Cork Supermarket staff rising to the challenge of Covid-19

Frontline staff Ellen Twomey Ross Healan and Billy O’Mahony keeping their social distance at Ryan’s SuperValu in Glanmire, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

“You’d think people never cleaned their houses before with what they were buying," Ross Heelan jokes describing work at the height of the Covid-19 "madness".

The 28-year-old has been working at Supervalu since he was 16 and is now a floor manager at Supervalu Glanmire.

“People bought hand soap in the 10s and 20s. We had to give a quota per customer at one point."

He said that certain items would suddenly sell in huge quantities - first toilet paper, then kitchen roll - like some strange shopping zeitgeist was influencing people’s spending.

And although panic buying has calmed down somewhat, the store is still busier than ever.

“It’s been non-stop," he said. "

People are buying at Christmas levels and are literally picking up everything -you’d need a crystal ball to predict what people are going to buy up next.

But despite the virus, he said that he is very happy to still be at work.

"Everyone’s pulling through together and there’s a good atmosphere," he said.

“And it’s nice to hear positive feedback from customers." There’s not much positivity out there at the moment, so it’s nice when they say ‘thank you, you have a really good system in place here’."

He believes that the crisis may change shopping habits for good, with more people turning to online shopping and delivery after trialling it through the pandemic.

His colleague, Ellen Twomey, 19, returned to work full-time to help the online team meet the growing demand after her lectures in UCC stopped early for the Covid-19 shutdown.

She has her first undergraduate college exam for her degree in Biological, Earth and Environmental Science today but she was still working a 10 hour shift yesterday.

“You get used to the hours and it’s for a good cause,” she said.

“I’m doing the picking for online orders and home deliveries. I’m sporty so I track my steps on my phone and I walk 13k in a shift and the time flies. We get about 130 - 150 deliveries a day.

"Before the coronavirus we had about 30. You don’t know what time you’ll finish with the extra work now but you know you’re doing good out there."

Manager Noel O’Riordan said preparing for a hard Brexit was "an unforeseen positive" as warehouse capacity trebled and the country was better stocked to meet the sudden spike in demand.

“At first people were buying anything antibacterial - hand sanitiser, soap, Dettol, Milton, wipes. Then it was pasta and rice.

And now everyone’s baking. Flour, eggs, baking soda, yeast, bread mix are flying out the door.

“Musgraves, who we buy most of our stock from had to ration out certain items - like pasta or flour - across all the stores so that everyone could get some."

Supervalu Glanmire implemented new procedures to keep the store safe for staff and customers alike - setting up sanitising stations, perspex screens at the checkout and limiting the number of customers in the store. Wanting to protect those queuing outside from the elements, they erected a marquee to keep clients dry.

“Our customers have been happy to queue, they see that the measures we’ve taken are designed to keep them safe," Noel O’Riordan said.

“Our online shopping and home delivery has more than tripled since the coronavirus. We take orders over the phone from people who are cocooning and aren’t too familiar with online orders.

“We have an extra van for deliveries and three extra drivers and 15 people working in the online shopping section now.

“On Monday, we have four local GAA clubs coming to help deliver food to people in their parishes and clubs."

He said that hiring 16 extra staff since the virus outbreak has not been a problem, despite concerns raised nationally that people may rather take the €350 Covid-19 unemployment payment than a new job.

“It hasn’t been an issue for us," he said.

"People we’ve hired have been delighted to get back into work.

“Seven of our old staff - who went off to college or other jobs - came back to help us. And we have nine new staff."

“The team here have been incredible. We’re very lucky that we’ve had no cases in the shop and everyone has put their shoulder to the wheel.

He said that customers have been appreciative of the extra efforts made by staff.

“We got a letter from a little girl in Carrignavar who had a heart operation. She thanked us for dropping her food while she couldn’t leave the house.

“We had a big teddybear left over from Easter spot prizes so we sent it to her. We’ve had a couple of kids send in thank you letters.

"It really makes a difference getting those letters. It makes the long hours a lot easier.

“It’s always in the back of your head that you could come into contact with the virus and bring it home, but if you focused on that you wouldn’t be able to do your job well.

“And the team here have been incredible. We’re very lucky that we’ve had no cases in the shop and everyone has put their shoulder to the wheel.

"Everyone’s been doing 30-40% more work in the same hours and the shop has maintained it’s high standards. Everyone’s just picked up the baton and ran."