DENNIS ELLIOTT, MEAT CLERK AT KROGER IN PEARLAND
I work in the meat market. I cut steaks and sell fish. I’ve been in the business for 10 years, and six or seven years at Kroger. My boss tells me I’m a Swiss Army knife. I can do everything.
For the first two weeks, it was difficult to keep our shelves stocked. People were taking things as fast as we put them out. We’ve gone back to cutting meat at the store since we couldn’t keep enough prepackaged meat from the warehouse in stock. We had to put the meat grinder together, and I’m having to wrap more stuff. We’re coming back to an old-school way. The new way can’t keep up any more.
I’ve been through hurricanes before, but this is nothing like it. This is crazy.
When I get to work at 6 a.m., I’ve got people sitting in the parking lot, waiting to go in. The line stretches two businesses down. Our doors open at 7 a.m., and people make a beeline to the toilet paper and paper towels. Everyone’s like they’re in school again, lining up and grabbing one. One time, we had two elderly old ladies get into a fight over toilet paper.
It’s exhausting. Eight hours is not enough when you have so many orders to take in. I find myself going home after my shift ends at 2 p.m. and taking a nap. I’ve had a couple of nights where I passed out and woke up at 2 a.m. and had to go to work in four hours. The stress has been giving me headaches. Every day is a living hell.
We started reopening the service counter at work. From what I’ve observed, people are having family get-togethers. Over Easter, people were buying over 100 pounds of crawfish and multiple racks of ribs. There are parties going on. I just think, “Y’all are being some dumb people.”
Social distancing does not happen in a grocery store. People are surrounding me when I’m trying to stock meat. There’s just no way of doing it without people getting up close. It ain’t gonna happen. But what can I do? I’ve got to make a living, I’ve got bills to pay. It’s damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
I’m glad I’m working. I’ve been getting calls from people I haven’t talked to in 10 years, asking me, “Can you help me get a job?”
At the beginning we all kind of joked about it, like “I’m essential. I’m a superhero now.” But it’s interesting. People keep thanking me, saying “Thank you for all that you do.” I feel like an Army vet. I just work at a grocery store, but I feel like I’m in the middle of a war. My job certainly seems to have more value now. I didn’t think about it much before, but it’s getting to be something now.