Life During Lockdown Part 2: Through the Eyes of a Cashier During a Pandemic

Photo: Anna Snisarenko

Through the eyes of a cashier during a pandemic

By MELISSA SANCHEZ

The deafening and insistent sound of my alarm at 6:50 a.m. is the pleasant way that I wake almost every day to get ready for work. After a while, I get up, get dressed, brush my teeth, and head out the door, face mask on and ready for my 30-minute commute (15 minutes on the train, 15 minutes walking — not so shabby). 

As I walk up to the market, passing the line of customers waiting to get inside, I enter and get settled. My cash drawer is given to me by my manager to put in the register. I'm now ready for the day.

One by one, customers come, I ring them up, and they're on their way. A tumbleweed might blow through the room, it’s so deserted due to social distancing occupancy rules. I'm usually on my phone for a couple of minutes while I wait for more customers. Even though it’s a repetitive job, hours can go by like minutes.

My coworkers and I do receive a lot of thank you’s “for coming to work today” and lots of “I really appreciate your work and you being here.” It's comforting and relieving to see how this pandemic has brought lots of communities together.

Back in the first few weeks that this virus was treated seriously, people began packing themselves inside the market, throwing canned items and frozen goods into their shopping carts and filling them to the top. Checkout lines seemed never-ending. Due to people shopping as if we were in an apocalypse, we began to take more safety precautions. 

Now, not only are we wearing masks and gloves, but we began putting X marks on the floor six feet from each other, and the manager also put plastic screens in front of the register so we would feel protected. We have a limit of 15 people allowed in the store, and like many other essential stores, we have a policy that nobody without a face mask or face cover is allowed in. Throughout the day, people without a face cover try to come in and end up storming off, occasionally with a few insulting things to say.

I'd say about a week ago, an older man came in without a face mask. He was seen by one of our workers, who told our manager. Like older people sometimes do, this customer got upset, saying that he takes vitamins and is very healthy. He called other people idiots for wearing masks, got into an altercation with the owner, threatened to slap him, and told the owner to go back where he came from. That angered another customer who I was ringing up. She suggested we call the police. We didn’t do that, but of course, we have no intention of letting him enter the store again.

Once it hits 3:00 p.m., it starts to get busy, and although we do have a limit of how many people are in the store, lines outside tend to get long. It seems it’s always around 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. when everyone comes to get their week's groceries or whatever it is they need to make their dinner, or simply a snack for when they want to watch a movie with the family during quarantine.

Due to the pandemic, many of my coworkers have called out, out of fear, which is very reasonable, and I'm not one to complain because I'm lucky to be working at the moment. A few of our cashiers have chosen not to come in to work at all for the safety of their family. Because of this, a few of us have had to work more hours than usual.

During my breaks, since there is nowhere to go, I head back to the deli where I sit in the corner, out of the deli worker’s way, and eat a lunch or just use my phone for a bit, occasionally calling up some friends since I haven't seen them for a while.   

The market I work at closes at 7:00 p.m., the same time we hear the claps and cheers of the neighborhood thanking the essential workers for what they’re doing. At that time, we close the doors, bring down the gates, ring up the final customers, and begin sweeping, mopping, wiping down, and cleaning up for the next day.