‘Every Day Is Frightening’: Working For Walmart Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh/Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh/Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh
In an interview with NPR, Walmart employee Tashi Ghosh talks about how life took a dramatic change this weekend when she left her work-at-home job for personal care work at the store while still working remotely in the evenings.
“I am a house wife, so my primary job is to make sure the kids make it to school every day,” she says. “But the second part was to come to Walmart and work. And the more I work, the more I realize how much I love it. And I really really miss my job at home.”
Ghosh says Walmart wasn’t what she expected.
“I was working at the store. And we do our shopping online. But I felt like there was something that was a little bit off with what they’re doing. So I just kind of started looking, and I found out that they are really using technology in order to protect the safety and health of their workers and customers, but it’s more efficient for stores to do that,” she says.
Over the weekend, Walmart made announcements to their more than 2 million U.S. employees on Twitter and in a tweet on its website.
“We’re deeply saddened and saddened by the news this morning that one of our associates has been diagnosed with COVID-19,” said the company in a statement. “The safety of our associates and customers is always our top priority, and we are taking the appropriate precautions to limit potential exposure.”
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh Courtesy of Tashi Ghosh
But unlike other supermarkets who have been very aggressive in making changes to their shopping habits in response to the outbreaks on other levels — like limiting the number of people touching in stores and limiting the number of people who enter stores on the way to a store — Walmart has stayed mostly