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Covid19 and Cashiers
TarynF226
Posts: 62 Member
in Debate Club
Right uh story time of sorts, sorry, if this isn't allowed it can be deleted. Everyone please stay safe! Dont forget to wash your hands often and bring hand sanitizer if you're sharing equipment with people.
If you've got your own perspective of a job field you'd like to share and tips to help out I'd love to hear them.
**A Cashiers perspective.**
Being a cashier sucks right now (that's the polite phrasing to be sure🤣), please don't share your germs with cashiers we deal with hundreds of people each day.
I'm doing what I can to keep the corner store where I work clean, washing my hands often and disinfecting counters, door handles and keypads (everything really) with bleach water as frequently as I can manage while still getting my actual job done but stores are high traffic. (😕Also the bleach is giving me headaches from the smell...)
I know it looks odd to us/western society (I'm in ON Canada btw) and maybe you think people will snicker at your caution but please consider wearing masks when you go out to stores. If your going to talk to your cashier stand back whatever distance you can or angle you face downward/away from them.
Travelling. Ugh. It's not just European countries. If you've travelled /Anywhere/ please don't come in. I actually had a regular customer go on vacation to Cuba for a week and so I didn't think I'd see him for three. He came in for his regular coffee and when I asked him why he wasn't self quarantine he told me that was only for travelling to European countries. It's already over here and you're going through high traffic ports. It's any travel. Once he left I wiped down all the door handles coffee station stuff and counters etc with disinfectant and washed my hands but he still came in and there were other people in the store too. That is A Bit Not Good. (I hadn't been wearing a mask at work yet, I think I'm going to from now on. I wore one to go shopping because while I don't display symptoms I have no idea whether anyone I came in contact with shared with me. Hundreds of customers remember? 😷I don't want to get sick but if I do I hardly want to spend two weeks incubation period spreading it around, you know?)
I'm normally up to chat with regular customers but I'm a lot more brisk with saying goodbye right now. Don't take that personally please if your usual cashiers seem to be standoffish. We're trying to do our best to not get sick despite dealing with a lot of people. A lot of cashiers are part time and minimum wage, we need our hours and aside from being sick itself we can't afford to miss weeks worth of shifts if things go bad. Please don't be snide if we don't seem friendly right now.
Also please don't hoard items. It shouldn't need to be said but don't buy what you don't need. There are others who genuinely need those baby wipes you swiped for cleaning your hands. Over the course of the weekend I heard from two mothers who couldn't find baby wipes for their baby's butt until they'd visited multiple stores and from Four mothers who had to go to three or four stores (or order online) to get their baby formula. Unless you actually plan on staying inside for the next three months don't take more than you need for a few weeks quarantine.
Use the tap feature on your cards. I'm one of those who doesnt like having tap on my cards because I don't feel it's secure but I've used it exclusively this past while rather than handle the card terminal. Reduce whatever amount of contact you can.
Lottery and cigarettes are a Huge thing for corner stores. If you think you Absolutely have to have either or both consider (I know it's super expensive) buying multiple draws on your lottery and consider buying cartons instead of just a couple packs to reduce the number of visits you have to make. Also, sign your lottery at home. I can only clean the store pen so often.
Overall, please be polite. We as cashiers are dealing with a lot of stress as new memos are passed down from higher ups who (seem to us) get to hide away in offices. We are trying our best to not get sick and to not spread this around, please do your part.
If you've got your own perspective of a job field you'd like to share and tips to help out I'd love to hear them.
**A Cashiers perspective.**
Being a cashier sucks right now (that's the polite phrasing to be sure🤣), please don't share your germs with cashiers we deal with hundreds of people each day.
I'm doing what I can to keep the corner store where I work clean, washing my hands often and disinfecting counters, door handles and keypads (everything really) with bleach water as frequently as I can manage while still getting my actual job done but stores are high traffic. (😕Also the bleach is giving me headaches from the smell...)
