I typically grocery shop at College Park Publix, where I have never once been met with anything but superior customer service and where the vast majority of customers have been wearing masks long before the recent mandate to do was enacted.
Since I’m about to relate a horrendous series of Publix-related customer service fails, I feel I should also point out that the College Park Publix management went above and beyond what I had any right to expect from them in the wake of the Pulse shootings. I approached them, with almost no notice, for assistance in feeding the several hundred people involved with presenting “From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Orlando.” The response from them in that moment was nothing short of stellar.
On June 27, however, I shopped at the Colonial Town Publix where most of the customers were not wearing masks. When I asked the cashier if she could tell me why no one was at the door reminding people of the need to do so, she laughed and said, “It’s above my pay grade to be a bouncer.” I asked if she really thought that to be an appropriate response to my legitimate concern and she curtly asked if I needed to see a manager.
An assistant manager came out to inform me that the store had no right to tell anyone they have to wear a mask. When I pointed out the Orange County mandate he said, “It may be an Orange County policy but it is not a Publix Policy.” When I suggested that was not an appropriate response he summoned the store manager, who emerged from his office visibly annoyed.
Before I could finish my question, he cut me off with “Sir, it’s not my job to enforce the law. My job is to sell groceries.” During the course of the ensuing debate he actually told me that the employees were wearing masks only because it is part of Publix’s uniform code, not because the store was acknowledging any actual heath concern related to COVID-19.
My suggestion that he could call the police regarding the persons in his store who were breaking the law was met with dismissive derision. He had no problem informing me he would gladly call the police to have me removed from the store, however, since I had introduced the word “fuck” into the conversation.
It seemed the culture at Publix Colonial Town is at complete odds with that of the Publix in College Park. However, after receiving a call from Publix corporate headquarters I felt certain this attitude is coming from the top. Their corporate customer service rep who phoned me in response to my written complaint seemed more interested in parroting Trump-supporter talking points than in dealing with the way I was treated by his associates.
The representative sought to educate me, insisting, “The medical community is completely divided about the effectiveness of wearing masks.” When I asserted his statement was patently false and pointed out that the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Dr. Fauci all say otherwise, he insisted there were just as many credible sources who take the opposite view.
When I asked him to name just one, he could not. When I informed him I did not write Publix headquarters because I wanted to get into a political debate with him, he insisted his assertions were not political in nature. Added to that, he earnestly asked me to understand that Publix could not possibly afford to finance the added position of a mask monitor at the entry of every Orange County store.
I thanked him for continuing what must be a Publix policy of being argumentative with customers who express legitimate health concerns. I subsequently asked that he pass along to his CEO and all Publix shareholders my sincere condolences regarding their dire financial situation which is making it impossible for them pay someone to remind incoming customers to wear a mask.
I received an unexpected call on June 29 from a Publix district manager, who apologized to me for the way I had been spoken to and the dismissive attitude of the Colonial store manager. He informed me that tens of thousands of masks had been delivered to every Publix in the area along with signage informing customers that wearing a mask required.
He told me he had issued new guidelines that require and empower all employees to approach anyone who might manage to enter a store without mask to inform them that they must either immediately don a mask – which Publix is happy to give them – or leave. I was assured that the policies were already in place and being proactively enforced.
The very next day I learned from an associate’s social media post that he was disheartened that the company wasn’t requiring masks. I contacted him for clarification and he informed me that he’d had an incident in the SODO Publix on Orange Ave. June 30, the day after Publix’s district manager had called.
In fairness, I must point out that another individual shared via social media that an employee was stationed at the Colonial Town Publix door ensuring every customer wore a mask after my initial experience. Still, it seems the inconsistencies of Publix’s COVID-19 response are consistent with the inconsistencies of the Trump administration.
Despite this lack of leadership we in the Greater Orlando area have an enviable history of pulling together as a community in times of crisis. COVID-19 is no less a crisis than were the events of 9/11, Pulse or being hit by a major hurricane. We need to pull together just as we have done in the past.
As we did then we now need to once again care for one another. That means adhering to social distancing and when you must go out – WEAR A MASK!