Work Life: Students experience changes at their jobs

Some can’t work because of strict parents. Some can’t work because of pre-existing medical conditions. Some can’t work because someone in their family is at risk. But that’s not everyone.

Essential businesses, like grocery stores, have kept students busy bagging groceries and stocking shelves. With school out, students at East have put themselves to work as much as they can to benefit themselves with all the excess time they have.

Junior Ethan Riscovallez has worked at Hen House for a year and a half — and with a number of employees sidelined due to compromised immune systems or older age, he’s picked up more shifts. Typically, he works 12 hours a week, but since quarantine he’s been maxing out at 34 hours. That’s considered a full-time job.

“At this point if I stop working, because we have so few cashiers, it would hinder Hen House’s ability to maintain a safe front end,” Riscovallez said. “Because we’re short on cashiers just to check people out as it is, but we also need someone to clean carts.”

Riscovallez has made an effort to maintain proper sanitation during his shifts by wearing a mask and gloves, even though they aren’t required. Hen House is additionally requiring employees to clean checkout stations every 30 minutes and has designated a worker to clean the store, including shelves and carts.

Riscovallez’s parents allowed him to continue working because of the precautions Riscovallez is taking, even though he comes in contact with a large portion of the northern Prairie Village population. And even though no one in their immediate family is at risk, his family has taken extensive measures when he gets home to ensure health is their top priority. 

“When you come in the house, right at the front door is a place to take off our shoes and spritz them with rubbing alcohol on the outer surfaces,” Ethan’s dad, Jerry Riscovallez, said. “Before anything else we’ll tell him to get a change of clothes, they go right into the hamper, right into the wash.”

Senior Kathleen Stanley is also using this time to clock in. She began working at Hy-Vee after spring break to occupy time and has also been careful to protect customers, her family and herself from the virus. To stay safe, Stanley sanitizes everything customers touch, from keypads to shelves, and showers immediately upon arriving home from each shift. 

According to Stanley, most of the employees at Hy-Vee are continuing to work, but the store has needed as many workers as possible with the increase in store and online orders. Beginning as a cashier, Stanley has now been gathering items around the store to complete the constant online orders, mainly bottled water, bread and eggs, for delivery or pick-up.

Stanley has noticed a shift in the atmosphere at Hy-Vee — people are staying far away from each other and seem to be scared to be in a public place, with most people wearing gloves and masks.

“I really love the people I work with, I think a lot of us have a really positive attitude about the whole situation,” Stanley said. “Definitely though people are taking really strong precautions and we can definitely tell people are fearful of being near others.”

While working in essential businesses, Stanley and Riscovallez are both trying to keep the community safe, they said — whether that’s advising a customer to stand farther away or remembering to sanitize the conveyor belt after every purchase.