Working Retail

Working in retail during the holiday season in the middle of a pandemic

I have previously working in catering/food service for the last 6 years, so I haven't had the experience of retail before. While food service and catering can be just as bad there is something completely different working in retail at the holidays.

I work in a big box specialty store so crowds have still been insane even within a pandemic going on. I have been working there for only a few months so I got a little time just working in the normal retail before everything changed for the holidays. It can be overwhelming with people crowding into a store especially when they are not taking the current state of the world into consideration.

I have seen first hand now, the amount of people who come in and refuse to wear masks or make up some ridiculous health issue that prevents them from doing it. Also for some reason they think that we as the cashiers really want to hear about their political beliefs or their conspiracy theories on the Coronavirus. I am just here to ring you out so you can take your presents home, and spend the holidays with your family.

We knew it was going to be busy but we were hoping for people to do a little more shopping on our website rather than piling into the store since there is a pandemic still happening but that has not happened. The crowds have been consistent and there are always the customers who don't wear masks. We sanitize our checkout area every hour as well as the door handles. The staff is also wearing masks and sanitizing our hands as often as we can. We are doing out part to keep our shoppers safe, especially during the crazed holiday season.

So this post is to say that please stay safe if you have to go out in these next few days so close to Christmas and just know that the staff at the places you are going to are risking their lives in order to let you do your shopping. So be patient and kind and do your best to protect them.

This is a quick post but I just thought it was something worth a share.