Thank you for shopping again...
Icon is very relevant: I almost feel like this is a dream and I'm bound to wake up from it, but at the same time, I know better than that!
I've had a tiring and yet wonderful day, my first day, in four weeks, back on the job. After very little sleep, due to being extremely keyed up, I woke up this morning at 7.30 hearing ...horns honking, which had me wondering, "What have they got to honk at now?" (found out later some of the gang at my store had gone out onto the sidewalk to wave to the crowd, while waiting for their shifts to start) Also heard what turned out to be news helicopters buzzing overhead. I got up and took a look on Facebook's "Save Market Basket" page... and someone posted that Artie would be speaking to the public and us workers on Boston's Fox25. I scurried downstairs and flicked on the television (not my usual morning habit): bits and pieces and odds and ends that I really didn't pay a lot of mind to, and then a clip about the workers celebrating when the news came at midnight. Whilst puttering about getting my breakfast -- and keeping an ear open for the phone -- I stuck my head into my folks' room and told them the big news. They got up and joined me, watching... This. And yes, Artie T., our Once and Future King Arthur is every bit as down to earth and sincere as he sounds. Dad was touched: I might have seen tears in his eyes; Mom murmured "He's a very Christian man...", at one point when Artie spoke of how everyone in the company is an equal, that we're all important.
And then, the moment Artie's speech ended, the Phone Rang. I ran to grab it, and it was The Call, it was Sheila calling me to tell me they needed me at ten a.m.; I told them I would be there as soon as I washed my hair and got dressed (also cued up the music from "On the Waterfront", on my CD player: that movie has never felt so relevant as it does now; we aren't union, but we were up against nearly as much greed and stupidity and -- if you count Hammer Guy -- even violence, but we don't regret standing up to a "lousy mug").
I practically ran to work, scurrying down the sidewalk and fairly flying across the street. More cars in the parking lot than have parked there in weeks: I walked in, meeting our front end manager and hugging him, so happy to see him again. Walked through the store, saying hello to everyone and every department -- yep, like George Bailey running through Bedford Falls when he finally lives again -- "Hello, grocery department! Hello, grocery guys! Hello, meat department! Hello, back room!" Ran up to the break room to pull on my smock and my hat, with my badge still pinned to the side, then ran down to punch in. ...And, as per usual, I couldn't find my time card because Someone Had Moved It; that much hasn't changed, but I welcomed it (like, yep, George Bailey kissing the loose banister finial when he runs up the stairs -- I meant it when I said it felt like living in a Frank Capra movie!)!
Business went more or less as usual, though we only had a handful of registers open and the crowd had yet to get up to the usual speed for a Thursday: I think people felt a bit skittish about coming in, like they can barely believe that we all done the impossible, and that it's safe to come back to the store. Plus, we're still short on meat and produce and the sandwich shop has yet to get back to making sandwiches and salads. But!! Everyone that came in was happy to see us again, lots of Welcome Backs and people asking me if I missed the place -- which I have, for all my grousing about what might go on. As one customer said, regarding the store, "You never know what you've got till it's gone." But it honestly felt like coming home, like one big family reunion, and in a sense, we're all part of this, us workers and the customers, since we all stood together on this.
Worked a five hour shift, and I can't remember the last time I've worked a shift that long: this is pre-Arthur the Schmuck getting onto the board type hours (I swear that pitiful excuse for a man had a hand in my hours getting shaved down over the past year, since I wasn't the only one that happened to), and I needed them. I'll be scheduled on a day by day basis, to which I told my boss, "I can work any day but Sundays, till we get back up to speed." Not all my coworkers are back (some have moved on to other jobs, with no word on whether they'll return), but a lot of the most familiar faces have returned, the ones who stayed the course on the picket lines, my sisters and brothers in arms. I go back to work tomorrow, for a six hour shift, and I've put in to work on Saturday if needed.
Biggest surprise: people coming up to me and telling me they'd seen the interview clip of me on Channel 5 (WCVB). Even our assistant store director, a somewhat intimidating character, took me aside and... complimented me on it, told me it was "very eloquent and very classy". You folks can watch it Here (I'm the second gal interviewed, the hat-wearing one with the crazy hand gestures -- and I find I'm apt to do crazy hand gestures when I'm nervous; I'm also visible in random crowd shots, often with my back to the camera). It's almost embarrassing how many people have seen the clip and told me they have!
