She is my favorite essential grocery worker right now and, because of her, Price Chopper is back in my good graces. (Like Starbucks, we’ve had a tumultuous relationship over the years, but we’re still together so that says something.) Grocery markets have had to remain open in these frightening and uncertain times, and Jasmine Shea is helping to hold everything together at the Price Chopper right by my home. She’s been my heroine ever since she recognized my Clockwork Orange costume one Halloween (everyone else that was at the store that night was in shock and awe over my codpiece because they just thought I wore that every day). She cemented that status a few weeks ago when she gave me a heads-up on the day they got toilet paper in her store (one of the many benefits of being her FaceBook friend).
For an even more in-depth and entertaining look at her store stories, check out her new podcast ‘Shea Says’ which is turning me into a podcast fan. (That’s something not even Skip or Suzie could get me into, and that tells you a lot because they can usually get me to do anything.) It makes sense: Jasmine’s a pro who’s been on the radio before, and she knows her way around telling a compelling story – sometimes heartbreakingly serious, often riotously hilarious, and occasionally moving and poignant – she hits those emotional peaks, and her podcasts give a glimpse behind the essential grocery worker mask (and a number of other life events).
With a delightfully saucy edge, she reminds me of what it’s like for the people working on the public service side of this frightening world. I physically go in to my office only once a week right now – she’s done six-day work-weeks on a regular basis in recent weeks. Whenever I find myself waiting in a line anywhere (hello Lowes) I think of Jasmine and calm the fuck down. She also volunteers to help others – I saw her heading out to help with a Feed Albany run on one of her rare days off. Aspirational. Inspirational. Take-no-prisoners truth-telling at its best.
Give a listen to ‘Shea Says’ here.
