Column One | Clean up on aisle everywhere: A day in the life of supermarket workers during coronavirus
And in the age of COVID-19, it seemed positively indecent.
Some workers have received an hourly bump in appreciation pay. A growing number across the U.S. have become ill. Dozens have died. On a recent Monday, under a muddy night sky, a cashier rang a doorbell at the front of the store, signaling her arrival. A Naked juice truck pulled around back to drop off its supplies. It was 5 a.m., and the store was already busy.In the produce department, a worker picked out Gala apples, onions, Roma tomatoes and oranges and then piled them on a cart to fill half a dozen online delivery orders. The store has hired 30 extra employees as demand for these deliveries increased.
“Morning folks, how are we doing today?” Capone asked, speaking through a brown mask. He recognized one of his regulars, 75-year-old Diane DeWeese. “Hi, how are you?” Debbie Alexander asked, her voice bright, as she scanned a customer’s Scott toilet paper and paper towels. After 40 years, Alexander knows exactly where every bar code is placed.“You found gold today,” Alexander said, as she laughed through her mask, decorated with Disney’s Belle and the prince — after he’d transformed back into a human, after the nightmare ended.Despite her cheerful exterior, Alexander at times uses breathing exercises to help keep herself calm.
Alexander worked 19 days straight in March. Albertsons Companies, which owns Vons, announced a temporary $2 per hour increase in pay, which started March 15. The Plexiglas didn’t go up until the end of the month.But it wasn’t all bad. There was the customer who paid for a woman in front of her after she struggled to find her money. The one who offered Alexander $20 as a thank you — which the cashier gently declined. Local businesses bought lunches for employees or donated Starbucks gift cards.
When everything began, Talleda said, they worked longer shifts and had to guide the customers through all the new rules. Customers included nurses, doctors and ambulance service workers. Some of them wore plastic face shields and gloves; others, just flimsy paper masks.Antoinette Villegas directed a couple to checkout lane 5. They glared at her when she asked if one of them could wait at the front of the store while the other made their purchase. She’s been cussed out a few times when she’s made the same request.don’t sleep in the same bed,” Villegas said.
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