Naomh Pol News Issue 2

Shane O’Keefe
I have been working in the Corn Dolly since October 2020. I’ve
only experienced working in the Corn Dolly with COVID. There
are many precautions we have to take. The customers have to
sanitise their hands before entering the shop, we all have to
wear masks and there are screens up. It is a big challenge talking
to customers through a screen and masks as you can’t hear
anyone. It is hard to work with COVID-19. For the first couple of
weeks of having to wear a mask, it really hurt my ears. I’m used
to wearing a mask all the time now because we have been so
exposed to it and even during school we were wearing masks. It
is a bit of a hinderance but you have to manage.
Maeve Reel
Since September I have been working in Trufit Filling Station.
It is a small shop so I always try to be conscious of space
between myself and customers when I’m stocking the shelves
or on the floor working. The mask is very annoying because I
work two shifts on a Saturday and Sunday that are 4 and 7
hours long respectively. We have a screen up between staff
and customers at the tills which makes it hard to
communicate sometimes, especially with masks.
Aoife Greene
I work in Greene’s Furnishings in Lurgan, my dad’s shop,
and I have been working there since 2017. COVID has
made it hard to earn money as the shop isn’t currently
opened and won’t be for a while. It also brought a few
challenges as it meant there were fewer people allowed in
the shop at one time. I don’t have a problem wearing a
mask at work. We do provide signs to encourage people to
wear masks. The shop has always had a Facebook page so
we decided to create an Instagram page. I persuaded my
dad to create one for the shop as it would be another
platform. We started it recently and already business is
improving.