I know it looks odd to us/western society (I'm in ON Canada btw) and maybe you think people will snicker at your caution but please consider wearing masks when you go out to stores. If your going to talk to your cashier stand back whatever distance you can or angle you face downward/away from them.
Travelling. Ugh. It's not just European countries. If you've travelled /Anywhere/ please don't come in. I actually had a regular customer go on vacation to Cuba for a week and so I didn't think I'd see him for three. He came in for his regular coffee and when I asked him why he wasn't self quarantine he told me that was only for travelling to European countries. It's already over here and you're going through high traffic ports. It's any travel. Once he left I wiped down all the door handles coffee station stuff and counters etc with disinfectant and washed my hands but he still came in and there were other people in the store too. That is A Bit Not Good. (I hadn't been wearing a mask at work yet, I think I'm going to from now on. I wore one to go shopping because while I don't display symptoms I have no idea whether anyone I came in contact with shared with me. Hundreds of customers remember? 😷I don't want to get sick but if I do I hardly want to spend two weeks incubation period spreading it around, you know?)
I'm normally up to chat with regular customers but I'm a lot more brisk with saying goodbye right now. Don't take that personally please if your usual cashiers seem to be standoffish. We're trying to do our best to not get sick despite dealing with a lot of people. A lot of cashiers are part time and minimum wage, we need our hours and aside from being sick itself we can't afford to miss weeks worth of shifts if things go bad. Please don't be snide if we don't seem friendly right now.
Also please don't hoard items. It shouldn't need to be said but don't buy what you don't need. There are others who genuinely need those baby wipes you swiped for cleaning your hands. Over the course of the weekend I heard from two mothers who couldn't find baby wipes for their baby's butt until they'd visited multiple stores and from Four mothers who had to go to three or four stores (or order online) to get their baby formula. Unless you actually plan on staying inside for the next three months don't take more than you need for a few weeks quarantine.
Use the tap feature on your cards. I'm one of those who doesnt like having tap on my cards because I don't feel it's secure but I've used it exclusively this past while rather than handle the card terminal. Reduce whatever amount of contact you can.
Lottery and cigarettes are a Huge thing for corner stores. If you think you Absolutely have to have either or both consider (I know it's super expensive) buying multiple draws on your lottery and consider buying cartons instead of just a couple packs to reduce the number of visits you have to make. Also, sign your lottery at home. I can only clean the store pen so often.
Overall, please be polite. We as cashiers are dealing with a lot of stress as new memos are passed down from higher ups who (seem to us) get to hide away in offices. We are trying our best to not get sick and to not spread this around, please do your part.
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Replies
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Very good and insightful post. Thank you! When I shopped for groceries yesterday, there were 2 clerks; one was wearing gloves and one was not. Just think of all the germs that get exchanged between hands all day long.
Hope you stay healthy Taryn!2 -
Very good and insightful post. Thank you! When I shopped for groceries yesterday, there were 2 clerks; one was wearing gloves and one was not. Just think of all the germs that get exchanged between hands all day long.
Hope you stay healthy Taryn!
Hi Reenie! This is actually a very interesting point.
I have a sink readily available at work so washing my hands frequently is something I can do. I do also have gloves available but I don't wear them much(we have plastic money bills here and the gloves I have make it very difficult to separate them quickly).
Consider that a person who wears gloves through their shift can be worse than a person who doesn't IF the person who doesn't wear them takes different measures with either sanitizer or washing.
Gloves are only a good thing if changed frequently otherwise the germs/dirt/virus' collect on the surface same as they do on hands and can still be spread.
Gloves are great to help (especially with cleaning chemicals like bleach to disinfect) but not wearing gloves doesn't mean a person isn't doing what they can to keep safe.13 -
I'm from ON, Canada too! Thank you for all you do
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You are obviously really thoughtful and energetic about doing all you can, in a difficult situation, and in a job where it seems like some people don't properly respect or even notice your efforts. Thank you.
