Why Woolworths employee Emily has got everyone talking right now: ‘Blink twice if you need help’
A Woolworths employee shared an update on the re-opening of her store in the wake of ex-Cyclone Alfred – but it got everyone talking for an entirely different reason.
Supermarkets and retail stores in the cyclone warning zone were closed as wild weather and heavy rain lashed parts of south-east Queensland and northern NSW.
On Sunday, Woolworths worker Emily confirmed her Keperra store, located in one of the affected areas in Brisbane, was re-opening its doors after authorities deemed it safe for employees to return to work.
The video showed the young employee smiling as she stood outside her supermarket to deliver the good news, with heavy rain and gusts of wind audible in the background.
‘Hi, I’m Emily. I’m just arriving at my store Keperra and I want to give you guys a little update. Thankfully we didn’t have too much damage to our store and the power is on as well,’ she said in the video.
‘We’re back open working hard to get stock back on the shelves. All of our team was home yesterday (Saturday) with our families so please bear with us while we get everything you love back on shelves.
‘We’re opening up as many stores as possible as it’s safe to do so across affected areas in Queensland and NSW.’
However, many quickly expressed their ‘concerns’ for the worker who was reading off a script in the wild winds.
Woolworths employee Emily shared an update on the re-opening of her store in the wake of ex-Cyclone Alfred – but it got everyone talking for an entirely different reason
Amused fans poked fun at the clip, writing tongue-in-cheek comments suggesting she was ‘doing it against her will’.
‘Emily, blink twice if you need help,’ one wrote.
‘Emily are you okay? If you need help, wear a green ribbon in your hair,’ another said.
‘Can someone mark Emily safe?’ another joked.
‘Did Emily make it out alive?’ one added.
However, some took particular issue with the employee over what appeared to be a ‘script’ she was reading from.
‘The way she kept going back to the script, bye,’ one said, with a crying emoji.
‘Reading this directly from a script,’ another shared.
The video showed the young employee smiling as she stood outside her supermarket to deliver the good news, with heavy rain and gusts of wind audible in the background
‘Why was she reading something? Couldn’t she just speak without having to read?’ one added.
However, many shoppers quickly jumped to her defence, with one saying: ‘So what? Good on Emily for going to work in these conditions, a young lady that cares about people and her job.’
‘Thanks for the update and thanks for working in such dreadful conditions,’ another said.
Emily is one of a number of Woolworths team members across Australia who regularly post on social media about new products, store updates and other news.
‘We’re grateful to Emily and all of our team in the impacted weather region who kept stores open to help our customers,’ a Woolworths spokeswoman told FEMAIL.
On Monday, a Woolworths spokesperson confirmed easing weather conditions and updated advice from authorities had allowed them to reopen the majority of stores and get trucks back on the road after a ‘difficult’ weekend.
‘With a number of communities still on flood-watch, we’re continuing to closely monitor conditions and the advice of authorities to ensure the safety of our team and customers,’ the spokesperson said.
‘In the areas still under weather alerts, we encourage customers to continue to check our website for their local store’s updated opening times as they may change based on the latest warnings.
‘In the last 32 hours more than 300 truckloads have left our Brisbane distribution centres on route to our stores across Queensland and northern NSW, as our teams work hard to restock our shelves.
While this is a ‘great progress’ for the supermarket, the spokesperson said getting the stores back to normal will ‘understandably take some time’.
‘We thank customers for their patience and understanding as stock availability per store will be variable and not all their favourite products will be available immediately,’ they said.
‘We are incredibly grateful to our team members who continued to serve their communities during the uncertainty in the lead-up to this major weather event, and have been back at work almost immediately after to ensure our customers can access food and groceries.’
