The view from the other side of the Plexiglas: P.E.I. grocery clerks say pandemic 'hard on the head'

For many Prince Edward Islanders, the only shopping they are doing since the coronavirus pandemic was declared about six weeks ago is at grocery stores — because well, people have to eat.

Because of that, people working in grocery stores, along with a handful of others including truck drivers and health-care staff, are considered essential front-line workers. They haven't been forced to work, but they've definitely been asked to step up. 

"We're doing as much as we can to feel comfortable," said Linda Carter, the head cashier at MacPhee's Market in Souris, P.E.I., an independent Loblaws grocery retailer where she has worked for almost five years. 

Jodi Whitehead is a front-end manager at Sobeys, helping to oversee the more than 60 cashiers and parcel pickup at the grocery chain's Stratford, P.E.I., location. She's worked with the company for more than 25 years. 

It's not as nerve-racking as it was three weeks ago.— Linda Carter

"It is a difficult time, it's not something we're used to," Whitehead said via phone from the store Tuesday.

But she said when she goes to work during the pandemic, what she's been feeling mostly is pride.

"Very proud to come to work, work with my teammates, my staff — and it gives us the opportunity to show our community what we're capable of doing," she said, adding she also doesn't want to let down the store's regular customers. 

'We have to stay healthy'

Both women say the measures their stores are taking make them feel relatively safe from contracting the virus. The low number of cases on P.E.I. — there have been 26, with 24 considered recovered — also gives them a sense the measures are working, they said. 

Changes at most grocery stores for cashiers include frequent handwashing, sanitizing cash registers and debit machines, standing back from customers as much as possible and bagging groceries in paper bags instead of reusable ones. Many have also installed Plexiglas barriers to separate cashiers from customers. Staff are sanitizing grocery carts between uses.

Many stores, including MacPhee's and Sobeys have added security officers at the door who limit the number of customers in the store. Sobeys is also now offering staff clear plastic face shields to wear if they wish.

The changes carry over to home life, too — Carter said she's doing a lot of sanitizing doorknobs and other surfaces at home. She said she hasn't self-isolated from her husband, but changes her clothes as soon as she returns home, and cleans the house a lot. 

She said she's also glued to the news constantly as soon as she gets home, for the latest on the pandemic. "It's kind of hard on the head," she said of her new routines. 

Whitehead takes her uniform home and washes it after every shift, and does lots of handwashing. She and her retired husband stay home to keep themselves safe too, she said. 

Many customers have been thanking them for their service, which they say is much appreciated.

"We have to kind of tell the customers from time to time to stand behind the line where it says for social distancing, and you kind of like to keep them behind the Plexiglas — we have to stay healthy for us to be able to feed them," Carter said. 

"Most of them have been fairly good," she added. "The majority of people are understanding this and obeying what they're told to do." 

A few, however, do get impatient with some of the measures like standing behind lines for physical distancing and allowing clerks to pack their groceries in paper bags rather than reusable bags they've brought, to make transactions quicker. 

"Some customers, you know, not having a good day — probably scared. I get that, and the cashiers get that. But some of the cashiers are also a little bit scared," Whitehead said.

"So it's a little bit of understanding on both sides." Sometimes just explaining why staff are doing things differently helps ease situations, she said. 

Worth it?

A month ago, a grocery store owner in Toronto's Little India was the first person in the city to die from COVID-19. A few days later a Superstore employee in Oshawa, Ont., also died from the illness.

Is the job worth risking their lives?

"Actually, I don't even — I try not to think about things like that," Carter said. "I just hope that I'm doing the best that I can for myself to protect my family, my customers, my workers. So we're all trying to do our best ... to do everything we're told to keep each other safe, that's about all you can do." 

Loblaws, which owns Superstores, Shoppers Drug Marts and No Frills stores, upped wages by 15 per cent during the pandemic. Sobeys launched what it calls its hero pay program for front-line staff, which gives them an extra $50 a week as well as $2 more per hour for those who work more than 20 hours.  

"I think it's a nice gesture for them to offer to give us more for sure because face it, you are out there in the front line," Carter said. "The store here is great for putting in all kinds of measures and asking us how we're doing, if we feel OK and how we're handling it."

Whitehead agrees "there wasn't any expectations to have anything," so the raise was a big morale-booster for staff. 

'Never thought of leaving'

Some staff have stopped working temporarily to look after children who are out of school, because they are immune compromised or because they are afraid. At Sobeys, Whitehead said they've hired several new employees to replace those, as well as to prepare for what is usually a busy season in summer. Scheduling has been an immense challenge, Whitehead said.

Carter said she's been working since she was 12 or 13 in her parents' restaurant and enjoys working with the public. 

"I never thought of leaving or anything like that," Carter said. "Never crossed my mind, actually." 

While Carter is looking forward to the pandemic being over, she said she agrees with the province's slow and steady approach to easing back to normal. 

"I'm still really quite — I'm nervous, I don't think anything should be opened too soon," Carter said. "I still think we need to carry on with this for just a little bit longer. We'll see how the numbers go. Nova Scotia has quite a bit [of coronavirus cases] so you'll have people coming over if you open up too much, and that's a little unnerving.

"It's not as nerve-racking as it was three weeks ago," she added.

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