While doctors, nurses, and health-care professionals at large are rightfully being lauded as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s another set of less likely saviors facing the coronavirus frontlines every day: grocery store workers.
“It used to be an invisible job, just trying to stock the hummus and not get run over by carts,” said Demi Dusenberry, who’s worked at the Trader Joe’s in Goleta for nearly nine years. “Now I’m not invisible. It feels really weird to get thanks for just showing up to work. It’s still the same job. But I’m so glad that I do have a place to work.”
Danna Knutzen is the scan coordinator at Gelson’s, where she’s worked for 31 years (back to when it was an Albertsons). “Most people are really thankful and appreciative, and they are telling us to take care of ourselves,” she said.