I've been thinking a lot about how the burden of the current situation falls more on some of us than others, whether financial burden, risk of contagion, or other effects.
It speaks to your character, how hard you're working to protect people who aren't always conscious of their own health practices, or conscientious about protecting others (hard to tell which, sometimes).
Your post humanizes some of the implications for us. I hope you and yours are able to stay healthy through this whole challenging process. People will rely more on the convenience stores as other options are reduced.
Thank you for all that you do, and sympathies for what you're experiencing. :flowerforyou:16 -
Very good and insightful post. Thank you! When I shopped for groceries yesterday, there were 2 clerks; one was wearing gloves and one was not. Just think of all the germs that get exchanged between hands all day long.
Hope you stay healthy Taryn!
Hi Reenie! This is actually a very interesting point.
I have a sink readily available at work so washing my hands frequently is something I can do. I do also have gloves available but I don't wear them much(we have plastic money bills here and the gloves I have make it very difficult to separate them quickly).
Consider that a person who wears gloves through their shift can be worse than a person who doesn't IF the person who doesn't wear them takes different measures with either sanitizer or washing.
Gloves are only a good thing if changed frequently otherwise the germs/dirt/virus' collect on the surface same as they do on hands and can still be spread.
Gloves are great to help (especially with cleaning chemicals like bleach to disinfect) but not wearing gloves doesn't mean a person isn't doing what they can to keep safe.
I had that exact conversation with my dh when I got home from the store.
I said wearing gloves isn't going to help much because it's just like another pair of hands. Unless you change them out all the time, and you know she can't be doing that. I guess in her mind, she's doing what she can to keep protected because, let's face it, she still sadly has to work. And most likely for little above minimum wage.
They do have an 'order ahead and pick up service' that I'm surprised they haven't hugely encouraged lately but it could be they've been maddeningly trying to simply keep up with the influx of shoppers.
On a very local note, our property taxes are due this week but if you pay online, use a credit card, it's a 3% surcharge for convenience. They're encouraging people to NOT show up in person yet doing nothing(like waiving the credit card fees??)to encourage them to call their payments in.
In these days of staying isolated and keeping a social distance, my heart goes out to everyone that still has to show up to do their job. For minimal pay and probably lack of appreciation. Most people get to return home with their stocked up groceries and hunker down. People like you, Taryn, are having to brave the daily contact of many. Along with all other public service workers, health workers, care-givers of any kind, etc. {{HUGS}} to everyone in those predicaments and who have more logistically to worry about. 5 -
You are obviously really thoughtful and energetic about doing all you can, in a difficult situation, and in a job where it seems like some people don't properly respect or even notice your efforts. Thank you.
I've been thinking a lot about how the burden of the current situation falls more on some of us than others, whether financial burden, risk of contagion, or other effects.
It speaks to your character, how hard you're working to protect people who aren't always conscious of their own health practices, or conscientious about protecting others (hard to tell which, sometimes).
Your post humanizes some of the implications for us. I hope you and yours are able to stay healthy through this whole challenging process. People will rely more on the convenience stores as other options are reduced.
Thank you for all that you do, and sympathies for what you're experiencing. :flowerforyou:
Well said!1 -
I used to be in the service industry so I can relate but I can't relate to what you're going through with this pandemic! Thank you stay healthy!1
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Our cashiers, in Italy, have masks and gloves. Stay safe hon!4
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Thank you everyone for the well wishes! We're doing ok here for now, as far as confirmed cases there was only one in my immediate geographic area as of Saturday. (I havent checked these past couple days for stats) So maybe it seems like over cautious actions but better too much action than too little.
I'm young (almost 30😒🙈) and relatively healthy so I'm not terribly worried for myself if I get sick but my grandparents what if they go out? My grandma just had to get her hair done on friday despite myself and my mother telling her to stay in. Church service was cancelled so we told her it was only grandpa that was going to see her *rolls eyes* but she went anyway...
