After 50 days of confinement, businesses not essential to the life of the nation finally reopened on May 11. Economic life is gradually regaining its rights with the return of consumption, but the implementation of sanitary measures in stores can turn into a headache. Incivility, lack of empathy, settling of scores ... Employees tell Le Figaro about their first week of post-confinement work. If their testimonies do not constitute an exhaustive panorama - many stores have experienced a peaceful reopening -, they give an idea of the delicate and often trying situations to which many employees are exposed. The names of those who agreed to testify, as well as the names of their employers, have been anonymized.
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Marie, saleswoman in ready-to-wear in the Occitanie region:
“ In this profession, disrespect is a routine, especially when you are a young woman. People tend to think that we are not going to flinch. But honestly, I didn't think that there would be so many people who would take off their mask and play cat and mouse with us to be able to take it off or try on clothes in secret (whereas, for health reasons, their fitting is prohibited by store management, editor's note).
The first day, my morning came down to systematically asking customers to kindly put on their mask. People enter the store, if they don't have a mask, we give them ... and once at the top of the escalators, they put it under the chin! Some give it back as soon as they see me. Others laugh and say “ hi hi! Sorry, that's right, ”when others complain about the heat. What should I say? I've been there since nine in the morning with latex gloves, a mask and a visor. I had the impression of playing kindergarten teacher with adults 30 or 40 years old. A lady burned me because I asked her to put her mask back on: she accused me of not helping someone in danger because she had asthma and she was going to " die because of [ me]". So her life is in danger because of the wearing of the extended mask but she chooses to come hang out in a clothing store ...
The barrier gestures were not respected, I had to leave my storage station several times because people were gathering around me.Or this family that I berated 26 times because as soon as my back was turned, their members took off their masks and tried clothes on the shelves. And all those customers who were complaining because I had to disinfect the payment terminal after each card payment ... The barrier gestures were not respected, I had to leave my storage station several times because people were gathering around me. I would have liked our chefs to realize that the opening could not be done in good conditions, since the shops are not adapted to social distancing. But it is still we who take for others, we have the impression of being guinea pigs ... My colleagues told me that they have experienced the same thing ».
Stéphanie, employee in the workshop of a store of a large sports brand
“I learned a lot and I love my job. It is demanding technically, but humanly too. I survived Christmas, New Years, sales ... But nothing had prepared me for the bullshit (sic) that I experienced the first day of deconfinement. There were more people than in those times.
I have seen people refuse to wear the mask that was given to them. I saw people protest, a gentleman uttering a " asshole" to my colleague who asked her to put on her mask. I saw people wear it under their noses, lower their mask to speak to me and go around the plexiglass of the cashiers to ask them questions. I saw colleagues take refuge in the toilets to cry from stress!
There are people who came to have their petanque balls engraved with their initials ...I heard colleagues, veterans of the supermarket chain, say that it was their worst day in store. I saw colleagues abandon in the middle of the day the health instructions that were impossible to apply. There are people who came to have their petanque balls engraved with their initials ... Others to put a sticker with their pony's name on their riding box! To say that I came back for that ... To say that we are exposed to the virus to render service, repair, maintain, advise, and that in front, collectively, their behavior amounts to spitting on us ... At least , thanks to the mask, I didn't have to force a single smile. ”
Anna, employee of a cosmetics store on the Champs-Elysées
“As our clientele is 60% tourists, we did not have many people the first week. But the few people that we had ... Many people take sanitary measures lightly. I didn't expect them to groan when they were reminded to wear a mask. They do not understand that it is a security measure!
We are not allowed to use testers, but there are people who force and test them ... We are more of a call to order than anything else. Many customers bypass the plexiglass at the checkout to ask a question or give the money aside. ”
Nathan, employee in after-sales service in a large cultural multimedia brand, in Marseille
“In 50 days of confinement, people used their equipment a lot, if not more. From the first day, we had a queue of 150 meters which crossed the whole store. We were expecting it ... 50 days without after-sales service, of course, we took it in our heads. We counted the triple of customers compared to a normal day.
People did not understand why the repair shops were closed. Sorry that an iPhone in hand is not essential to the life of the nation! There was no understanding, no empathy. We are asked for compensation, we got yelled at because the son of a hotel did not have his console during confinement. A lady said to me " refund my tablet because I lost two months of warranty", while the government has just issued a decree to extend the warranty periods "!
