Tag Archives: covid

Working on Black Friday… Was Surprisingly Okay?

Last week, I posted a gif on this site that summarized how terrible I expected Black Friday to be as a retail worker. This was my third Black Friday working at my retail store, and in previous years it was SO BUSY. I would come home after those shifts and sleep for 12 hours just to let my body recover from the insanity.

Even with the Covid-19 pandemic this year, I still expected Black Friday to be busy. This past summer, we would have long lineups of people waiting to get into our store, so I expected that Black Friday would be even worse. Despite the rising Covid cases in BC, my faith that people would stay home this year was pretty low.

Well, I guess I was wrong! My store did not have people lining up to come inside. It was maybe a little bit busier than the average weekend, but not by a lot. At first, I wondered if only my store had been affected by this, but when looking at other stores in the mall, it seems like we were all in the same situation.

I would love to think that this is all related to people finally realizing that they should stay home when possible, but I feel like there is another factor at play. Black Friday is not so much a day as it is a week. Most stores, mine included, have Black Friday deals going for several days, and don’t necessarily provide an additional discount on the Friday as opposed to Saturday or Sunday. If consumers have begun to realize this, it could be another reason why it wasn’t so busy on Friday- perhaps people are spreading out and shopping on different days. Whatever the case, I am glad that we were able to provide a safe shopping experience and that I only needed to sleep for 10 hours to recover from this year’s Black Friday😉

(Featured Image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)

How Clean are the Products in Retail Stores?

Yesterday, I was asked a question by a customer that prompted this post. The customer showed me a product from the sales floor and asked if I could bring her the same item but from the back room. I told her that unfortunately this was the very last one of these items that we have. Her complaint was that since it was on the sales floor, she figured that many people would have touched it already. This was really funny to me, considering she had been touching all sorts of products and was planning on purchasing several other items. At this point, I had to bite my tongue and just apologize for the inconvenience.

What I really wanted to say was that customers touch everything. I can almost guarantee that all the items on the sales floor have been recently touched by a customer. Sure, we don’t have our fitting rooms open, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t still feel the material of a shirt or hold up a pair of pants against their body. Hopefully, these people are following protocols and keep their hands clean, but that is impossible for us as a company to guarantee.

If you go into a store and find yourself touching products that you don’t end up buying, you should assume that others have done the same.

It’s just so ironic to me that the people who complain about this are also contributing to the problem. If you are worried about other people touching your products, why on earth would you go to a mall? Online shopping exists- try utilizing it. Finally, if you are buying something from a store, you should absolutely assume that someone else has touched it and you should wash it when you get home and/or quarantine it for a bit.

(Featured Image by Becca McHaffie on Unsplash)

GIF Assignment

I initially had no idea how to make a gif, but Giphy.com made it fairly simple. I wanted to create something that represented how I am feeling given that Black Friday is in 3 DAYS and will likely be an absolute nightmare for me as a retail worker.

I wanted to make something that looked sort of ominous while still being funny, which is why I used a sort of blurred filter and static sort of effect on the words. The original clip is from Glee, and I accessed the clip from here.

(Featured Image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)

Let’s Do The BC Mask Mandate Right

Just yesterday, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced new regulations to slow the spread of Covid-19, one regulation being that masks must be worn in indoor public spaces and retail stores. You can read more about the new regulations here.

THANK GOODNESS!

I feel like this is long overdue, so I am so relieved that this mandate is finally being implemented. While my store already had a mandatory mask policy, these government regulations will help us by showing that we were in the right all along. Some customers would complain that we didn’t need a mask mandate in our store if the government hadn’t deemed it necessary. Hopefully, those people will shut up now!

Now, if only people would learn how to wear a mask properly…

At my store, I’ve seen all the incorrect ways to wear a mask: not covering the nose, not covering the mouth, hanging off the ear, sitting only on the chin, etc. It’s really not that hard to wear a mask correctly. If your mask keeps slipping off your nose, buy a new one; seeing as we are over 8 months into the pandemic, you’ve had plenty of time to get a mask that fits. Also, you don’t need to take off your mask to take a phone call. You’re still in a store with other people, so be respectful and always keep your mask on.

One other note that I’ll make is that mask use, while being very important, is not 100% effective. Please continue to physically distance from others. I’ve noticed that more and more customers come way too close to me, almost as if they think that wearing a mask allows them to disregard the 2-metre distance between us. PLEASE keep your distance even when you wear a mask- combining these two methods is essential to keeping you and others safe.

(Featured Image by Cory Checketts on Unsplash)

Infographic

When I saw that I had to make an infographic, I freaked out a little bit. Design is not my strong suit, and I had never done this sort of thing before. Luckily, I had heard multiple recommendations to use Canva to create this infographic. I found that it was pretty easy to customize the themes they provided and I am proud of what I created.

I tried to create an infographic that sums up the online presence of Masked Retail. I included a brief description of what the blog is for and who I am, and then guessed on some percentages that I could include to divide up the type of content/messages I provide. I also used a colour scheme that fits with the rest of my site.

Without further ado…

Voila!

(Featured Image by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash)