Item
Journal of a Walmart employee
Title (Dublin Core)
Journal of a Walmart employee
Description (Dublin Core)
Journal entries.
Date (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
Text
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Business & Industry
English
Social Issues
English
Emotion
English
Labor
English
Biography
English
Health & Wellness
Collection (Dublin Core)
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
05/08/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
08/23/2020
11/27/2020
03/28/2021
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/08/2020
Text (Omeka Classic)
My Journal- I have chosen to remain anonymous to ensure during these uncertain times I will not risk a lawsuit. I am an employee at Walmart. I have worked in retail a few years, but at a different company. I have only been working at Walmart for three weeks so far. This is my experience of working for Walmart during the Covid-19 pandemic.
4/16/2020-
After work today I am reminded that the world has changed for good. Today, I experienced people lashing out at my supervisor for coming to close. Which resulted in him lashing back asking the person to not be so rude. It seems to me through my observations of how people treat the employees who are working, some are grateful of them, many ignore them, and a minority, but they do exist treat us as the enemy. As if when they enter the store they are in a battle for their life. Therefore, all those who exist within the battlefield are trying to take their life. When in reality most of us are just trying to keep up with the demand of the customers and earn a paycheck, while keeping ourselves safe. It is difficult to assume people's motives, but I think one thing we all want is, is to be safe. Thus, I hope that people will begin to become less scared of other people and more empathetic. We all are trying to stay healthy and in order to do this we need to care for ourselves by caring for others. That means being aware of space and communicating your desires. Such as, if you want an item of a shelve I am stocking, tell me that and I will move, please do not stand behind me and assume I can read your mind, or stand next to me and grab the item. All in all, we need to care for eachother.
4/17/2020
Today, I was asked if I had any changes to my health, which I said no. Then my temperature was taken and I was sent on my way. This all seems so futile. These measures will not stop the spread of Covid-19. Even if they were more strict. I was asked to relieve someone counting the people entering the store at 11:45am today. I was having trouble with my glasses fogging up while my mask was on, so I was forced to take it off in order to keep with the people entering the store. Felt a little awkward, but the fact that the security guard who has been there for two weeks now has not been wearing one made me feel a little less worried. I wonder if it is just luck that we have not gotten it yet or if there is an explanation. Perhaps it is just a matter of time. While I was up front today someone attempted to cut through the barricade, they ended up falling over and needed help to get up. The security guard said, he was surprised that he let him grab his hand to pull him up. Even when you try to help someone you risk harming them these days. Maybe, that was always the case?
4/20/2020
Today may have been the hardest day yet. There have been more changes in the store. Walmart is requiring us to wear masks, but not the customers, meaning the company wants to save face, rather than protect its employees. Also, my department, which is meant to stock the grocery departments, is now at the doors, managing customers and “improving” sanitation. Again another sad attempt by Walmart to pretend they are worried about safety, when they overwork their employees for the same pay, ask us to take shorter breaks, and not have any concern for the policies they put in place. Working for this company gets more and more frustrating as the days go on.
4/24/2020
One thing I have not mentioned in this diary is that I never received any money from the stimulus bill that was passed. This came as no surprise as I assumed I would not get anything, but my brother who was not claimed as a dependant, also did not get anything. Anyways, I requested to be terminated after two weeks today at Walmart. I will be switching jobs now that some businesses are working to reopen. Also, today I found out that an employee at more store tested positive for Covid-19. This has caused some people to become worried
4/26/2020
Another day of counting the people entering the store. We are losing people a lot now, I assume due to the news that we have a positive case in the store. Today they lessened the number of people required at the door, due to the limited number of employees. This allowed some of my team to work the pallets that were beginning to fill the back room.
5/4/2020
As of today I am no longer working at Walmart, I was able to get a new job at a golf course, which is preferable due to the lack of people that I will be coming in contact with. I wish I had populated this journal more, but the last week has been pretty mind-numbing due to the lack of actual work I have been doing. My work schedule was to go to work at four in the morning, do actual work for three hours, then stand at the front door for the last 6 hours of my shift sometimes doing work, but for the most part just standing around. Not much exciting happened during the last week, but I would say that we need to hold all companies to a higher standard, if everyone knew how half-assed Walmart's approach was to this, at least the Walmart I worked at, then I would hope people would stop shopping there, but some people don’t have that option since Walmart is able to have lower prices than most other grocery stores.
Conclusion
All in all my experience at Walmart started out well, when I was actually working, but ended badly, due to the lack of management around their coronavirus response. At my store, we were asked to have three people at each door one to count customers, one to sanitize carts, and one to make sure customers enter the correct door. This was never a hard fast rule, because the managers decided to only have the team that is meant to stock grocery placed on the door. Therefore, as soon as we left or we didn’t have the people to do it then there would be only one person there and they would not be able to sanitize the carts. I don’t know Walmarts reasoning for not staffing the doors better, if its a hiring issue, but I would have hoped they would have placed a bit more importance on the idea of sanitation and cleanliness. With this message I will be ending this journal, your money matters and if you choose to spend your money with a company that does not meet your standards you only reinforce those practices, so please spend wisely!
