day health and safety for us is number one, as in our company. So, again, staff are feeling a lot more positive that we’re here for them and I can see it physically every day on shift.”
“As a team trainer, and this is just recently, because we’ve had to start doing grocery pickup. There’s an entire side of the industry that we didn’t have setup before. There’s a high demand for it due to social distancing. So, we’ve had to hire new people to come in to do shopping for grocery pickup, which means that I have been training in a different format and quicker because of the circumstances. There’s a high demand for it. So, I mean, just I mean, I’ve worked threedays this week and we’ve trained five people to be shoppers for grocery pickup. That’s a lot of people that are new in a very short time.”
WORKERS IN THE US FACE THE DIFFICULT DECISION OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY SHOULD SELF-QUARANTINE OR WORK IN CLOSE PROXIMITY WITH A MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE… IF WORKERS CHOOSE TO STAY HOME, THEY WON’T RECEIVE COMPENSATION, IF THEY GO TO WORK, THEY RUN THE RISK OF BECOMING INFECTED…
“There are people that are devil may care, kind of fly by the seat, their pants anyway and they don’t care that if they didn’t have to wear a mask, they wouldn’t. There are people that are all-stars, still. I respect them. I have my moments throughout the day, but I’m not like them. Some of those people are just, like, kicking butt and taking names. And then there’s some people that are working because they need the money and they’re scared. For me, I do need the money for bills and stuff. I’m happy to have the job so I can do that. I’m very jealous of all of the people who can work from home.”
IN THE UK, WORKERS HAVE A FINANCIAL SAFETY NET IN PLACE… THEY ARE ABLE TO TAKE TIME AWAY FROM WORL WHILE STILL RECEIVING COMPENSATION…
“We’ve had a we’ve had a number of people, about maybe 30 maximum all off due to Covid-19 But there was no fear factor of repercussions of, ‘I took it off’. The support mechanism was put in place, and obviously they’re aware that that’s not the case. We’re here to support them first and foremost, when obviously, down the road of any measures other than you’ve had to take off due to your own well-being again, much again back to their healthy and safety being number one. And the financial aspect was also a big boost to people as well. Again, people terribly, financially concerned, but with the company offering two full weeks’ pay, it meant that they didn’t have to make that judgment call based on the financial aspect. It was done to their own personal health because they knew that the company was financially support them through this time.”
RECENTLY, SODEBURG WAS ON A MANATORY LEAVE BECAUSE OF HIS INTERACTION WITH A COVID-19 POSITIVE CO-WORKER…
“Originally, we had one case of coronavirus confirmed. And when that was found out, leadership, the store management investigated to make sure they were doing everything that they needed to do, via the CDC and even store policies and stuff like that. And one of the things was they needed to make sure that there’s nobody within six-foot distance of this individual for more than 15 minutes. It turned out that after they looked at the tape that I had been bagging for the individual, which is about six-feet, give or take, for more than 15 minutes, I guess, and because of that, I got a phone call from the store manager and they said that I had to quarantine myself from the store. And so, I had to, I had to stay home for a week. That’s something that’s different too. So, anybody that has to do that. I mean, imagine, you know, you think everything’s cool. I’m going to work, my job and then somebody else gets coronavirus. And then even though you’re compensated because of the situation, you don’t go to your job and you shouldn’t be leaving your room, let alone your house. So that was that was tough. And it seemed like everything was OK. I mean, unless I’m one of those people that just has it and doesn’t know and now all of a sudden everybody has it. I’m sorry, everybody, but there’s literally no way for anybody to tell that. So, that’s what the whole testing problem is about, is make it more available so we can all get tested. I, I think where I work, we’re doing a good job. I also think that I haven’t then yet because it’s been a few weeks. It’s, I’ve gone to, like, drive-thrus and gotten takeout and stuff like that. I haven’t seen anybody doing a bad job.”
MOREE WORKED IN THE SAME DEPARTMENT AS THE PERSON WHO TESTED POSITIVE…
“My concerns about it is how fast that it can happen, and it can affect our team. They do come from both of them did come from our team. The front end is the one that really is probably going to get hit the most. I worry about whether or not I’m going to bring it home to my family because my mother, she has Crohn’s, so she also has a weakened immune system. I get nervous because I just want her to be healthy because she is the glue to my family.”
GROCERY WORKERS ARE UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF STRESS… THE STORES ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN TO KEEP THEIR EMPLOYEES SAFE BUT SOMETIMES IT ISN’T ENOUGH… IN THE UK EMPLOYEES ARE ABLE TO BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF BECAUSE THEIR EMPLOYERS AS WELL AS THEIR GOVERNMENT MAKES SURE THEY HAVE THE OPTION TO STAY HOME… IN THE US PEOPLE LIKE MOREE WORRY ABOUT MAKING ENDS MEET WHILE ALSO KEEPING HER MOTHER SAFE…