The customer is always right. But what about the staff ?
Low-wage jobs aren’t worth risking their health, say some workers in retail, food service
Workers in the retail and food-service industries are now a front line of defence against COVID-19. But as some customers flout the rules around face coverings, workers are questioning whether the job is worth their health and safety.
While 99 per cent of customers behave appropriately, the one per cent that lash out at staff can cause issues for everyone, said Diane Brisebois, president and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC). “Not only do employees have to deal with that behaviour, but … the customers who are there supporting those businesses often are also getting involved.”
At stores associated with the RCC, there have been incidents of employees being pushed or spat at by customers. “Those incidents have been reported,” Brisebois said.
“They have occurred in Ontario, as they have right across the country.”
The concerns over how to operate safely in the retail and service sectors extends to workers across all wage brackets, Brisebois said. “Regardless of their status, we have heard feedback from those employees and our retailers that there have been incidents where customers have been difficult,” she said.
Two workers who spoke with the Star described behaviour by customers that made them question the overall safety of being back at work.
When he started his sales position at a mobile phone provider downtown, Jesse Boland was preparing to take a “survival job” so that he could get by, he told the Star by phone Wednesday.
He worked at the store for only four days before the province locked down, but returned when the location he worked at reopened in June.
Boland would ask customers coming in to put on a mask, even though it wasn’t yet mandatory.
“I’d be … as cautious as possible. Even with the mask policy, people come in and they had it like below their nostrils,” he said. “Or sometimes people would come in and they would pull down their masks to talk to me, which defeats the entire purpose. So customers are just extremely reckless most of the time.”
The restrictions put in place to encourage social distancing meant that fewer people would come into the store, Boland, 25, said. And with more shoppers looking online for merchandise, his shifts and the number of customers he dealt with plummeted, hurting his ability to earn commission. That meant he often made the equivalent of minimum wage.
Boland said his pay worked out to a couple hundred dollars a month. “I (thought), ‘I can’t live off this anyway.’ It’s putting my life and my safety at risk,” he said.
By the end of July, he had quit his job.
Sonya, a server at a downtown bar, said she has had several run-ins with customers who either ignored the mandatory mask policy or claim they forgot their mask at home.
“They’ll use the most ridiculous things as a mask, they use their hats, their shirts, (one time) somebody just covered their face with their hands,” Sonya described by phone. The Star has agreed to not publish Sonya’s last name for fear of job reprisal.
A major concern is that intervening and asking people to cover their faces will lead to losing money, she said.
“I hate having to tell people to put on a mask because, like, I feel like it’ll jeopardize my tips, because they get so annoyed,” she said. Customers often wander around the restaurant with no masks on and go up to other tables instead of staying in their own space, Sonya said, noting that the restaurant she works at has opened indoor dining.
“I personally don’t feel safe. If I didn’t have to go back to work, I wouldn’t,” she added.
That said, she doesn’t want to lose her job. “I’m working the bare minimum just to keep this job.”
Brisebois, of the RCC, said the organization has heard that there is a desire for more public service messaging from all three levels of government, as well as enforcement of mask bylaws regionally.
“You need to repeat the message that we are doing this to keep people safe,” she said. “Businesses should not be expected to act as police.”