KEEPING ALL OUR SHELVES STOCKED
WHILE high streets across the country are beginning to feel the full force of the coronavirus lockdown, our supermarkets have been busier than ever.
With long queues to just get inside stores, panic buying and empty shelves became an all-too-familiar sight in the early days of lockdown.
As the UK fully realised the extent of the pandemic back in March, supermarkets descended into madness, with many people unable to get essential items before warnings had to be issued to shoppers.
Now, a few months into lockdown, the once mundane weekly shop has become a completely new experience, and is often one of the rare occasions people get to see people from outside their own household.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a particularly new way of doing things for those who work at supermarkets day in, day out.
A constant throughout the madness has been the friendly faces manning our supermarkets, the often unsung heroes making sure the people of Wales are fed.
Whether it’s delivering produce, replenishing stock, manning the tills, or just offering some help, the workers – both temporary and permanent – have kept us going.
At one of Cardiff’s biggest Asda stores, the staff have been indispensable in making sure essential changes have been implemented.
Caroline Garrett, from Barry, has worked in the store for more than 23 years and currently works in the frozen food section.
While she spends her days stacking shelves, the 58-year-old’s evenings are spent caring for elderly friends and neighbours.
Since the start of the pandemic, she has been shopping for up to four households a day and jokes that she now has a “little delivery round”.
“My day-to-day life hasn’t changed much really”, she says. “I was already working in the store in the day and I work for care in the community in the evenings with elderly people, just making sure they’re okay and doing things like getting their shopping.
“I’m not saying that things haven’t been challenging at times, but everyone in this store just pulls together. There’s not much that gets me down and I love coming to work and helping people.
“If I have to stay for an extra hour or go out of my way for someone, I’ll do it.”
Caroline is the youngest of nine siblings and has been shopping for all of her brothers and sisters, as well as neighbours and friends.
“There’s not one day that
I’m not shopping for someone. Some days I do four lots of shopping and others I do two or one!
“They know what days I work and I’ll often get a text asking if I can pick something up. I don’t mind, because I’m the only one who can go out and get it and they need it.”
While Caroline is currently working on frozen food, she has also worked on security and checkouts – or in her words, “wherever I’m needed”.
“We all chip in where we need to and support other colleagues – that’s just how we are. We always make a point of asking how everyone is and makes sure everyone is okay.
“When you walk into the store it just feels like home and someone is always doing something to cheer you up. You can feel that atmosphere when you walk in.”
Caroline says during this difficult time, it’s more important than ever to look after each other.
That’s why when a heavily pregnant woman called the store a few weeks ago due to a mix-up with her order, Caroline went out of her way to handpick every item to make sure it was correct.
“She called the store in tears, as the order wasn’t just for her, but there were a few different households and elderly people relying on it. I managed to get the original shopping list from customer services, picked it myself and arranged for delivery.
“She was over the moon with it. We’ll all do everything we can in every situation to help here, so I’m no different.
“I joke that
I get back in the house at 10.30pm at night from one job, get into bed, and roll out of the other side again at
4am to walk the dogs and start the other one. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m so lucky that I love and enjoy what I do.” Rob Edwards started working at Asda Cardiff Bay as a security worker in 2016, after living in France and spending many years in the Army. Originally from the West Midlands,
Rob, 63, now considers Cardiff to be his home and says the store and the people who work there have made it easier to navigate the challenges which the coronavirus outbreak has created.
Rob, said: “Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak we’ve had lots of people help at the store and they have all pulled together.
“It hasn’t been without its challenges, but we’ve made sure that from a perspective of things like queuing, it’s really well run and managed. “It’s something we wouldn’t have had to even think about before,” he said. “It’s a really nice store to work in and a really nice place. I moved to Wales and started working at the store in 2016.
“My wife works for the NHS and she says the same – that it’s just such a friendly place to live and work – everyone speaks to you and everyone is welcoming. “Even now in the times that we’re in, most people will say hello.”
A few weeks ago, one customer realised it would take four bus journeys to carry her shopping home. Rob overheard her problem and offered to drive the shopping to her home address.
“She was really lovely and asked if we had a comments book so she could explain how we’d all been so helpful and friendly. She was back in the next day and I joked with her, asking if she needed a personal delivery driver.”
Carys Francis, 36, has worked at the front of the Cardiff Bay store assisting customers at the tills and helping with queries since 2016.
She usually works three shifts a week at the store to fit in around childcare for her three children, but has been picking up additional days to help out since the outbreak began.
When the pandemic first started, Carys recognised she had many elderly and vulnerable neighbours who might not be able to easily get their weekly shop.
So she took it upon herself to go down her street knocking on doors and offering her help if they needed it. Now, she regularly shops for three neighbours, as well as her own family.
She said: “I live in a street with people who are quite elderly and who either have children who aren’t local or who don’t have children. I just went round knocking on doors to see if anyone needed any help.
“I just said to them, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pick up whatever you need.’
“I just didn’t want them to worry about their shopping each week and what they were going to do to get food.
“It has been fine. Three of them have taken me up on it, so I go out with their list and pick up what they need every couple of weeks or so.”
Carys says although everyone is now used to the new “normal” in the store, it’s still surprising when customers come up to colleagues and thank them.
“Initially it was busy, but I think that was the same everywhere,” she explains.
“Now people are shopping like they normally would and you’re starting to see the same people come in every couple of weeks. Every day is just steady and calm in store and everyone is just used to working in this new ‘normal’ way.
“You sometimes get people you’re serving who will come up to you and say ‘thank you.’
“I always get really embarrassed, but I think people have definitely become nicer towards supermarket staff and it’s given everyone more of an appreciation for the work of people like cleaners, delivery drivers and people involved in producing, packing and selling food.”
Gareth Jones, store manager, said: “We have some amazing colleagues in this store who will go out of their way to help.
“This isn’t something new, as we’ve always pulled together and done everything we can to support our colleagues, community and our customers.
“I think we’re just lucky that we have such a great team.
“Even though we’re being presented with different challenges at the moment, everyone is doing everything they can to help customers who visit the store.
“A great example of this was a couple of weeks ago when lots of colleagues dressed up for VE Day, just to bring a smile to people’s faces as they shopped in store.
“Everyone has come together and helped in the last few weeks and I’d just like to thank them all for their efforts.”