by Ashley Chaulk
Hello, my name is Ashley. I am a cashier at Publix working on the āfront linesā so to speak. This is quite a crazy time we are living inā¦ I myself am never one to overreact over something serious. I like to remain calm, and gather information so I know what Iām dealing with before I speak out about it. However, my first shift as a cashier during this trying time was a testing one. Walking into the store, I quickly realized this wasnāt going
to be like any normal shift. People were everywhere, looking frantic, some being rude and an overall sense of panic.
During this first shift, among many others now, I have seen a lot of customers hoarding food, toilet paper, paper products and cleaning supplies. We have had many morning with people lining up outside well before our doors open. Customers have been honestly, very rude. My motto is to kill emā with kindness. Every customer comes through with either a question āwhen will you have more toilet paper?ā or with an attitude
or some kind of negative commentā¦ however, you get those few that have compassion for myself and our other employees.
My way of not only making it through these shifts, but thriving through them is obviously sanitizing after almost every customer but more importantly doing my absolute best to spread positivity and a feeling to everyone that we will be okay! I love to remind everyone what our president has requested of us, and that is to pray! I have to keep
myself strong spirit, soul and body so I can encourage everyone else to do the same. We must all be part of the solution not the problem, bringing hope and a light in an often too dim world!