Jasleen Sidhu has worked at the Orillia Walmart Vision Centre as an optician since September.
The 21-year-old Ludhiana, Punjab, native moved from India to Barrie a few years ago to study opticianry at Georgian College. After accepting a job in Ottawa, Sidhu soon decided to return to Simcoe County and was happy to land a job in Orillia.
“It’s a little quieter here and everyone is really friendly. It’s why I wanted to move here when there was the opportunity to do so,” Sidhu explained.
She now plans on staying in Orillia to build her career since falling in love with the small-town environment.
Like many businesses, the Walmart Vision Centre has been limiting the number of people who are coming into the store during the COVID-19 pandemic and the staff have spent many hours cleaning, sanitizing, and making sure the area is safe for customers.
While Sidhu and staff have been limited to essential services during the pandemic, they have been doing their best to provide a high standard of care and customer service. Some of the services they’ve been limited to doing are adjusting, ordering and dispensing glasses.
The community’s response to the significant changes at the vision centre was mostly positive and appreciative.
“Most people expected us to be closed, but they were happy that we were there for them to answer their questions and help with what we could,” Sidhu said.
However, some customers were frustrated and irritated with services such as eye exams being put on hold.
“We try to remember that customers who are frustrated aren’t necessarily frustrated with us, but rather with what’s going on,” Sidhu said.
Fortunately for customers, the vison centre recently began getting back to business as usual and is now booking eye exams, but they are still going to need patience as Sidhu and the staff try to play catch-up as they are backlogged by about three months.
“People were cancelled in March, so we have to book them in first. We are trying to be fair in serving those who booked first before anyone else and at the same time we are trying to serve people who need urgent care such as people who have issues with their eyes, need a health check or need surgeries done, ” Sidhu explained.
Before the pandemic, eye exams were conducted every 10 minutes. Now, because staff need time to sanitize the office and store in between customers, appointments are only booked for every half-hour, leaving staff with the difficult task of catching up.
While Sidhu continues to put on a brave face when walking into Walmart every day, the fears of COVID-19 are always in the back of her mind.
“I am a little bit nervous going out every day and dealing with so many people. However, we are trying everything on our part to stay safe with things like social distancing,” she said.
“But still, at some point, if you are going out there, there is a chance ... that you catch it.”
Walmart has provided the vison centre staff with all the equipment the opticians require, including personal protective equipment, which has given Sidhu enough comfort to continue serving her customers.
While Sidhu stays positive, she has noticed the pandemic has been difficult for some of the staff at Walmart.
“When I go out into the store to go shopping, I notice some of the workers are frustrated and they don’t have that usual smile on their face. I think we all can do a little better on that part because everybody is suffering and we are all going through the same thing,” she said.
“If we can put a smile on our face and help each other, that can help put other people at comfort, too. If we can stay positive about it and take the right precautions, we will make it through this.”