What if that hairdresser didn't clean things as well as he could because he didn't think it was a big deal? What if she goes to pick up something she needs for dinner from the store and that cashier rolls his eyes and thinks everyone is overreacting and doesn't wipe down his station as frequently as he should? (One of my coworkers is young and like this😒😓) What if they get sick? My grandma is pretty healthy. My grandpa isn't. Losing him if he got sick would be a real terrifying possibility.
I don't want to be that cashier to someone else's grandparents.
Just consider even if you think you'll be fine, you probably know someone who might not be. Your parents, grandparents, kids or grandkids might be in the categories that are at higher risk. What about your best friend? Do they have someone who fits in one of the higher risk categories? What if they lost that person when it could be prevented? Imagine how they'd feel.
My best friend is my age and pretty healthy but she catches a cold or flu way more frequently than I do. I worry for Her. Her younger sister works as a psw in a few different places. I worry for Her.
I don't want to be alarmist or preachy or pushy and it would totally absolutely suck if I got sick personally but I hope I'd be fine. I just want everyone else to be fine as well.18 -
This also applies to healthcare workers. I currently work in a critical Care Access Hospital. Things here are chaotic to say the least. Many of us are leaving our families to help the people of our communities. We are all tired and working long hours. As more and more people are diagnosed and this is spreading the healthcare workers are on the front lines but are at a high risk of catching this. We wait everyday for the notice that the hospital is not allowing us to go home. We are just as scared as everyone else but we are here everyday. I will continue to come to work and help people. It's who I am. Screaming at us because you can't visit your relative or because we won't let you in with a fever doesn't help anyone and it sure doesn't help me provide care to your loved ones. In this scary time we should be kind to everyone.23
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I'm heading in to cover the graveyard shift in the ER for an ill coworker. I haven't seen my parents in weeks because I won't be the one to expose them. Honestly, they are being very good about isolating already.
I hate the way things are right now, but if everybody was as careful as the OP, I would worry less. Thank you.10 -
Thanks for your post OP and for starting an interesting topic.
My perspective of working as a practice nurse in a medical centre.
Reception has a barricade around it now so people have to be 1.7 m away from the receptionists.
and nobody is allowed in with flu like symptoms - they all have to ring from their car and Dr does a phone consult and if deemed neccesary, sends them to hospital for testing, by staff there in isolated room with full PPE
Some patients are coping with this and following it better than others
some get really cranky about waiting in their car - as if having a phone consult means Dr drops everything in the surgery to ring you instantly - no, he/she doesnt, you still have to wait your turn.
Do not do what one stupid patient did - after waiting in his car for a little while, he came in to the surgery, coughing and spluttering his way through a waiting room of non flu symptom patients, to ask reception how long the wait will be.
and of course it is impossible for us to keep social distance for everything. One person wanted me to give their child's vaccine from 1.7 m distance - no, I'm afraid I have to get closer to do that.
and of course people still need to come to the surgery for non Covid issues - and babies still need vaccinating.
No good them avoiding medical centers/us avoiding touching them on account of potential Covid - and then getting whooping cough because they aren't vaccinated - so crazy time and everything more complex.
Flu vaccinations start in another fortnight - always a crazy busy time of year but will be utter bedlam this year.
Good news for me of course - no danger of being laid off because not enough work, so Covid wont be a financial issue for me.
Except ,as for everyone, superannuation balances in free fall.
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I'm heading in to cover the graveyard shift in the ER for an ill coworker. I haven't seen my parents in weeks because I won't be the one to expose them. Honestly, they are being very good about isolating already.
I hate the way things are right now, but if everybody was as careful as the OP, I would worry less. Thank you.
OP here and thank you for continueing to show up at the ER. I know people with your kinds of jobs get a lot of exposure to this situation but we all still need hospitals to run and we have to count on staff like yourself showing up to places we'd all rather avoid ourselves. Please stay as safe as you can❤4 -
paperpudding wrote: »Thanks for your post OP and for starting an interesting topic.
