21/03/2020
I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE PROUD OF DUNNES STORES TULLAMORE TODAY!
My wonderful Mum (RIP) used to refer to yourself when we were children, as "Minister for supplies", in other words, she like all mothers felt that it was her responsibility to keep the fridge and cupboards stocked with food for all her family, and that she did, along with all her daily baking, housekeeping, gardening and whatever else was needed to be done. Now I am a mother myself and have four teenage/young adult children to provide for along with my husband. I am now the "Minister for supplies" in my family and like my Mum it is now my turn to provide for them. In the last week or so, something that was an almost an everyday normal task of popping into the shop to get an extra litre of milk or perhaps freshly baked rolls/bread, has become a total nightmare, at least it was for me and to I'm sure countless others. That paralysing fear of contracting Covid 19 through contact with the general public, stopped me in my tracks of even going outside our gate, let alone make what I would have once done in my sleep in going to the supermarket. As the situation began to unfold, I was watching and carefully monitoring our food and milk supplies as they began to empty and slowly disappear, and while thankfully we were still in pretty good shape, yesterday I decided that with the milk supply running critically low, that I would have to make the dreaded trip to Dunnes Stores Church Road Tullamore (which is my regular supermarket). My idea was that I know where everything I need is, like the back of my hand there and that I could be in and out of the store before I could whistle dixie.
So literally after physicing myself up, sanitising almost every part of my person and equipping myself with antibacterial wipes and gloves, off I went on my dreaded shopping trip with my foot almost shaking on the accelerator as I left our driveway. Fear of the unknown is probably the greatest fear of all and I have no doubt, that all of us would be forgiven for having that unrelenting fear right now. Thoughts ran through my mind like wildfire, what if there are huge queues in the store and everybody is scrambling around each other like headless chickens, fighting to get the last loaf of bread or the last pint of milk. Worse again was the thoughts of ANYONE coming next nye or near me, for fear that THEY may be carrying something and that I would get coughed or sneezed on! I came within a hairs breath of not going in. But as a "Mum", needs must, and I had to put my fears to one side and get on with the task in hand. Get in, get what I need, and get out as fast as my legs would carry me. I was on a mission! My first port of call was to get the dreaded trolley, so on with my gloves, antibacterial wipes out and I gave that a good cleaning and off I went.
To my surprise, the usual door of entry was closed so entry to the supermarket was by way of the main shopping centre entrance through automated doors. At the good distance back from the Dunnes entrance itself, there was a table set up and overseen by a friendly Dunnes Stores staff member, who ensured that all shoppers had the opportunity to sanitise their trolley or basket and were then equipped with gloves to do their shopping. There was also a safe distance maintained between each shopper. When I entered the store all I can say is that I breathe a huge sigh of relief, as I just couldn't get over the absolutely, fantastic, relaxing and most importantly safe strategy that Dunnes stores had implemented so skillfully and unintrousively in their store. Each isle in the store was kept free from numerous customers congregating in any one space, each isle was lined with markers indicating the distance that should be kept between customers. The shelves were almost completely stocked with a few small exceptions, which under the circumstances was to be totally expected and when my shopping was complete, I stood at a designated line until the customer in front of me was totally checked out. Then the grocery belt was cleaned and the card terminal sanitised. Then I placed my shopping on the belt to be checked out by one of the friendly staff and off I went with my supplies, happy as Larry (who ever Larry was!) and more relieved after a shopping trip than I ever was in my life before. At such a critical time when each of us just simply want to go about our necessary business and feel safe in doing so, Dunnes Stores did just that for me today and the same was replicated in Dunnes Stores in the Bridge Shopping Centre Tullamore, where I made a point of highly commending the Manager there, for what I can only say is the absolute outstanding efforts of the 2 Dunnes Stores in Tullamore and all their outstanding staff.
My precious Mum used to also say "I like to tell the nice thing" And it is my absolute pleasure to tell the "nice thing" today. Congratulations to Dunnes Stores, they made my day today and I hope others like me will see and appreciate wholeheartedly, the outstanding efforts that they are making to keep their customers safe. I am so proud to be Irish and SO proud that Dunnes Stores is Irish too!
