Regardless of the time of year, working in retail has always been something that is interesting. There's always the strong mix of people who are down to earth kind and just make you feel warm inside. There are also those customers who you knew that if you could still keep your job after fighting them, you definitely would fight them.
In a time where something as simple as wearing a mask to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has become political, workers in businesses everywhere have been feeling the burn as the ones who must implement these rules. There have been viral videos popping up everywhere of confrontations between retail workers and customers over wearing a mask - the social media presence has generally been pro wearing a mask. There even was a Go Fund Me starting for a Starbucks employee who refused to service a woman who was not wearing a mask.
When my store first opened back up, I wasn't sure exactly how to feel. With the flawed unemployment system in my state, I was glad that I would finally be getting a reliable source of income again. But with regaining a source of income was my acceptance of the fact that I am a lot less safe going back to the store than I was social distancing inside my home. There are a lot of changes that have been implemented in order to try to mitigate any potential spread of the virus such as constantly cleaning counters and surfaces, wearing gloves while checking people out, and social distance stickers at the sales line.
Despite the best efforts by employees to clean and social distance, I've personally found that a good amount of people who visit stores don't really care about the measures taking place. A customer would ask me for help and I would try to help from six feet away, just to be asked why I didn't care enough to get closer. People will place their hands on employees like a virus wasn't out there and get offended when retail workers are visibly comfortable. I've seen countless masks thrown onto the ground or counters and some people using face masks as headbands or cutting a hole to breathe better.
There's always been a stigma that people working in basic jobs didn't mean much to society; they're just unessential jobs by people without proper jobs. If this was the case, all the workers risking their health every day wouldn't be doing what they do. They wouldn't have to be dealing with people who don't care enough to take the necessary precautions to keep them safe. People shouldn't be leisurely shopping right now but if they do, just be considerate of workers.
