‘Every Day Is Frightening’: Working For Walmart Amid Covid-19 Lockdown [Interview]
‘You’ve got to be ready on the first day of shopping season when you’re not supposed to be able to do that because if there’s no one there, who is to care for your kids and your wife and your mother and your friends and your dog and your cat?’
It’s a question many people who work at Walmart are facing, despite the fact that the retailer has been ramping up its efforts to reopen stores.
Starting Monday, Walmart is encouraging customers to go to the store to exchange their “Essential” supplies for a range of new delivery options. The news is a big shift in the company’s approach to opening up its stores.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that the first 30 days of the country’s shutdown would be “more crucial than any other period in company history.” He said the decision to open parts of its stores would be based on a national “social response.”
At Walmart, employees are getting their first chance to go out and buy groceries in weeks during the reopening. However, many workers said that their experience is not as good as normal shopping because of the virus situation surrounding them.
“It’s scary. You’ve got to be ready on the first day of shopping season when you’re not supposed to be able to do that because if there’s no one there, who is to care for your children and your wife and your mother and your friends and your dog and your cat?” says Walmart store manager Jessica Schmitt.
Walmart said it will provide customers who have experienced a previous lay-off or closure with a two-week paid training. “This training will allow us to quickly provide information on the new online-shopping features and other essentials,” explains Walmart spokesman Davidfeldman.
A video has been released to highlight the reopening of Walmart Stores around the country.
One woman
