The View from the WABAC Machine

The way we were - well, at least from the perspective of this one man - in these parts, this time last year.

Monday, March 16, 2020

Kudos to Those on the Front Lines

Margaret and I are early morning, weekend shoppers.  Our grocery store is the Shop Rite in Somerset,  New Jersey.  It opens at 7:00 am and far more often than not, we are there shopping by not later than 7:15 am.  Every weekend we see the same familiar faces.   The same shoppers.   The same great folks who work there.  The store is not empty by any means.   We are however a bit of an exclusive club.  

Yesterday however when we got to the store shortly before 7:00 am, more than one hundred people were already lined up outside waiting for the doors to open.  At 7:00 am, people poured into the store and ravaged what was left on the shelves in the aisles where paper products and cleaning supplies are sold.  It was a sight to see.  

The Missus and I went about our business.  We completed our weekly grocery shopping.  Given that there were at least seven to ten times as many customers in the store as usually are in the store on a Sunday morning, the men and women who work there took care of all their customers, new and old.  It took a bit longer for us to get out of the store than it does on the typical Sunday.  

These days, there is no such thing as typical. But thanks to the men and women who work at the Somerset Shop-Rite, we enjoyed a bit of normalcy.  Well done and thanks. 

-AK

Spoiler alert:  Twelve months later, the men and women who work at our Shop-Rite continue to do an incredible job.   They are the personification of people who are both essential and heroic.  

-AK