On Tuesday, December 15, her name was Cyan. She stopped, properly distancing herself from the car window and asked, “Did you get your list of substitutions?” and then, “Were they all right?” In spite of her mask, I could see the smile in her eyes and hear it in her tone of voice. Having settled these questions, she moved to the back of the CRV and efficiently unloaded nine plastic cartons of food and supplies that were on our called-in grocery order into the back. She ended her task by wishing us a good day ahead. Today his name was Daniel.
Walmart employees of many different names have performed this same service for us in exactly the same manner about once a week. I have wondered how they view their jobs. It would be easy to get lost in the routine of stuffing someone else’s groceries from their lists into blue plastic cartons and stacking them to wait until the call from the parking lot. There’s not a lot of novelty in knowing whether the customer will be in slot one or slot six. I would think it might be easy to see little beyond a boring routine in this job.
Instead, I would hope that they see themselves as part of the group of heroes in this pandemic. Many of us because of age, medical problems, or autoimmune issues are at risk when we do things that would be normal in other times. Roaming the grocery aisles, touching products, speaking to fellow shoppers becomes a gamble that puts us in jeopardy of contracting Covid. I am grateful for these people who have added this element of safety to getting our everyday needs supplied. The fact that they do it with cheerful words and greetings are the proverbial “cherry on the top.”
Once a week for nine months, this story has varied only by the worker’s appearance, the name on the ID, and whether we are wished a “good” day or a “blessed” one. I count each of these as essential workers and as heroes of this pandemic.
