Thread by @ninadietrich

THREAD.

I just visited @Tesco Ashford Park Farm.

Checkout operated by lovely middle-aged woman who has worked in this store for years.

Today, as I queued, I observed her coughing repeatedly.

/1

While the customer in front of me paid, she peeled off her gloves and took a few tablets.

"Are you ok?", I asked.

"No," she said. "Feeling rotten. I have a temperature and chest infection."

/2

"Should you be here?" I asked.

"I asked to go home, but was told I couldn't as it's Saturday. And @Tesco won't pay me if I miss hours. They don't care about us."

While we talked, she kept coughing into her gloved hands and used same hands to handle my shopping.

/3

"I really think you should be at home and isolating," I said.

"Can't afford it. And my supervisor said it'd start everyone else calling in sick. Then they'd have no staff."

"@tesco really said that?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "They won't do nothing for us here."

/4

At this point, she'd finished scanning. I was packing, touching the items she'd just touched, sans gloves.

I paid. At this point, her supervisor appeared to hand over change.

"See," she told him, "This lady cares I have a chest infection. "

@Tesco supervisor shrugged.

/5

I've just spent the last half hour disinfecting my shopping before putting it away. Grateful for all the unnecessary plastic packing for once.

And I am berating myself for not kicking up a fuss, for not rejecting the shopping. But @tesco left me speechless in that moment.

/6

@tesco, @asda, @sainsburys, @waitrose, @Morrisons , @LidlGB , @AldiUK:

Your staff play a pivotal role during the #COVID19 pandemic.

Stop #CommunitySpread.

Send home staff with cold symptoms.

Do this every day, in every store.

Or you're infecting thousands.

END.

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