Thoughts from a Wegmans employee on ways you can help slow the spread of the coronavirus and speed up lines at the registers.
- Use the hand sanitizer provided at store entrances. If your store doesn’t have sanitizing stations, tell the manager you want them.
- Curb your worst instincts. Do you really need every package of chicken in the case? We’ll get more.
- Scan produce and bulk items. This saves the cashier having to look up and enter price codes.
- Clean your reusable bags. Better yet, switch for now to paper bags. If you live in New York state, the nickel-per-bag fee charged by Wegmans goes to food banks, which are no doubt going to see a rise in demand as businesses shut down.
- Pay electronically if you can, rather than using cash.
- Help the cashier by bagging as he or she scans.
- Watch out for your fellow shoppers. If you see senior citizens who look overwhelmed or are searching unsuccessfully for items, assist them or find a store employee.
- Thank your cashier, the person who baked your bread or made your submarine sandwich, the butchers, the produce people, the shelf stockers, the supervisors who are working long, bleary-eyed shifts. In the current frenzy, I can’t tell you how uplifting that can be.