"Please have respect for us" says local retail worker

A local retail worker has issued an emotional appeal to members of the public to “please have respect” for those working at the frontline in shops, supermarkets and other retail outlets during the pandemic who have had “no break” over the past 14 months.

The worker, who does not wish to be named, has spoken of the “stress, anxiety and fear” which essential workers have had to endure in their work environment day after day and, while she admits that there are “a lot of good people telling us that they really appreciate what we do….unfortunately we have had a lot of bad experiences too”.

These include “being called names because we ‘dare’ to ask someone to put on a mask as they enter our shop, and this is when I start questioning myself as to who we are as retail workers? Are we lesser human beings that we have no right to protect ourselves, our families, other customers?” she asks.

She says that many retail workers feel like “a huge responsibility" was thrust on them to implement all the new legislation that came in as part of Covid-19 guidelines, particularly with regard to the wearing of masks.

“Some people are exempt from wearing masks, but as retailers we are not the judges as to whether someone has a medical issue or not, we can’t ask for proof and having people walking into the store with no mask is creating a lot of stress to staff and other customers,” she points out, adding that lots of stores have put up signs at the door starting that there is no entry without a mask. “That created another bucket of hate poured down on us,” she says.

“People in big supermarkets or in small local shops are real humans, not robots,” says the retail worker, who has made an emotional appeal to members of the public to “please have respect for us by acknowledging our existence, by wearing masks, by avoiding hanging around on the phone when ordering a sandwich or paying at the checkout”.

She says she decided to speak out in an effort to make people aware of the fact that retail workers “are simply afraid too” as a result of the pandemic.

“This is not about being selfish and protecting only what’s mine. This time we have been challenged to protect ourselves and one another, no matter who we are.”