The COVID-19 pandemic affects most, if not all, aspects of our daily lives; our shopping habits, our learning environment, and our perspectives. One effect that seems to stand out, though, is COVID’s affect on jobs.
To get a better perspective, we interviewed Sinia Davies, a Senior at Mira Loma High School, who works at the popular retail brand TJ Maxx. Realizing that the problems aren’t restricted to students here, we also have talked to a student named Olivia Young, who lives in Boise, Idaho. She is a Senior from Borah Senior High School and a worker at the fast-food restaurant Jack in the Box. Both of these high school students have willingly provided their insight and experience on their job lives and the significant effects that COVID-19 has left in their workplace.
Things Have Changed Significantly in the Local Area – Sinia Davies
What is your name? How are you today?
I am Sinia Davies! I am doing pretty good!
What high school do you attend?
I attend Mira Loma High School.
How old are you and what year are you in high school?
I am 17 years old and I am a senior this year.
Where do you work? How is it?
I work at TJ Maxx! It is a pretty fun experience! It is exciting and a pretty great first job to have.
How long have you been working at your workplace?
I have been working for approximately 3 months now.
What do you do at your workplace?
I do a bit of everything. I have limited jobs since I’m a minor. I am on the register, in the backroom folding clothes, up at the front counting people who walk in or out, cleaning carts, or hanging clothes on racks in women’s and juniors. Sometimes I have more than one responsibility during a shift.
What are some changes you´ve noticed due to COVID-19 at your workplace?
There have been a lot of changes. We don’t have fitting rooms anymore since they’re closed. We try to put a capacity limit on our customers to keep everyone safe and healthy while going into our stores. We make sure that everyone is wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart.
What are some positives and negatives that you have experienced after COVID-19 occurred at your workplace?
I would say some positives are that everyone is happy and healthy, because we care about everyone’s well being, and that we have had an increase in sales as well.
The negatives are not being able to see the customer’s faces because of their masks, so we are not able to gauge the emotions of the customer.
Do you have to wear a mask while working at your workplace?
We do have to wear a mask at all times, except for when we are in our break rooms eating.
Do customers have to wear masks too?
100% yes. We do not force people to wear masks, but we do ask and imply so customers can wear a mask. And we even have masks to give them, due to COVID-19, since everyone is required to wear a mask when they enter the store.
What has your workplace done to get accustomed to COVID-19?
Specifically for our store, we do frequent cleaning and temperature checks. We also divide our registers and put up shields. We also make sure social distance occurs to both the staff and customers as well, and we also have hand sanitizer available.
Why do you still choose to work even after quarantine was established?
For me, I have had my job after COVID-19 occurred, so it keeps me in a healthy mindset, because I can help someone out and spread a bit of joy.
Was there a shift in your wages after COVID-19 occurred?
No, I received my job after quarantine so I did work until after July.
How do you balance your school life and your work life, especially while COVID-19 is still going around?
I have figured out a way to balance both. It is hard, I’m not going to lie. I try to do most of my homework before I take my shift, and on days such as weekends, that’s when I get my (home)work done.
Do you have any advice for anyone who plans to work while still in high school?
I would say that take a job that you would love and enjoy. Don’t work if you don’t think you’ll have time for it. Also, know when to take on a job, because it is a lot of responsibility, especially retail, which has a huge toll on your academic and social life.
The Effects are Equal Across State Lines – Olivia Young (Boise, Idaho)
What is your name? How are you today?
Hi, I am Olivia Young. I live in Boise, Idaho. I am very tired, but in a good mood!
What high school do you attend?
I attend Borah Senior High school.
How old are you and what year are you in high school?
I am 17 years old, and I am a senior this year.
Where do you work? How is it?
I work at Jack in the Box. It’s aight!! I get bullied a lot, but it’s not bad. I am a PIC (Person in Charge). I became a PIC during COVID-19. A PIC is basically a managerial role which would not normally be available to me because of my young age.
How long have you been working at your workplace?
I have been working at Jack in the Box for a year. It has its high and lows. I don’t know if I regret it or not haha!
What do you do at your workplace?
Some of the things I have done before COVID-19 were that I had to clean the lobby, and routinely wash my hands. Meanwhile, during COVID-19 currently, I have to routinely wash my hands, routinely change gloves, wear my mask that covers my entire face, and I have to constantly wipe down all surfaces. And then every 15 minutes, we had to go to the front to do a COVID-19 check.
