When it comes to its response to the pandemic, Wegmans is certainly not guilty of the same willful blindness as the Trump White House.
It is not sponsoring rallies or discouraging people from wearing masks (although it did at the beginning.)
Yet both Donald Trump and the Wegmans family have committed the same sin.
They have underplayed the seriousness of Covid-19 because it doesn’t fit their brand.
I noted in a tweet earlier today that I had seen three employees of the Pittsford Wegmans handling unwrapped food as they improperly wore their masks below their nose.
This is Jessica, an employee of Pittsford Wegmans. She’s peeling & slicing avocados while wearing a mask below her nose.
— Wegmaniacal (@WegmansS) December 20, 2020
Jessica: Anything I can do for you?
Me: You can wear your mask above your nose.
Jessica. Yeah, ok.
Continues wearing mask beneath nose, peeling avocados
1/2 pic.twitter.com/aAULrzIKi9
It wasn’t the first time I’ve complained. If the mask requirement were being enforced by supervisors, these employees would not be flouting it.
Later in the day, another tweep posted photos of Danny Wegman doing the same thing at the same store.
How do I feel about staff following state guidelines? Here’s Danny Wegman, at the entrance to his flagship Pittsford store. Dangling his mask from his ear for twenty minutes (or more?) pic.twitter.com/gxRR9GTuZf
— KarmaCorona (@KarmaCorona) September 28, 2020
There is some dispute as to whether the pink-shirted man in the photo above is actually Danny Wegman. It’s hard to tell. The shirt certainly suggests a Wegmans affiliation; it’s one of the standard colors issued to employees.
But a comparison of these shots with previous photos of the company chairman leaves little doubt:
As with Trump, the problem spreads from the top down. Wegmans is sticking close to its image and waiting for the pandemic to go away. The Covid-19 virus is apparently unfazed by this tactic.
Time for a new president. Time for Wegmans to take things more seriously.
Covid diagnoses have soared in recent months and are expected to further increase because of holiday celebrations (which Wegmans tacitly encourages).
If Wegmans wants to continue to project the image of wholesomeness – always the core of its public identity – it should be making every effort to protect its customers and its workers. And if employees don’t abide by the rule, they should find jobs elsewhere.
As a former Wegmans employee, I was reluctant to identify a transgressor. If Jessica had responded appropriately, I might have chosen not to. But she didn’t, and the threat of infection has never been greater.
I encourage other shoppers who notice similar problems at Wegmans to do what I did:
- Ask the employee to wear their mask properly.
- Take note of the employee’s name on their Wegmans nametag and the department they’re working in.
- Take a photo if you feel comfortable doing so. (You don’t need to be confrontational about this. Everyone walks around with their phones.)
- Ask to speak to an STL – a Store Team Leader.
- Post the information online.
Obviously, the ultimate reaction is to shop elsewhere. If Wegmans and its employees aren’t going to take this disease seriously, then the public needs to force the issue.