Feature: Young girl entered danger while working during covid-19 pandemic

by Konstandina Martucci

The grocery store experience is nothing like it was, the encounter had transformed into a war zone. The long isles being treated like runways with people’s carts bumping into others. The shelves appeared close to empty with the public fighting like competitors over supplies. Victoria Martucci’s job entailed getting sent a grocery list through the app Instacart, and she then delivered the groceries to the customer’s home. Victoria was sitting in Winn-Dixie parking lot scrolling through the Instacart app looking for work. 

She saw an option for a man who lived a town over from her, she saw it as a simple job. As she walked into the war zone, known as Winn-Dixie, she checked what the man needed. The list read, toilet paper, mayonnaise, bread, Doritos, a case of bud light, and a gallon of water. Everyone was wearing masks and gloves, she had become accustomed to this new lifestyle but realized she forgot her mask in the car. She felt all eyes on her as she roamed the isles. One lady said, “do you think you are above the rest for not taking the precautions everyone else is?” Victoria felt mortified and quickly went through the store so she wouldn’t have any more interactions. 

Victoria bought the items, and got into her car. She put the address into her GPS, it said she would arrive in 20 minutes. As she got closer to the destination she realized it was in a trailer park community. Living in in Florida she saw them all the time but has never delivered to one. Victoria arrived and put on her mask, she gathered the bags to bring to the doorstep as she has done every time in the past. The man stepped out of his trailer, he was shirtless wearing only cargo shorts, with a big gut and barley any hair on his head

Victoria said, “Hi are you Walter? I am here with your groceries.” She kept her distance waiting for him to respond. Walter said, “yes that is me, why don’t you come inside and you can drop the bags off in the kitchen.” She had never went into a customer’s home, and figured that was the last thing someone ordering from Instacart would want. She responded with “I’m sorry, normally I just drop them off at the door step, I don’t think I am comfortable coming inside.” A strange look was on the man’s face, as if she had embarrassed him. Walter responded with, “yeah I’m sure that’s not your protocol but I have such a bad back I need help getting them inside.” Victoria counted on a bigger tip if she helped him out and followed the man into his trailer.

Victoria put the bags onto the counter and turned towards the door, and watched him shut it. She started to panic, she frantically asked, “what do you think you’re doing?” Walter said, “I have been so lonely since the quarantine, nobody comes around to see me anymore because they think I have the virus and I would love some company from a pretty girl.” He walked over to Victoria and looked at her mask, he said “you don’t need this silly thing, let’s see that smile.” Victoria felt her heart racing, she knew she had to play this situation right. She said, “Okay, but I think I forgot your beer in the car, why don’t I grab it first.” Walter believed her and stepped aside. This gave her a couple moments and walked out of the trailer. Victoria ran to her car, put the keys in the ignition and raced away. 

As Victoria drove away her mind was going a mile a minute. She thought, “Do I call the police or should I contact Instacart?”She had a realization that not one person is dealing with this pandemic the same. That this job was more dangerous than she thought, and she was in fact living in a war zone. 

Konstandina Martucci During this pandemic I have searched for relevant stories of what people are going through.