For one King Soopers employee, 2020 has proved to be a relentless chronicle of danger, outrage and heartbreak.
The Aurora resident and grocery store staffer, who asked to be anonymous in this story for fear of losing her job, has worked for nine months in a pandemic with little pay and little protection, she said.
She said grocery store employees are subjected to endless stresses that come from risky conditions, testy customers and grinding fear and worry.
She thinks she’s had COVID-19 at least once, and she lost a coworker to the virus. The store is clogged again with frenzied holiday shoppers amid record-shattering rates of virus transmission, rendering social distancing virtually impossible, she said — and sometimes, customers don’t even wear masks.
“We are all suffering here,” she said.
The worker isn’t alone in her anxiety. Throughout the pandemic, media reports have detailed how so-called essential workers in grocery stores have been routinely exposed to the virus. Some employees have died.
As of Dec. 4, nine King Soopers stores — all on Colorado’s Front Range — were experiencing active COVID-19 outbreaks among employees, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. None of its locations in Aurora were listed as ongoing outbreaks.
King Soopers stores, like other grocery retailers, are bound to 50% capacity limits under Governor Jared Polis’ restrictions.
Jessica Trowbridge, a spokesperson for the Kroger-owned grocery chain, told the Sentinel in an email that employees “have gone above and beyond to serve our customers and communities, and we’re committed to providing the resources and support to keep them and their families safe as they continue their remarkable effort.”
On its website, Kroger says its stores have been transformed by 30 policies intended to “reduce the spread of the virus” such as regular cleaning, supplying face masks for its employees and limiting the number of customers to that 50% capacity threshold.
The Aurora employee said the problem isn’t that King Soopers doesn’t have policies — it’s that they’re not followed.
“Every time I come to work, I worry. I don’t want to bring anything back to my mom,” she said. “They should be doing a lot more to handle this whole entire thing. They claim that they are…but they’re not acting on the policies,” she said of her store’s management.
She doesn’t think her store is actually limiting the number of people allowed inside her store, for instance. That brings on waves of worry. The pre-Thanksgiving rush was evidence of that, she said. And she said supervisors aren’t enforcing state and King Soopers policies requiring that people wear masks when shopping indoors.
During the current wave of COVID-19 cases rocking the region, customers again began hoarding toilet paper and cleaning out grocery store aisles, she said. Crowded stores mean more coronavirus risk, which lands more employees at home in quarantine. She personally spent two weeks of quarantine with pay during the spring, per King Soopers policy. The pay helps, but the worry of quarantine and infection never goes away.
She said the cycle has played out many times since March: the virus spreads, leaving less people to do riskier work.
Pandemic conditions are now much worse than in the spring. But she said King Soopers stopped providing its workers with hazard pay in May. Instead, front-line workers received two $100 gift cards for merchandise. Trowbridge confirmed the gift card benefit plan was instituted, but she didn’t say whether the chain’s employees were still receiving hazard pay.
The employee said the chain’s leaders needs to step up and do more for its employees. She wants the state’s mask mandate enforced, more time to disinfect surfaces and simply less people allowed in the store at one time.
And she implored customers not to be hostile when grocery stores run out of hamburger or Kleenex.
“It’s a frustrating battle to explain to people,” she said.
Whatever you’re going through, crisis counselors and professionally trained peer specialists are available to help. Call Colorado Crisis Service’s hotline at 1-844-493-TALK(8255). There is no wrong reason to reach out.
Reporter Grant Stringer can be reached at gstringer@SentinelColorado.com.
