If you meet anyone who has worked in either retail or any sort of job that involves the general public, they will most assuredly have a few stories to tell that will make your skin crawl and your faith in humanity shatter.
Before the outbreak, I worked in the café at Tesco which I can tell you was a tough year and a half. Customers were often rude, unapologetic and grumpy. Some people I believed just came in for the sake of trying to ruin my day. They succeeded…many times.
There were some good days however, as some people were so kind and generous that I had trouble trying to figure out if they were real or not. Like a mythical being.
Now, I work in the actual store which I won’t lie, isn’t too bad considering there’s a deadly virus going around. People are only being let in a few at a time, meaning that there’s less people in the store and because of the pandemic, some people have genuinely become a lot nicer. One woman even bought me an Easter egg which was one of the best things that has happened to me this year.
Some people after I finish serving them on the till even say things like “have a nice day” and “stay safe.”
This isn’t to say that working at Tesco during Covid-19 has been lovely, because believe me there are still some issues that I have to deal with.
For starters, when shopping was limited and you were only allowed to buy three of each item, people got upset. One man wasn’t allowed to buy more than three tins of fish and he started getting upset with me and saying that I should stop being “nit-picky”. I had to tell him that it was the store rules and that we all have to deal with it. He didn’t seem too happy about that.
My friend who also worked at the café who now also works in Tesco, got yelled at the other day which really upset her.
I even heard a story about a man who got so angry that he started yelling and spitting at people. The security guard got so mad he forced the man to get a refund and put all his shopping back. It just goes to show how scary things can get in just a couple of months.
However, I try and remain optimistic when I go into work on a Saturday morning. I smile at people and try to remain cheerful and be grateful that I no longer have to work in the café and make coffees for people.