What are some changes you´ve noticed due to COVID-19 at your workplace?
Some of the changes I have had was that I had to do a lot more cleaning. I’ve had to do more hours of work. I had to work a lot more, even during school, because I never asked for day offs. I am working roughly 30 hours per week. I work 4-6 hour shifts and one 8 hour shift. My shift before COVID-19 was pretty small. I would only work 20-23 hours per week. Since COVID-19 has increased the amount of customers in Jack in the Box, many incompentent workers were laid off. Since I wasn’t one of those workers that were laid off, my responsibilities drastically increased as I continued working at Jack in the Box.
What are some positives and negatives that you have experienced after COVID-19 occurred at your workplace?
Positives: I got promoted, so that was kinda cool. I got more hours which was nice. There’s not a lot of positives… we don’t have to clean the lobby anymore because people tend to be a bit insensitive and impolite when it comes to fast food. (subscript: clean up after yourself in a fast food restaurant and don’t make a pile of trash, we do not want to clean up after your mess.)
Negatives: My raise has been postponed for six months. I have been up at the front by myself, which is very stressful because you can have someone waiting in the lobby for you, and have three cars in the drive-through. Lots of stuff happens in Jack in the Box and it can be very busy sometimes. Customers have been meaner lately. We have to wear masks and gloves, which is really annoying. I understand why we have to wear them, but people have been having panic attacks and actually fainting (two faintings; one related to a panic attack). We are supposed to have oxygen breaks. But in reality, we do not have that for some reason. We also had an increase of angry customers because everyone started going through the driveway and everyone wanted their order quicker but we could not do that.
Do you have to wear a mask while working at your workplace?
Yes. If we don’t wear a mask while working, we get a five thousand dollar fee for each person who wore the mask inappropriately.
Do customers have to wear masks too when they buy stuff at your workplace?
There was a time when Boise had a restriction that forced customers to wear a mask. But the mandation has been lifted now, so we no longer enforce this in Jack in the Box. We simply request that the customers wear their masks. Typically, we don’t see people who neglect to wear masks. Except for those who are older, don’t seem to care about other people’s well being, and so on.
What has your workplace done to get accustomed to COVID-19?
We shut down our lobby. We now have to routinely change our gloves and everything, and if it’s slow we have to change our gloves every order. We also have to constantly wipe and sanitize the surfaces and be sure to properly wear our masks.
Why do you still choose to work even after quarantine was established?
I still work because I have nothing better to do. For me, if I have the time, I would still work during quarantine in order to make money. I would eventually use the money I have made from work to buy things I like, such as anime merch. I would also use my money to save up for college, go out with my friends, and buy more anime merch of course haha. A big part of why I still choose to work, even after quarantine was established, is that I was already working at Jack in the Box before COVID-19 started for a couple of months, and a lot of people were getting laid off. I don’t know how bad it is for California, but a lot of people were being laid off here in Boise. Almost every worker here was being laid off, so I didn’t want to quit and risk not being able to get another job.
Was there a shift in your wages after COVID-19 occurred?
Yes, I was making $8 per hour and was going to get a raise to $8.50 per hour. But quarantine hit suddenly, so we didn’t have the money to give anyone raises. Then businesses started coming back, which got me promoted and now I make $8.95 dollars an hour.
How do you balance your school life and your work life, especially while COVID-19 is still going around?
Uh, I don’t… well, I do, but not always efficiently. I recently requested to have three days off rather than my usual two. I typically use whatever free time I have during school to get my homework done, and then stay up after work to finish what I need to.
Do you have any advice for anyone who plans to work while still in high school?
Yeah, pace yourself for one. Don’t overwork yourself, always say yes to coming in [to work], enjoy your free time, work hard, don’t slack off at work because you won’t get any hours. But mostly stand up for yourself, I didn’t do that when I first got hired, and now I get bullied frequently by my coworkers and have to try standing up more now. I have gotten a lot of good experiences, and a lot of wack experiences (like taking orders in an earthquake). So pace yourself, youŕe still a kid and stand up for yourself. Don’t throw yourself for your job because you’ll get to do that later, when you’re older.
Despite these changes, working teenagers have chosen to keep their jobs even after quarantine has occurred. Both Sinia and Olivia provided with unique insights on how COVID-19 has been affecting working high school students from California to other areas of the United States. It is clear that COVID-19 has affected us all, but it’s especially made its mark the working industry. Businesses took precautions to combat this virus, but not without cooperation and changes for its employees.
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