I've had a tiring and yet wonderful day, my first day, in four weeks, back on the job. After very little sleep, due to being extremely keyed up, I woke up this morning at 7.30 hearing ...horns honking, which had me wondering, "What have they got to honk at now?" (found out later some of the gang at my store had gone out onto the sidewalk to wave to the crowd, while waiting for their shifts to start) Also heard what turned out to be news helicopters buzzing overhead. I got up and took a look on Facebook's "Save Market Basket" page... and someone posted that Artie would be speaking to the public and us workers on Boston's Fox25. I scurried downstairs and flicked on the television (not my usual morning habit): bits and pieces and odds and ends that I really didn't pay a lot of mind to, and then a clip about the workers celebrating when the news came at midnight. Whilst puttering about getting my breakfast -- and keeping an ear open for the phone -- I stuck my head into my folks' room and told them the big news. They got up and joined me, watching... This. And yes, Artie T., our Once and Future King Arthur is every bit as down to earth and sincere as he sounds. Dad was touched: I might have seen tears in his eyes; Mom murmured "He's a very Christian man...", at one point when Artie spoke of how everyone in the company is an equal, that we're all important.
And then, the moment Artie's speech ended, the Phone Rang. I ran to grab it, and it was The Call, it was Sheila calling me to tell me they needed me at ten a.m.; I told them I would be there as soon as I washed my hair and got dressed (also cued up the music from "On the Waterfront", on my CD player: that movie has never felt so relevant as it does now; we aren't union, but we were up against nearly as much greed and stupidity and -- if you count Hammer Guy -- even violence, but we don't regret standing up to a "lousy mug").
I practically ran to work, scurrying down the sidewalk and fairly flying across the street. More cars in the parking lot than have parked there in weeks: I walked in, meeting our front end manager and hugging him, so happy to see him again. Walked through the store, saying hello to everyone and every department -- yep, like George Bailey running through Bedford Falls when he finally lives again -- "Hello, grocery department! Hello, grocery guys! Hello, meat department! Hello, back room!" Ran up to the break room to pull on my smock and my hat, with my badge still pinned to the side, then ran down to punch in. ...And, as per usual, I couldn't find my time card because Someone Had Moved It; that much hasn't changed, but I welcomed it (like, yep, George Bailey kissing the loose banister finial when he runs up the stairs -- I meant it when I said it felt like living in a Frank Capra movie!)!
Business went more or less as usual, though we only had a handful of registers open and the crowd had yet to get up to the usual speed for a Thursday: I think people felt a bit skittish about coming in, like they can barely believe that we all done the impossible, and that it's safe to come back to the store. Plus, we're still short on meat and produce and the sandwich shop has yet to get back to making sandwiches and salads. But!! Everyone that came in was happy to see us again, lots of Welcome Backs and people asking me if I missed the place -- which I have, for all my grousing about what might go on. As one customer said, regarding the store, "You never know what you've got till it's gone." But it honestly felt like coming home, like one big family reunion, and in a sense, we're all part of this, us workers and the customers, since we all stood together on this.
Worked a five hour shift, and I can't remember the last time I've worked a shift that long: this is pre-Arthur the Schmuck getting onto the board type hours (I swear that pitiful excuse for a man had a hand in my hours getting shaved down over the past year, since I wasn't the only one that happened to), and I needed them. I'll be scheduled on a day by day basis, to which I told my boss, "I can work any day but Sundays, till we get back up to speed." Not all my coworkers are back (some have moved on to other jobs, with no word on whether they'll return), but a lot of the most familiar faces have returned, the ones who stayed the course on the picket lines, my sisters and brothers in arms. I go back to work tomorrow, for a six hour shift, and I've put in to work on Saturday if needed.
Biggest surprise: people coming up to me and telling me they'd seen the interview clip of me on Channel 5 (WCVB). Even our assistant store director, a somewhat intimidating character, took me aside and... complimented me on it, told me it was "very eloquent and very classy". You folks can watch it Here (I'm the second gal interviewed, the hat-wearing one with the crazy hand gestures -- and I find I'm apt to do crazy hand gestures when I'm nervous; I'm also visible in random crowd shots, often with my back to the camera). It's almost embarrassing how many people have seen the clip and told me they have!