Working in the Middle of a Pandemic

The ongoing Coronavirus Outbreak of 2019-2020 has impacted the global economy immensely. The pandemic placed a humongous pause on society. Only employees deemed as essential continued to work, while an estimated 47 million Americans were forced into unemployment. Across the nation, businesses were closed for the larger part of 2 full months between March and May. Some states, such as Ohio, decided to ease into re-opening through systems of phases, while others jumped back into normalcy far too quickly. As the United States peeked back out into civilization, employees working for re-opening businesses faced an eerie reality with a multitude of emotions. 

Customer service associates are required to display a variety of attributes – reliability and resilience, to name a few – regardless of how they are treated. Maintaining kindness and being told, “the customer is always right” presented a much larger challenge for both essential and non-essential workers alike. Below sits a collection of accounts from hard-working, college-aged women across the nation. These are testimonies of their experiences working through the global pandemic.

Alice – Service Worker

As a service worker, I took orders and handed food out to customers. I started working full 40-hour weeks in June.  We were required to wear masks and gloves at all times.  We received a surprising amount of complaints from customers about the new and constantly changing policies. People would whine that the masks were too hot, and the majority of people barely wore them high enough to cover both their mouths and noses. 

Whenever I was handed cash, I had to wash my hands and change gloves. Because of the national change shortage, I’d have to ask people to round up their total or even use exact change. This not only inconvenienced the customers but myself as well.  It felt as though I’d have to explain that the change shortage was national and there was nothing I could do about it to every other car in the drive-thru. 

The main thing I’d tell customers is just to be polite. Working through a pandemic is stressful enough. Worrying about my own health and my family’s health while handling crazy people adds an additional layer of stress.  We had to listen to customers tell us that the virus isn’t even real on the daily. I grew tired of getting yelled at over every minuscule thing; it’s honestly enough to make someone want to pick up and leave.  Please have some extra patience and grace for the people who serve you.

Joanna – Math Tutor

I tutor college students in their math courses from College Algebra to Calculus 1 through a drop-in tutoring service on campus.  I work a few hours a week but am always “on-call” so to speak. Students book by appointment during my scheduled availability, and then our system requires them to confirm the time 24 hours in advance so I have some notice.  I did not stop working in March.  

When we switched to remote learning for the remainder of spring semester, we tried to keep things as normal as possible.  I had a team of students on Webex during three, one-hour drop-in sessions each week. I always made sure to monitor the chat for questions.  Students utilized this online platform a lot towards the beginning; however, once we were a couple of weeks in, no students showed up until we reached the end of the semester for finals season. 

Webex wasn’t working too well for us, so we had to switch over to Microsoft Teams for summer tutoring. This allowed us to connect with a website called Microsoft Bookings which lets students schedule their own appointments as needed. However, the demand for this was very low during the summer months.  Tutoring online definitely helped me learn a lot about technology as I had to learn two brand new systems.  The experience of this past spring semester with virtual meetings has made me become more confident and comfortable with video chat platforms, which I previously disliked.  

One of the biggest struggles was having a student who did not have strong enough WiFi for video chat.  Instead of using Teams, we had a “meeting” over the phone once a week and corresponded regularly over Group Me. This was especially challenging while tutoring in the content area of math because I could not use features such as a whiteboard to actively show the student what I was trying to explain. Typing rather than handwriting math equations can also make things more confusing for students. Speaking over the phone doesn’t enable you to see their facial expressions to indicate whether or not they understand the material. Regardless, I think this experience will help me in the long run. I have learned how to use more precise language, which will help as I plan to be a teacher.  Even if/when I am in a physical classroom with students in the future, I think this will better my teaching.

I don’t have “customers” or “clients” per se since this is a free service provided for students on my campus. However, I will say this as a future educator with [limited] experience tutoring remotely: be patient and appreciative of all the effort teachers have put in this last semester. Yes, it has been a challenge for students, but it has also been a challenge for those teaching.  No one received a warning that they would have to quickly adapt to remote learning.  Educators have had to put in extra effort and even work through their summer to plan for all the unknowns of this current fall semester.

Kellie – Camp Counselor

I served as a camp counselor for a camp I have been attending since I was four years old.  It’s very dear to my heart.  The typical camp week runs Sunday through Friday, and counselors are on duty the entire time. Because it was an overnight camp, counselors didn’t get much of a break other than Saturdays.  Working there during a pandemic was rather difficult and interesting. 

Communication wasn’t the best this year.  When we first arrived, we spent a full week of training going over rules and preparing the grounds for a weird summer.  Due to COVID regulations, staff members had to wear masks everywhere. This was particularly hard to follow, considering that we practically all lived together for the whole summer.  We also had to keep our cabins socially distant from other cabins and other campers, which was incredibly difficult.  Students who had previously attended summer camps were used to a certain way of camp and didn’t enjoy the changes we had to make.  We had to consistently remind them (and ourselves) to do our best and follow the rules.

I’d like to tell others that members at every job around the world are doing their best to keep people safe. Sometimes people slip up, but in the end, we all have to do our part.  Even though we may not understand everything now, we have to keep going and doing our best.

 

Hannah – Store Manager

Long story short, one of our store managers quit 4 nights prior to retail re-opening in my state this May.  The promotion from brand associate to store manager was practically plopped into my lap, and I hesitantly accepted the full-time position. Initially, business was terribly slow. A lot of regular customers had no clue we were even back open, and those who did seemed very hesitant to be out and about.  As the weeks drew on, word spread like wildfire and we began to see more people and bigger purchases.

After two weeks of being open, our corporate offices decided to have us go cashless. This was met equally with praise and disdain. The purpose of the protocol was to protect both customers and employees from contact. Handling cash – an already filthy surface – is a germy exchange. Despite the release of articles indicating that COVID-19 doesn’t survive well on surfaces, it can still be dangerous. Another safety protocol put into effect after re-opening affected returns and exchanges. We were not allowed to return any product or accept any exchanges. Corporate was solely trying to implement protocols to help protect their employees; selfish customers wanted us to accept their legal tenders and exchange their junk from before the national shutdown.

Overall, the greatest challenge was maintaining safety and solid customer service simultaneously. While most obliged to our wishes, a multitude of individuals refused the mask-wearing, 6-feet social distancing, and hand sanitizing protocols. Despite some altercations with customers, we employees did what we could by wearing masks 24/7, wiping down the register and cash wrap after every transaction, disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, sanitizing carts and baskets after every use, and keeping our distance.

If you decide to venture out to shop, dine, and explore, consider a few things:

1. Put your mask on. Wearing a mask protects other people from your germs. Selfishness comes easily to human nature – especially after spending so much time alone indoors – but try to think of others more highly than yourself.

2. Pay with a card. While cash is still a legal and widely accepted tender, charging a card eliminates contact. There’s also a national change shortage, and both small and large businesses alike are truly struggling. If you must pay with cash, attempt to pay with exact change, or exhibit understanding when a business asks you to round up your total.

3. Be kind. This is easier said than done, but I promise: you and the working class will feel better about yourselves after a positive interaction rather than a negative altercation. Obey businesses’ wishes and safety protocols if you are going to enter their space. They are open and working for you, so treat them with the utmost respect.

• COVID-19
• job
• pandemic
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