4/16/2020-
After work today I am reminded that the world has changed for good. Today, I experienced people lashing out at my supervisor for coming to close. Which resulted in him lashing back asking the person to not be so rude. It seems to me through my observations of how people treat the employees who are working, some are grateful of them, many ignore them, and a minority, but they do exist treat us as the enemy. As if when they enter the store they are in a battle for their life. Therefore, all those who exist within the battlefield are trying to take their life. When in reality most of us are just trying to keep up with the demand of the customers and earn a paycheck, while keeping ourselves safe. It is difficult to assume people's motives, but I think one thing we all want is, is to be safe. Thus, I hope that people will begin to become less scared of other people and more empathetic. We all are trying to stay healthy and in order to do this we need to care for ourselves by caring for others. That means being aware of space and communicating your desires. Such as, if you want an item of a shelve I am stocking, tell me that and I will move, please do not stand behind me and assume I can read your mind, or stand next to me and grab the item. All in all, we need to care for eachother.
4/17/2020
Today, I was asked if I had any changes to my health, which I said no. Then my temperature was taken and I was sent on my way. This all seems so futile. These measures will not stop the spread of Covid-19. Even if they were more strict. I was asked to relieve someone counting the people entering the store at 11:45am today. I was having trouble with my glasses fogging up while my mask was on, so I was forced to take it off in order to keep with the people entering the store. Felt a little awkward, but the fact that the security guard who has been there for two weeks now has not been wearing one made me feel a little less worried. I wonder if it is just luck that we have not gotten it yet or if there is an explanation. Perhaps it is just a matter of time. While I was up front today someone attempted to cut through the barricade, they ended up falling over and needed help to get up. The security guard said, he was surprised that he let him grab his hand to pull him up. Even when you try to help someone you risk harming them these days. Maybe, that was always the case?
4/20/2020
Today may have been the hardest day yet. There have been more changes in the store. Walmart is requiring us to wear masks, but not the customers, meaning the company wants to save face, rather than protect its employees. Also, my department, which is meant to stock the grocery departments, is now at the doors, managing customers and “improving” sanitation. Again another sad attempt by Walmart to pretend they are worried about safety, when they overwork their employees for the same pay, ask us to take shorter breaks, and not have any concern for the policies they put in place. Working for this company gets more and more frustrating as the days go on.
4/24/2020
One thing I have not mentioned in this diary is that I never received any money from the stimulus bill that was passed. This came as no surprise as I assumed I would not get anything, but my brother who was not claimed as a dependant, also did not get anything. Anyways, I requested to be terminated after two weeks today at Walmart. I will be switching jobs now that some businesses are working to reopen. Also, today I found out that an employee at more store tested positive for Covid-19. This has caused some people to become worried
4/26/2020
Another day of counting the people entering the store. We are losing people a lot now, I assume due to the news that we have a positive case in the store. Today they lessened the number of people required at the door, due to the limited number of employees. This allowed some of my team to work the pallets that were beginning to fill the back room.
5/4/2020
As of today I am no longer working at Walmart, I was able to get a new job at a golf course, which is preferable due to the lack of people that I will be coming in contact with. I wish I had populated this journal more, but the last week has been pretty mind-numbing due to the lack of actual work I have been doing. My work schedule was to go to work at four in the morning, do actual work for three hours, then stand at the front door for the last 6 hours of my shift sometimes doing work, but for the most part just standing around. Not much exciting happened during the last week, but I would say that we need to hold all companies to a higher standard, if everyone knew how half-assed Walmart's approach was to this, at least the Walmart I worked at, then I would hope people would stop shopping there, but some people don’t have that option since Walmart is able to have lower prices than most other grocery stores.
Conclusion
All in all my experience at Walmart started out well, when I was actually working, but ended badly, due to the lack of management around their coronavirus response. At my store, we were asked to have three people at each door one to count customers, one to sanitize carts, and one to make sure customers enter the correct door. This was never a hard fast rule, because the managers decided to only have the team that is meant to stock grocery placed on the door. Therefore, as soon as we left or we didn’t have the people to do it then there would be only one person there and they would not be able to sanitize the carts. I don’t know Walmarts reasoning for not staffing the doors better, if its a hiring issue, but I would have hoped they would have placed a bit more importance on the idea of sanitation and cleanliness. With this message I will be ending this journal, your money matters and if you choose to spend your money with a company that does not meet your standards you only reinforce those practices, so please spend wisely!
Accrual Method (Dublin Core)
3610