NORTH BAY — These are different times - very different - thanks to COVID-19. Grocery store visits have gone from a routine errand to an essential service. We've mostly gotten through the "panic buying phase". Yet times are still different and come with some anxiety.
So what is it like to actually work in a grocery store, on what is now called "the front lines?"
Jeff Buckton, of Jeff and Tanis' No Frills on Lakeshore Drive in North Bay took time to describe it.
"It's surreal. it's kind of like every single rule and process you've ever had in place, and I've been doing this a long time, is turned upside down, inside out and totally changes," he explains.
"I've been doing this for 30 years and I've never seen anything like it. At times it's been total chaos, yet our staff has stepped up," he adds.
The first big change is the customers, according to Buckton. He says most customers were always friendly or spoke to staff they knew. But he says the tone of what customers say has changed.
"The tone has changed to one of sheer gratitude. Now 98 per cent of customers take the time to offer a heartfelt thank you to our staff, showing real gratitude for the fact that we keep coming to work. They get that we're doing it to serve them and that our new practices are to protect them and to protect us. We're doing our best to protect their families, and our families too," says Buckton.
The next big change is how the store operates.
Buckton says they would routinely have 150 to 200 shoppers in the past, Now they limit that to 40 to 50 at a time. There are marks on the floor for social distancing and plexiglass protectors installed at cashier stations, which are now spaced out so only every other cashier lane is operation to help social distancing. We're sanitizing check out lanes after each use, and have stepped up cleaning throughout the store."
Buckton says he has never washed his hands so much. "I probably do it every 10 minutes or 15 minutes, meaning in a 10 hour day he would wash his hands 50 times or more.
He explains that their online ordering and pick up system - which was in place long before the COVID crisis - has exploded with new users. They went from orders that could be filled in a day to so many users that online orders now have a two-week waiting period.
And yet he says shoppers still display patience and understanding, "They get it. They get we're doing our very best in very busy and stressful times."
Shoppers using the service are also pleased that the $3 process fee has been waived during this time.
As for his staff, Buckton says things have changed for them too.
"It's gone from being a job to something more. Many of them tell me they keep coming into work because they know people have to be fed.
"They've said to me that they know that if they don't keep coming in, people won't have food and necessities. Some of our customers tell the staff they are superheroes now, and it is humbling. When we stop to think about how many people are relying on us right now, it makes many of us proud," he says.
Still, Buckton says he has to take time now to see how staff are doing in a different way than before. Checking how they are doing more often.
"It's a very surreal feeling. On the one hand, you're humbled and proud to help others. On another level, our employees have the same worries as anybody else. If you focus on it, it could scare the pants off you. But we're taking every possible precaution, and people are relying on us now as they never have before."