My perspective of working as a practice nurse in a medical centre.
Reception has a barricade around it now so people have to be 1.7 m away from the receptionists.
and nobody is allowed in with flu like symptoms - they all have to ring from their car and Dr does a phone consult and if deemed neccesary, sends them to hospital for testing, by staff there in isolated room with full PPE
Some patients are coping with this and following it better than others
some get really cranky about waiting in their car - as if having a phone consult means Dr drops everything in the surgery to ring you instantly - no, he/she doesnt, you still have to wait your turn.
Do not do what one stupid patient did - after waiting in his car for a little while, he came in to the surgery, coughing and spluttering his way through a waiting room of non flu symptom patients, to ask reception how long the wait will be.
and of course it is impossible for us to keep social distance for everything. One person wanted me to give their child's vaccine from 1.7 m distance - no, I'm afraid I have to get closer to do that.
and of course people still need to come to the surgery for non Covid issues - and babies still need vaccinating.
No good them avoiding medical centers/us avoiding touching them on account of potential Covid - and then getting whooping cough because they aren't vaccinated - so crazy time and everything more complex.
Flu vaccinations start in another fortnight - always a crazy busy time of year but will be utter bedlam this year.
Good news for me of course - no danger of being laid off because not enough work, so Covid wont be a financial issue for me.
Except ,as for everyone, superannuation balances in free fall.
OP here, thanks for sharing how things are going in medical centers and thank you for doing your best to put up with all us cranky panicky people❤
I just want people to be aware of and to consider both sides of each interaction. Maybe knowing how you guys are dealing will help people be a bit more patient when demanding health services.
(In crap news globalnews.ca just let me know 23 new confirmed cases for Ontario bringing active cases to 205. 😝Gonna have to check if any are near me. Before now only three in my area But they were all travel related not community spread - I'd like to keep it that way.)3 -
Further to my last post, 2 patient interactions from today.
1. Patient who was given form for nasal swab last week..in the surgery today.
2. Me: oh, good, you got the all-clear.
No, I didn't get it done, couldn't be bothered going to the hospital and I'm all better now.
2. Patient with flu symptoms, waiting in car for phone consult.
Comes in to the surgery - but I just have to use your toilet
Umm, no, you don't.
( it's a country town, your home is 5 mins drive away, go there!!!)
No cases in my town yet - but if we get one, it's not going stay at one with that sort of thing.
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Thank you everyone for the well wishes! We're doing ok here for now, as far as confirmed cases there was only one in my immediate geographic area as of Saturday. (I havent checked these past couple days for stats) So maybe it seems like over cautious actions but better too much action than too little.
I'm young (almost 30😒🙈) and relatively healthy so I'm not terribly worried for myself if I get sick but my grandparents what if they go out? My grandma just had to get her hair done on friday despite myself and my mother telling her to stay in. Church service was cancelled so we told her it was only grandpa that was going to see her *rolls eyes* but she went anyway...
What if that hairdresser didn't clean things as well as he could because he didn't think it was a big deal? What if she goes to pick up something she needs for dinner from the store and that cashier rolls his eyes and thinks everyone is overreacting and doesn't wipe down his station as frequently as he should? (One of my coworkers is young and like this😒😓) What if they get sick? My grandma is pretty healthy. My grandpa isn't. Losing him if he got sick would be a real terrifying possibility.
I don't want to be that cashier to someone else's grandparents.
Just consider even if you think you'll be fine, you probably know someone who might not be. Your parents, grandparents, kids or grandkids might be in the categories that are at higher risk. What about your best friend? Do they have someone who fits in one of the higher risk categories? What if they lost that person when it could be prevented? Imagine how they'd feel.
My best friend is my age and pretty healthy but she catches a cold or flu way more frequently than I do. I worry for Her. Her younger sister works as a psw in a few different places. I worry for Her.
I don't want to be alarmist or preachy or pushy and it would totally absolutely suck if I got sick personally but I hope I'd be fine. I just want everyone else to be fine as well.
