This report is no normal report. The source will be
myself and the experiences I have while working at ShopRite during the
coronavirus. The reason why I am referring to it as a social crisis is due to
the social reaction of this pandemic.
It all started after President Trump announced his
State of Union last week. I remember going into work and not being able to get
to the time clock due to the amount of people on line waiting to get
checked-out. Now I have been working at ShopRite for a few weeks and I can
admit I am not one to watch the news, so of course it was a surprise to me to
see that many people.
Regardless I was able to check-in and I started
working. I was put behind a register and started checking people out. In that
moment I realized how terrified people were getting, and how media influences
their everyday life. I started asking myself, did they not realize that even in
a quarantine supermarkets and pharmacies would still be open? Did they not do
their own research? Did these people really only rely on what social media and
the news tell them? So I started asking the customers, why were they buying so
much, why were they panicking, and why were they thinking that we’d close?
And I’d always get the same answers, “well I saw it on
Facebook to stock up in case the state would lock us in.” or I also got, “who
knows how long this will last.” You could imagine my response, “As long as we’re
open ma’am/sir we will always have the essentials like food and water. That
will not go away as long as you guys take an appropriate amount.”
To this they would say, “well I’d rather have more
then be left with none.” And so that is how after that one night, after being
on the cash register for 4 hours back to back, after seeing the hundreds of
dollars being wasted, I realized that the media and the news is all this
population needs to turn themselves into madmen.
After we closed that night, we moved hand carts with
returns and it took us two hours to put them back, and even after that there
were still a few left. After that night, we were left with no toilet paper and
water. For the next few days it was the same. There was a limit on water,
people would complain about the limit. They would buy two waters, go leave it
in their cars, come back and buy more. I had families claim they live in
separate households just so they can take six to nine cases of water.
After two days we were left with no eggs or milk,
mothers that had WIC weren’t able to get those items because they weren’t
available. We ran out of bread, pasta, pasta sauce, canned vegetables, fresh
vegetables and fruits. And even after the limits were set people would find
loopholes, they would put in a different membership number to get more stuff,
because the limit was per customer, they would go to different cashiers after
each purchase so we wouldn’t recognize them. It got to the point where I was
getting frustrated with the costumers, but there was nothing I can do.
One afternoon I went in and a lady needed assistance,
so I helped her get waters, she was claiming she was getting some for her
neighbor so I told her she could take two more. Then towards closing, I see her
again but this time she was with her husband and he had his own cart. They were
both getting more waters and trying to buy more cleaning supplies, because I
was her cashier I remembered what she bought, so I went to tell my manager. I
told her that she already came this afternoon, it’s not fair that people get to
do this. There are elderly people that also need these supplies but when they
get here they’re all gone because people like that woman try to take
everything. And my manager told me there was nothing she could do, as long as it
goes thru the registers system she can’t do anything about it. This frustrated
me because after that lady already got her supplies and more, she still wanted
more.
It shows you the extent people go, such madness, for
no reason. I understand the difficulty this situation has brought to this
country, this state, but acting like madmen isn’t going to solve the problem.
People don’t realize that the more they take for themselves the less they leave
for other people. That is what I try to tell people when they ask me why we
placed limits, I tell them “because there are also people that need the same
supplies as you, and it’s only fair that they get a chance to also have those
supplies.” And then they’re either nasty with me or they understand.
The point of this article is to show the extent people
are going to, and I don’t know if it’s because they are scared or worried or
both, but what happened to being respectful of others and understanding, what
happened to people having manners. Nowadays with what is going on, I feel like
that was all thrown out the window. Instead of a community working together
they’re working against one another. That’s the sad part, because then as a
country we will be the ones to doom ourselves, and run our land out of
resources.
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