I returned to work after lockdown and, as a result of my line of work, my back pain and migraines returned.

We had a backlog of three months that we had to catch up on. This meant extra shifts at work and getting a headstart with the new protocol. 

I was hesitant to return to work due to the still-present illness and due to the heightened demands. But I decided to go ahead with work. 

After a month of work, we all felt the exhaustion. But this week, my boss took me aside and gifted me a box of chocolate, saying how much she appreciated how hard I was working and how grateful she was that I came to work.

Such a kind gesture really brightened up my difficult week. Kindness can go a long way!

This story is part of our feel-good roundup for August 2020!

Read the next feel-good story here!

Read the feel-good August 2020 roundup!

My sister has employment problems for a long time, to the point that now anything which threatens her income and ability to work is grounds for a panic attack. For the past couple of years, she’s had a really stable job with a good income and a boss who loves her. Due to the health crisis, she’s been working from home for almost a week. Today, her boss calls.

Boss: “Hey, so… you’re going to get a call from Human Resources, and they’ll talk to you about this, too, but I wanted you to hear it from me first.”

This call is taking place soon after 4:00 pm on a Friday. According to my sister, at this moment her lungs stop functioning, her heart stops beating, and her limbs completely lock up.

Boss: “Someone in the office — not in our department, but still someone who came in recently — tested positive today.”

My sister can breathe again, and she ERUPTS with delirious laughter.

Sister: “OH, THANK GOD!”

Boss: “Excuse me?!”

She explains her visceral physiological reaction to his call.

Sister: “I thought you were about to fire me!”

Boss: “What?! No! What would make you think that?!”

Sister: “BECAUSE YOU SAID HUMAN RESOURCES!”

Luckily, they get along great, so they both laughed about it, and she called us after to calm down from the emotional whirlwind. I’m sure there’s some moral in all of this about priorities, but for now, we’re just enjoying the moment of humor where we can get it.

The week that Minnesota’s stay-at-home order finally includes non-essential stores is a roller coaster for my coworkers and me. We spend all of Wednesday and Thursday telling customers we’ll be closed after Friday.

Friday at noon, I go into work. Within an hour, my boss is telling us we’re staying open and adjusting everyone’s hours because those of us who were supposed to have worked Saturday had come in Thursday to make up for the hours we would have lost. I leave work after an hour and a half, expecting to work Saturday, and despite social distancing guidelines, I go to my parents’ house to rant and seek their advice on how to handle the situation.

As soon as I pull into my own driveway — five hours later — I get a call from my boss to ignore everything I heard during the afternoon meeting. We’re closing effective tonight and no one needs to come to work. I text my parents and celebrate.

Saturday at 2:00 pm, I get a phone call that they’ve changed their mind and we’re going to stay open as an essential business and I need to tell my boss if I feel comfortable coming back to work. I have another tearful phone call with my parents, as well as a conversation with my very confused roommate.

A few hours later, I call to tell my boss that I’ll be at work on Monday, since I don’t feel unsafe in the building as long as customers aren’t stupid and follow guidelines, etc.

I get to work Monday afternoon and am immediately put on register, and I spend the afternoon ringing up customers and cleaning. It also happens to be my birthday, so I’m not thrilled, but I get through it. There are now signs up all over the building advising customers of the six-foot rule and hygiene practices, as well as buttons for us to wear about the distance rule.

Tuesday morning at 8:00 am, I get a phone call that the governor has adjusted his order to officially include arts and crafts stores as non-essential, and that we are no longer open for business. I ask if I can come grab a few things from the refrigerator that I’d left there yesterday and then hang up and call my mother to tell her the good news, and my dad texts me later to tell me it’s a late birthday present.

I’m not sure what the rest of my quarantine will look like, but hopefully, it’s not as mentally stressful as these four days were. I am firmly in the camp of people who believe our stay-at-home order should have been in place well before it was and perhaps we could have avoided the number of cases that we have ended up with, not to mention the ten deaths in as many days.

I work as a consultant within the retail sector, getting assigned tasks to be performed at different locations. Sometimes I’m on my own, but for larger tasks, a helper is usually assigned. Then, it’s up to me to contact them with the time to meet or any changes.

I am assigned a coworker that I don’t know, so I send a message to my manager asking for her contact details. I receive a reply that just contains a phone number. I don’t have regular physical contact with my manager — we work with emails and messages — and I learned early on to get everything in writing as she rarely answers calls.

Over the course of a week, I send messages to the coworker but get no reply. I phone and leave voice messages. I message my manager and get no reply. With the hope that she has seen my messages, I turn up at the job, but the coworker doesn’t show. I send an email to my manager to let her know what has happened and to say that I am getting another coworker instead and have to reschedule dates. Again, I get no reply.

I get another task with the missing coworker as a helper a week later, and again, I’m not able to contact her, so I arrange to have her replaced. Again, I let my manager know what is going on, and again, I get no reply.  

A third assignment is sent to me. This time, I am unable to do it, so I send an email to my manager a month ahead of time. She immediately replies asking for a screenshot which I send right away. I also remind her that I have never been able to contact this particular coworker. I keep having to email over the next three weeks because nothing has been done to remove this task. Eventually, I get a reply saying that my manager hasn’t found a replacement. I end up talking with another coworker and she agrees to take the task, and because of this, I can contact the head office to do the change.

Again, I email my manager with all the details and again remind her that I still can’t contact the other coworker. This time, I get a single line reply three days later.

“She’s been overseas for weeks; you should have had her taken off and found a replacement.”

A grumpy old lady realizes she has a leaking cooking spray.

Customer: “I need a new one of these! You see? It’s leaking. You get me a new one!”

Me: “I can’t get it myself, but I will call someone to help you, ma’am. Give me about two minutes to get this machine sorted out.”

I fix the alcohol sale I am working on and run up to my podium to call a supervisor. It hasn’t even been forty-five seconds and she is shoving the can in my face as six machines simultaneously alert for age-verifications.

Customer: “WHERE IS MY REPLACEMENT?! YOU ARE F****** USELESS! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOUR SERVICE!”

Me: “My name is on my badge. See? When you contact corporate, can you ask them how one person is expected to run eleven machines alone? Oh, and tell them our manager says we have too many cashiers. Thanks!”

I dashed off to continue doing my job and yelled her register number at my supervisor as they came over. In total, her transaction was only delayed about two minutes, and she grumped her way out of the store, only to lose her receipt in the parking lot. By then, I couldn’t print her a new one because the machine was in use again.

I have yet to hear back from my bosses about the fact that six cashiers is “too many” for a store with forty-three total registers.

Related:
Lack Of Register Does Not Register, Part 13
Lack Of Register Does Not Register, Part 12
Lack Of Register Does Not Register, Part 11
Lack Of Register Does Not Register, Part 10
Lack Of Register Does Not Register, Part 9