On the Front Lines with the Corona Virus

Yesterday was my week day day off from my job at the supermarket.

I wrote our schedule for the day earlier in the week. As I recall, the total number of baggers and cashiers scheduled for that one day was 26. Five people called off sick.

Winter is a tough time of the year for people who work around food in a store.

It's germ central.

Cashier handle gobs of paper money which is covered with a mess of germs.

And, reusable grocery bags? What a nightmare!

You can't imagine how filthy people allow those things to become. And, grocery store baggers have to stick their hands into dozens of them in a typical day.

Surprisingly, one of the horrors of bagging in reusable bags is handling bags covered with cat hair...apparently cats love to curl up in them...and, also apparently, incontinent cats often have accidents in them, because it's common enough for those bags to possess the distinct odor of cat urine.

You probably have no idea how much toxic material we handle as a matter of course.

And, now, there's the Corona Virus.

Nearly everyone I work with either under the age of 21 or over the age of 60. Nearly every geezer I work with gets a flu shot and, still, there's a lot of sickness.

Of course, this pandemic thing could end up coming to nothing, but, honestly, I'm concerned.

I have visions of a Stephen King novel becoming truth.

It's scary. Truly.

If you have compassion, say a prayer for the people who will be serving when you enter your local Kroger or Food Lion or Giant.

These days, it's not a good job.