The deconfinement, they awaited it with great impatience and a little concern. But since Monday and the reopening of stores, after eight weeks of downtime, many traders and sellers are clearly disillusioned. The reason for their dissatisfaction? The behavior of many customers who sometimes find it difficult to respect barrier gestures.
Lack of social distancing, wearing a random mask, refusal to do without hydroalcoholic gel on the hands ... According to the employees we interviewed, many are those who have not yet fully assimilated the instructions of the authorities to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 contaminations. Worse, according to store staff: some seem determined to make them pay for the harshness of the preventive measures.
"I leave with the ball in the belly for fear of having to face new conflicts", sighs Kim, employed in a bookstore-stationery in Lille. Since Monday, this young 23-year-old woman has been confronted with customers who refuse to respect the sanitary measures implemented in the store. "We have been called poor assholes, incompetent, irresponsible," said Kim. Their fault: asking customers to wear a mask.
"I play the school teacher"
In an international chain of clothing stores in the Occitania region, Zoé *, 23, finds it difficult to endure her days. Sales consultant in the children's and men's departments, she too faces the aggressiveness of certain customers. "I saw a lady wearing her mask under her chin, I asked her to put it back on and I went to put clothes away in the reserve," she says. When I got out, she was waiting for me to yell at me. "
Since the reopening of the store in which she works, the young woman has the impression of playing the "school teacher". "As soon as my back is turned, they take off their mask when it is prohibited," she insists. A little game that many of the visitors to this store lend themselves to, according to her: "I repeat the same thing to them twenty times and that makes them laugh, they say to themselves that they should not be caught by the saleswoman. "
After her first day, she collapsed. "I cried for two, three hours," she recalls. It was anger, tiredness, weariness. If Zoe tries to be diplomatic, she has the feeling of being the "punching bag" of certain clients. “They had a bad experience with confinement and this is felt today. They come to let off steam on us, ”she says.
Monday, the "worst day of my life"
How to ensure the protection of all customers if some refuse to do so? From the start, Kim and her colleagues applied social distancing. They limited the number of customers to four simultaneously in the store and the hydroalcoholic gel is available to everyone. However, few are willing to use it. "Most of the people coming to the store did not fully understand the situation we are in," says the young woman. They made fun of our reception methods because for them, it is only a small virus that will not kill them because they believe they are invincible. "
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Same observation for Eva *, 24 years old. She has only been back to work for three days and says she is already exhausted from repeating the same instructions over and over. Responsible for customer relations in a Parisian ready-to-wear brand, she sometimes takes turns with her colleagues at the entrance to the store to distribute disinfectant gel to new customers. "Some do it automatically but for others, I have to force them because they don't want to do it," she sighs.
Sometimes, some buyers prefer to use their own gel rather than that of the store. "A lady told me that she had her gel and that she would wash her hands afterwards, but I really have to verify that she does so to not let anyone in without washing her hands," reports Eva. I asked her to do it in front of me and she was not happy because she felt she was being watched… ”
In this big sign on the Champs-Élysées, the boxes are surrounded by Plexiglas. But between them, there is a slight empty space ... where some consumers have got into the habit of parking, very close to the employees. "People come and talk right between the two Plexiglas," she gets annoyed, while acknowledging that this protection system is disturbing for everyone.
Lucien, 26, an employee in a sports store in Normandy, also recognizes this: “Our customers are not used to these instructions and we are not used to enforcing them. For him, Monday, May 11 was "the worst day" of his life. “Our managers were running everywhere, my teammates were overworked. I surprised two of them to go cry in the toilets, from stress, ”he confesses.
Anger and weariness
Beyond the stress that he himself felt, Lucien also said he was indignant. “Some of our customers did not comply with our few health guidelines. Trying on the products was in principle prohibited and fitting rooms closed, but many still tried the products on the shelves, ”he protested.
With insufficient staff, it was necessary to deal with numerous and sometimes demanding customers. "They have been confined for weeks and have been unable to shop," he says. Some do not accept that there are delays in supply or processing. "
A feeling shared by Shamia, 37, site manager and cashier in a food store in Reunion. She feels anger and especially incomprehension. "A client said to me: It is not a virus that will deprive me of my freedom to move and you are not going to dictate my behavior either ," she said.
The situation became so difficult to manage that Shamia's family business was forced to call on a security company. Since then, an agent has been at the entrance to the store. "It must have a deterrent effect on some," she thinks.
These behaviors, Shamia had already noted them during confinement. In Reunion, the context is different. The number of cases is stable, few people are infected (440) and no deaths have been reported on the island. According to her, this context may be the reason for an "irresponsible" attitude. "I fundamentally think that some people are not afraid of Covid-19," she says. Here, we have had a dengue epidemic for two months and soon 10 dead ... ”
For Lucien, it is clear that, in his store at least, they were ill prepared for deconfinement. "We are too few to manage a period during which we face a very large crowd and important health requirements," he said. The young man therefore decided to report the dysfunctions of these first days to his management. “I love my job, my store and my team, but not so much that I catch a virus that could put my loved ones in danger. "
* First names have been changed