Anyone else 50+, works in retail and doesn't feel safe?

[ssd]

My work has all the necessary signage and restrictions in place.
Hand sanitiser everywhere etc etc

But customers and staff don't adhere to social distancing. And the managers are the same. They've all got complacent. Masks are worn, usually under people's noses, no one says a word. I step back from people all day but I can only do so much. Sometimes there's not room to step back further. I've been laughed at when asking people to step back.

Frankly I'm worried sick. I need the money, leaving isn't possible. Getting something else right now looks impossible too.

Please can you tell me how you feel at work. I know I feel more anxious as a close family member had covid really bad and I've seen how this can go.

I work in a big store, no fresh air or windows to open.

Bump

@ssd just wanted to say that I hope your DH is recovering ok. I'm sorry you are going through this, it's tough. I'm 44 and DH is 49, we both got sick in March and it was unpleasant and worrying, really hoping not to catch it again, so I understand where you are at. Wishing you well

Thank you, I appreciate that. He is actually doing well now, thank goodness.

Not in retail. Am in a college and I’ve resigned myself to getting it at some point.

Do the students wear masks at college?

I have two jobs. I actually feel much safer in my retail job as my employers are very supportive. Before lockdown, we already had handwashing advice (60 seconds), extra sanitizer and we are encouraged to keep ourselves a reasonable distance away from everyone in store even with masks on. My other job is in a school. I know children are meant to be low risk but I'm in a bubble of 200 children in a hot stuffy school, staff do not socially distance, no masks, there's santizer but it's not widely available. It just doesn't seem right and I'm convinced that's where I catch it, if I do

You need to be close to someone for prolonged periods to be at risk. 10 minutes of contact is what a brief google search told me.
A brief encounter with a customer in a shop shouldn't cause any problems, especially if there is no physical contact, you are able to step back in order to physically distance and hopefully at least some customers are wearing masks.

I have two jobs. I actually feel much safer in my retail job as my employers are very supportive. Before lockdown, we already had handwashing advice (60 seconds), extra sanitizer and we are encouraged to keep ourselves a reasonable distance away from everyone in store even with masks on. My other job is in a school. I know children are meant to be low risk but I'm in a bubble of 200 children in a hot stuffy school, staff do not socially distance, no masks, there's santizer but it's not widely available. It just doesn't seem right and I'm convinced that's where I catch it, if I do

I agree! I am a TA. Our classroom is over crowded, our windows do not open, we wash hands often but, as children do, their little fingers are frequently up their little noses , no social distancing, no masks or PPE, I often need to do first aid, wipe noses, help change after toilet accidents, clear away plates/cutlery etc after lunch. I do feel as though other jobs are allowed to follow government guidance to protect themselves but school staff aren't. Not sure why government think we are cannon fodder. It upsets me.

It isn't safe and it's a disgrace. Anyone trying to claim otherwise without having to do the same themselves is talking hypocritical nonsense. I'm really conscious of this whenever I go to a supermarket - there is way too much potential for aerosol transmission even with the flimsy, gappy screens.

I'm sick of the risks so many of us are having take for the benefit of an entitled public who demands we either risk our health or give up our livelihoods (I don't work in a supermarket).

@PeonyandDahlia

You need to be close to someone for prolonged periods to be at risk. 10 minutes of contact is what a brief google search told me. A brief encounter with a customer in a shop shouldn't cause any problems, especially if there is no physical contact, you are able to step back in order to physically distance and hopefully at least some customers are wearing masks.

'shouldn't', 'if', 'hopefully'

Those conditionals are what public facing workers will live and, unfortunately in several cases, die by. Crock of shit.

I feel for anyone working in a school just now, they are being treated terribly. I'm paranoid and we all wear masks and have decent screens at the tills, although other staff walk in and out.

I read you can be affected in a minute if you don't social distance, where did it say 10 minutes?

Yes, I'm on checkouts and I think it's the safest place, behind a screen. I clean my work area constantly, everything that can possibly be touched by hand OR breathed (or coughed) on, except the customers' groceries. It's just astonishing that we still sell the long baguettes and bread flutes in open paper bags, stacked in bins at child's level - it was always an utterly disgusting practice, but especially now, you can't wash bread. YUCK.

The teenage staff are particularly bad about distancing, correct use of masks, and the one-way system through the staff corridors. Silly giggly girls thinking they're cool for taking a short-cut the wrong way down the stairs, arm in arm. I'm not sure many of them clean their hands during their shift, let alone their work spaces, but as a store we do still clean all basket and trolley handles all day long, rather than expect customers to do their own.

It is much more hygienic for customers to use a handset to scan their own shopping straight into their trolleys and go through the quick-check tills, but if they all did that I'd have to be on shop floor stacking shelves, in much closer proximity to other people. No thanks, I'll stay behind my screen, and in the absence of a full-face helmet I'm about as protected as I can be.

I'm more on the shop floor than behind the till.