Our hats are off to the grocery employees!  Risking their health and the health of their friends and family just to make a living and keep our choices plentiful!  Thank you!  You are more essential than you know!!!

I have a friend that works as a cashier, bagger, stockperson, and cleaner at their store, so in essence, a grocery store manager!  I tapped into her frustrations and worries.  Here is what I got out of it.

How about a little grocery store music while you read this!

1. Don’t be rude!  It’s just rude to be rude!  Grocery store employees are among the heroes of this pandemic!  They don’t need your attitude or your ungratefulness!
2. Don’t say to an employee that you think all these new precautions are an overreaction or unnecessary.  Shut up, get your stuff and get out before you get us all sick!
3. Come by yourself!  Don’t bring your whole family to the store.  This one is self explanatory!  Unless you can’t avoid it.
4. This is where you live!  Don’t invade an employee’s personal space.  Space invaders is a game, not a physical position.
5. Don’t pay with cash…use a debit or credit card.  Make sure you have your own sanitizer…the key pads on those machine can be pretty nasty!
6. Only take what YOU NEED!!  The stores will not close!  Don’t panic!  Obey the store limits on how much you can buy.  Others need toilet paper!
7. If your store has set up special shopping hours for elderly or compromised customers, don’t violate them.  That is their time!
8. Don’t ignore any markers on the floor that encourage social distancing.  This is where you live…this is my side, that is yours!  Step off!
9. Here is a no brainer, don’t come to the store if you feel sick.
10. Don’t come to the store “just to get out of the house.”  Hence SAFE AT HOME!  Go for a walk to her out of the house!
11. Don’t complain about the store’s new hours.  Yes, there may be empty shelves but, employees need a break.  It’s not their fault the shelves are empty, maybe your over-buying of TP is why!
12. Don’t fight with other customers over hard-to-find items.  Be gracious!  You never know what is going on in their life!
13. THIS IS IMPORTANT!  Don’t touch stuff you don’t intend to buy.  Be intentional and be decisive!
14. Don’t tell employees how “lucky” they are to work.  You’re over-buying of TP has caused them long and hard hours!
15. Don’t complain about items being out of stock.  Again, that key word…OVER-BUYING!
16. Don’t try to sanitize the credit card machine before touching it.  The store routinely disinfects these keypads, and some types of disinfectants break the machines.
17. Don’t complain to your cashier about having to touch the keypad to complete your transaction.  See #16!
18. And don’t ask them to “check in the back” for out-of-stock items, either.  It’s out of stock, grocery store employees are not magic and can’t make the item appear out of thin air!
19. Don’t give employees unsolicited advice on how to protect themselves.  Don’t be a “know it all.”

Just a few things we can do to help and not give them headaches!  They are the ones we depend on right now!

don’t forget to clean the groceries when you get home!

The new age heros!