I asked myself when I got my summer job: Am I lucky or unlucky? Now I am so happy I got the opportunity to stock groceries during the Coronavirus-period. I have never had so much respect for the people I’ve worked with as the ones this summer.

Coming home

My original plan? Please stay in The US until I felt like going back to Norway or wherever a job would bring me. I have never felt so ready to be finished with my education. I loved every aspect of what lay ahead of me. Then corona hit - I decided to go home - without anything that resembled a good plan. I sat 14 days in quarantine, thinking about what to do. I still had my internship in the US, but I needed something more to live an ok life. I am lucky enough to have my connections.

Meny

I was so happy I never had to go back to working at a supermarket again. I have come to learn that you sometimes have to pivot your life plans - this year more than ever. I talked to my former boss at the local supermarket and managed to get a job at Meny Vestkanten, a supermarket in Bergen, Norway. How? A friend of mine had seen an email a week before taking over as Assistant Store Manager for this store - and wanted me to join there. Two master’s degrees later, and I was happy about getting a job stacking groceries.

I started this job Mid-April during the crisis. I worked for a similar supermarket for seven years before I left for the US, so the position was quite familiar. It honestly didn’t dawn on me where I had ended up before the Store Manager commented: “You are the most overqualified person ever.” Life wasn’t exactly going as planned - going back to the same place I was three years ago, even before I graduated from Undergrad.

My job

I was like a potato - I worked with pretty much anything. I didn’t need training, so I got set to support the parts of the store where they were short on human resources. And I had a pretty nice time, having the most awesome co-workers having a lot of fun and enjoying things. Those awesome co-workers got me through every single day at work, and I always left jobs with a smile. However, it dawned on me that things aren’t like they used to be; they were very different. The night-shift was incredibly fascinating.

The night shift was fun. You could listen to music, unlimited coffee, and having a good and social lunch at around 4 o’clock. It was fairly nice. Did it affect the rest of your life? Yeah. One of my co-workers had barely seen his girlfriend in four weeks. I experienced the same effect: Poor sleep and your ability to spend your day doing something worthwhile disappeared as you tried to adapt.

My co-workers

Now to the thing I’ve written this whole thing for. Every day ungrateful customers, ignoring the guidelines, came in acting as if things were just like they used to before. My co-workers met them with a smile. We had to go to work during the night - but my co-workers still showed up in a good mood and happily ensured that the store looked as good as possible so that people got the groceries they wanted, which is not as easy as you might think when people’s habits go crazy—all of this while being unprotected.

My co-workers and friends met ignorants with a smile, happily worked nightshifts to avoid an overcrowded store, and sacrificed their own relations so that you could get groceries. The worst of it all: Their personal health. They did this happily, and it has taught me a great deal this summer.

1. Retail employees are DRASTICALLY underappreciated.

2. Retail employees are DRASTICALLY underappreciated.

3. Retail employees are DRASTICALLY underappreciated.

Give them an air-high-five the next time you go grocery shopping. Give them their space and be grateful they are there. Chances are they are sacrificing more than you when they go to work.