Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 2

It's been three weeks since the zombie apocalypse virus has hit. Also known as the coronavirus or COVID-19. Here's an update on how I've been surviving. 
  
Well, for starters the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, ordered a nationwide quarantine and/or shutdown of the entire state of California. If you aren't or haven't taken this seriously yet, you will now. 

Week three
There has been no major meeting with the employees at my work regarding the virus. Upper management nor lower management has not provided us with masks or gloves. Rather, we have to get them on our own initiative. A lot of employees are wearing gloves they bought elsewhere, some are wearing bandanas as masks, but most of them aren't wearing the typical surgical style masks which are out of stock in many places around the country.

They're only allowing a few customers in at a time. The store isn't packed and there's room to breathe without getting too close to others. The shelves aren't really stocked. They're mostly empty but shelves are even worse at our competitor grocery stores down the street. Most customers still can't get toilet paper or hand sanitizer. Hell, even as employees we can't even get toilet paper anymore. It feels somewhat like a third country. Three weeks straight and we can't get toilet paper. Ah! 

The work tasks have changed a bit as well. I spent two hours today wiping down all the cart handles with sanitizer. I was wearing gloves. However, the state of nature outside the building isn't so helpful as cleaning off the cart handles. If you go outside the store during the day you will see tons of customers huddled together, waiting to get inside the store. There isn't a security guard or any authorized personnel ordering them to stand apart or away from each other. This is the worst thing I've seen on the job and it's been going on every day since we started limiting the numbers of customers in at a time. So much for "social distancing." I think if people saw how closely huddled together the customers were they would be horrified. There's got to be a better way to do it than this. For example, we could have another employee or security guard ordering them to stand apart from each other. Keep them out there and telling anyone who gets too close to others to move farther away. Something simple like that would suffice. 

Store hours have changed significantly. The store is open to the elderly from 7am to 8am, but for regular people, from 8am to 8pm. This is a big change for me considering the fact that I usually work the late afternoon to 1am shift. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and gobacks as of late. Again, there's no guidance or protocols for the cleaning. The closing manager must have at least one other employee closing the store with them until the night crew arrives. That's where I come in. 

Some employees have stopped working citing health concerns. People with asthma, that sort of stuff. It's sort of a cop-out to me but let's face it, they're spooked. I can't blame them. I'm planning on continuing to work throughout the pandemic for as long as I can or until I get sick if I get sick, which is a very real possibility, unfortunately. The cost of a continuing paycheck week to week.

The corporation we work for has given us $25 a few days ago. Now they're giving us $150. The President of the Company says if we get sick with the virus we will get two weeks of pay. All this stuff is fine and dandy, good for the press and all but we haven't really been given any safety protocols by the company, the President, nor upper or lower management about how we conduct business at the store. 

The best line I've heard from management is, "make sure to wash your hands." If that's the only safety protocol that a million-dollar company gives its employees then it's safe to say that we might be fucked. This is the equivalent of the Boris Johnson herd immunity tactic. 

Sometimes it takes a reverse in civilization for you to realize what's truly important.

"Are you COVID-19 resistant?"