Your grandmother and her hair and my mother and her plant.
I've been shopping for my mom and Sunday she asked for her credit card back.
Me: Where are you going to use it?
Mom: At Lowe's for a bush.
Me: IS THAT AN ESSENTIAL PURCHASE???
Mom: It's seasonal.
Me: Can't Sean [her sometimes gardener] get it for you.
Mom: He hasn't called me back.
🤦♀️3 -
Since last posting here, we now have 6 cases in my town. 2 have fully recovered and completed their isolation period and allowed out again ( well, to the extent anyone is allowed out)
I think the others are doing ok but not as far along in their time frame.
Surgery is now only doing phone consults with doctors and any paperwork, like scripts, radiology,blood tests, referrals etc gets forwarded to the pharmacy or emailed on.
All elective procedures have been cancelled
Nurses are doing drive through clinics for flu vaccines and other neccesary injections. You stay in your car, nurse in PPE does injection through the window.2 -
In my Region we have 189 confirmed 66 resolved 10 deaths. In my actual City I don't know. I've avoided looking too closely because I was winding myself up and now when I try to look it up I keep getting the region stats because my city name is the region name.0
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My local Kroger installed plastic shields at the checkout lines. Most of the employees are wearing masks now.
They already had spacing markers at the checkout lines for a couple weeks, but now they've also designated the aisles as one-way wherever possible.0 -
My local Kroger installed plastic shields at the checkout lines. Most of the employees are wearing masks now.
They already had spacing markers at the checkout lines for a couple weeks, but now they've also designated the aisles as one-way wherever possible.
my local Krogers did as well, but they were all installed backwards :eyeroll So the shield is in front of the belt but when I customer comes up to the card reader, they are still eye-to-eye with the cashier and close enough to cough on them, etc. And its obvious they are backwards because the little cutout that is supposed to give the customer access to the card reader is on the opposite side of the cashier.......2 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »My local Kroger installed plastic shields at the checkout lines. Most of the employees are wearing masks now.
They already had spacing markers at the checkout lines for a couple weeks, but now they've also designated the aisles as one-way wherever possible.
my local Krogers did as well, but they were all installed backwards :eyeroll So the shield is in front of the belt but when I customer comes up to the card reader, they are still eye-to-eye with the cashier and close enough to cough on them, etc. And its obvious they are backwards because the little cutout that is supposed to give the customer access to the card reader is on the opposite side of the cashier.......
The grocery stores here have those shields too. The convenience store I work at has one too -- it's literally hanging from the ceiling by lengths of chain. Its also too short to cover some of the till area. Aside from that I still get the really stupid people that lean around it because they think I can't hear them through it. We've got tape on the floor too and I still get the occasional guys that argue that one particular strip isn't at six feet away it's more like seven and a half so they don't have to stand behind it they can stand in front *shakes head*4 -
snowflake954 wrote: »Our cashiers, in Italy, have masks and gloves. Stay safe hon!
Some of ours now have protective shields separating them from the customers.
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Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?5 -
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.8 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.
Such a pleasant post
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react.
I guess I should consider this too. I leave a lot of space in front of me in line and have been guilty of just shuffling forward a bit to get away from the person behind me rather than having to talk to them. Despite being a friendly verbose cashier at work in daily life I'm not much of a people person so I hate having to speak up to those I don't know.
Most reactions here, southern Ontario, have been polite when asked to stand back at markers or wait outside because I have too many people in store atm. There have been a few truly pissy people but most of the vitriol is directed at store policy or general politics rather than at me directly.
I have had customers get angry at each other for people skipping the line to get in the store. I work at a conveinience store and there's only ever one person on staff at a time. So we can ask people to wait when they open the door if people are already in but we cant really see who's next in line outside. One time a guy cut in and had another call him an *kitten* then that guy proceded to yell at the first guy and so on. Things like that happen on occasion but so far people haven't been really pissed directly at me for enforcing the customer limit and distancing.
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corinasue1143 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.
Such a pleasant post
The world isn't always a pleasant place. Every one of the possibilities I cited have actually occurred in the U.S. by people offended by being asked to comply with masking rules.
ETA: I've personally experienced people jeering at me and apparently intentionally crowding me just because I was wearing a mask and they weren't, without my saying anything to them. If there are people that aggressive just over my wearing a mask, I don't want the risk that they would escalate their behavior if I asked them to comply with the spacing lines on the floor.9 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.
Such a pleasant post
About an hour down the road from me, a store security guard was shot - dead, murdered - by two men after he told someone they knew that she had to wear a mask in the store. That's quite an unpleasant story, but I don't see why someone shouldn't admit they're concerned about something like that being possible, when it has actually happened.13 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.
Such a pleasant post
About an hour down the road from me, a store security guard was shot - dead, murdered - by two men after he told someone they knew that she had to wear a mask in the store. That's quite an unpleasant story, but I don't see why someone shouldn't admit they're concerned about something like that being possible, when it has actually happened.
Totally agree!
1 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »corinasue1143 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Eh well we do what we can as citizens and go from there. My store finally got a bigger plexiglass guard a couple weeks back which is nice for my piece of mind if still not terribly effective given the very infectious nature of this virus. I still regularly spray down counters and doors handles and /everything/ with bleach water (that I make any day I come in because everyone else would rather the nameless disinfectant from head office -- literally it's a bottle of neon yellow concentrate in a water bottle to be diluted at specific amounts but no label) or the random disinfectant that come from head office. We've got those blue and white surgical masks from head office too.So disinfection is a great idea, but it's a pity that not all people practice it.
It's a lot of stress all around but I'm slowly getting more used to it I guess. It makes me think a lot because a lot of the stress is I don't want to be a carrier and spread it to family but also a lot is also I don't want anyone getting sick coming to the store I work at.
It's worth thinking on that if I only worried over myself getting sick I'd have to do a lot less cleaning and be a lot less careful at work than I do now. If I wanted to be less stressed all I'd have to do is not care if the customers got sick and that's a pretty horrible outlook but it crosses my mind any time I get a particularly stupid customer at the till. Like I'm doing my best and they don't give a *kitten*. It just makes it hard to care when I'm trying and then I see people who can't even be bothered to stand back from other people.
I told a lady today just to note for next time I need you standing back at the floor marker when someone is at the till and she just scoffed and waved her hand. I told her don't wave at me the markers are there for a reason and she just didn't reply. Paid for her snacks and left.
The guy in front of her didn't ask her to back up and obviously she didnt care so why should I?
I have been in the position of the guy in front of the crowding customer and I would be hesitant to say something to the crowder because you never know how this particular crowder will react. Will they push their face toward mine and start screaming, spewing droplets? Will they spit on me for being a "snowflake lib"? Will they take a swing? Will they pull a weapon?
I don't blame you for being stressed out and not wanting to have to engage with the many folks you are forced to deal with all day who don't follow the rules. I find being in a grocery store very stressful. I've pared it down to once every three weeks, and I've found Sunday mornings about a half hour after the seniors-only period to be a fairly non-busy time. When they lift restrictions in my state, I may see if I can stretch out the time between shopping trips to four weeks. If there are other people like me, at least the volume of customers you face will go down, but of course the percentage of them that are scofflaws will go up.
Such a pleasant post
About an hour down the road from me, a store security guard was shot - dead, murdered - by two men after he told someone they knew that she had to wear a mask in the store. That's quite an unpleasant story, but I don't see why someone shouldn't admit they're concerned about something like that being possible, when it has actually happened.
Totally agree!
Yep! I don't trust anyone anymore. This virus has made monsters out of people already on the edge. And it's created stress in most everyone else.
I'll do everything that I can to keep myself and others safe but I'm not going to start giving people grief out loud because you just never know what they're capable of anymore. That's why I come here to vent. 
7
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