Items

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  2020-09-22

  Mask Sign at Retail Store

  This image of a sign at a store, posted on Facebook, hit home with the woman who posted, whose daughter works for a retail store and had recently dealt with an extremely aggressive customer. While there is not information regarding where this sign was posted, many small businesses who want to protect their employees are posting similar messages to express their frustration with those refusing to follow mask ordinances and store policies. Stores and restaurants are often private property, meaning that even if states don't require precautions such as masks, businesses are still allowed to have their own requirements before allowing customers to enter.
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  2021-02-05

  The Inhumanity of Zoom

  With the increase in teleworking due to the pandemic has come an increase in Zoom meetings. These meetings have proven to be almost inhumane in my mind, as it's very difficult to communicate with others without nonverbal cues and people use the impersonal nature of communicating over a screen rather than in person to be pushy, rude, and self-absorbed. Although the pandemic will end one day, Zoom meetings will probably still be prevalent and lessons must be learned about how to make these meetings polite, uplifting, and productive.
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  2020-08-25

  Wendy's During Corona Season

  A job in food service is almost never fun. However, a global pandemic tends to somehow make it worse. I work at Wendy's along with my friend Trinity (pictured in photo #2). Working at the same restaurant before and during the COVID-19 pandemic allows us to really experience the impacts of it all, and we see the changes every day. Wearing masks, gloves, and sometimes face shields, at all times is just one example of the "new normal" in food service. The lax environment of work before the pandemic seems almost comedic compared to what is now required. However, the internal changes during COVID-19 are a drop in the bucket compared to the change in how customers treat us. What used to be a few rude customers in a majority of nice customers has completely changed. It may be the fear of the virus, or the newfound unfamiliarity with the outside world, but food/customer service has never been so taxing on workers.
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  2020-05-20

  Essential Worker Exhaustion

  A sign taped up in an unknown store window expressing the staff's frustration and asking for kindness following incidents in which customers were rude to already overworked staff.
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  2020-04-18

  Some people don't care about grocery store rules

  A small story about my tales of working at a grocery store during our pandemic. As of the last couple of weeks, my grocery store has had a limit on certain items like meat, water, eggs, toilet paper, etc. I was working in at customer service this day and I was making sure things were in order, wasn't really busy anyway. We had this couple come up to me and ask if I was ready to check them out and I directed them to a register, but before they walked away I realized they had 2 cases of water and 5 things of chicken. I informed them of our limit on those specific items right now, even though we had signed by each of these items explaining the same thing. The husband told me " What if I just come back in and buy the rest, are you going to stop me?". That really caught me off guard because it was such a disregard for basic rules. I told him still, he has to put some of it back, he kept joking around he was gonna put it back or come back in. He played it off like I wasn't paying attention by just putting the water back. He put it on some random shelf right behind him too. He still got into line with all the chicken. I told another cashier to tell them the same thing. So as they checked out they had 2 more cashiers tell them. I was told the guy said him and his wife would split the order so they could get all the chicken. I can't imagine just wanting something so bad you gotta just bend around the rules to get it, especially when those rules are in place to make things fair to other people. In the end, he had to put the 3 extra chickens back because of a manager getting involved. I don't know why people can't respect simple rules.