The New Normal: When checkout lines become the front lines

In the first episode of our new series, grocery store employee Erin Simmons adapts to the risks of being an essential worker.

Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow • May 28, 2020

May 28, 2020

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          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>The New Normal: When checkout lines become the front lines</h1>
                <h2><p>In the first episode of our new series, grocery store employee Erin Simmons adapts to the risks of being an essential worker.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/ashli-blow/">Ashli Blow</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">May 28, 2020</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Local supermarkets aren't typically thought of as dangerous places. However, during a pandemic, stores become front lines. Front-end manager Erin Simmons works at Central Market in Mill Creek, Snohomish County. She says grocery workers have always been essential, but now everyone else knows it, too. Customers continue to shop and people need to eat, casting everyday essential workers like Simmons into cornerstones of society who keep stores running safely.</p><hr><p>Support for <em>The New Normal</em> is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our <a href="https://crosscut.com/about?ref=avalancheghost.one">about us page</a> to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.</p><hr>
          </article>

Local supermarkets aren't typically thought of as dangerous places. However, during a pandemic, stores become front lines. Front-end manager Erin Simmons works at Central Market in Mill Creek, Snohomish County. She says grocery workers have always been essential, but now everyone else knows it, too. Customers continue to shop and people need to eat, casting everyday essential workers like Simmons into cornerstones of society who keep stores running safely.

Support for The New Normal is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our about us page to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.

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By Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow is a Seattle-based freelance writer who talks with people — in places from urban watersheds to remote wildernesses — about the environment around them. She’s been working in journal