Not being able to afford lunch and having to wear diapers due to limited breaks: Grim realities of working in a supermarket revealed

Since the post-war years and the exodus to the suburbs, the supermarket has become a beloved and necessary staple of American life, offering up fresh food, convenience and cheery customer service.But all is not well amidst the fluorescent lights, produce misters and Muzak, Ann Larson writes in her new book, “Cleanup on Aisle Five, Essential Work, Poverty Wages and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register” (Atria/One Signal Publishers, June 9).In October 2020, Larson went to work as a supervisor and cashier at a grocery store in Utah and witnessed fellow employees struggling to afford food because of their poor wages — some of the lowest in the retail industry — suffering from the pain of the job’s physicality and even wearing diapers because breaks were so limited.“It was only as a grocery insider that I had been able to see what grocery work actually entailed and what it does to people,” Larson writes in her riveting, cash-register-eye view.

Her co-workers toiled so that customers could have fresh food, but they could barely afford to feed themselves.Clerks received no overtime pay or retirement benefits, and there was no union.

Her colleagues had to choose between buying food and paying for health insurance, rent and gas.Several suffered from dental problems but couldn’t afford treatment.“During the year that I was on the job, grocery staffers around the country earned under $15 an hour on the average,” writes Larson, whose hourly wage was $15.80 as a supervisor.One of her co-workers, Stanley, had his credit card denied when he tried to buy a burrito for lunch.

Paula, Larson’s boss and a manager, bought three-day old meat with an expired sell-by date to sustain herself.Cindy, 79 and a grocery-bagger for nearly a decade, could only afford a small cup of soup or a two-dollar children’s meal for lunch.Willow, a cashier, had a severe case of eczema around her nose, her knuckles and fingers with skin flaking off onto the register as s...