Komal Patel, 28, Auckland
New World Long Bay checkout supervisor
For weeks, Komal Patel has been stacking supermarket shelves at night because there is no time to restock during the public’s carefully orchestrated daily parade through the aisles.
Patel, checkout supervisor for New World Long Bay, says staff have been working an assortment of night shifts to deal with the unrelenting demand from Covid19 buying.
The 28-year-old is proud to do it for her local community.
“We are trying our best to put everything on the shelves in a night. Before this, we hadn’t done the night shift, but nowadays for the customers’ demand, we are doing it, because in between, we don’t have time.
“So we have to put in the maximum time during the night, doing extra hours.”
If I don’t go to work what are they going to do? Everyone needs us at the moment. Komal Patel
Patel moved to Long Bay a year ago with her husband Krunal, who is working at New World Devonport.
The resident of Auckland’s North Shore immigrated from India to New Zealand in 2017 and met her husband here.
“The thing is, working in these days, I’m really happy. I feel proud of myself to be working at this time,” Patel says.
“There is more responsibility at this time. It’s really a privilege for me, for my community. If I don’t go to work what are they going to do? Everyone needs us right at the moment.”
Patel says the rush on supermarkets has been stressful, but things are much more positive and manageable now.
“That was pretty difficult but we used to keep our customers calm and happy, we had to tackle that. At the time, everyone had a fear of what’s going to happen.
“When we got the news of the lockdown, we felt, ‘oh, what’s going to happen next?’ But it’s just going smoothly.”