Punching the Clock: Off to market

Working in a grocery store the day before Thanksgiving sounds nuts, right? Well I thought so too ... so that’s why I signed up!

Bright and early last Wednesday, I was off to the Big M in New Berlin to see what the Thanksgiving rush would look like in a small village.

Knowing for certain the last-minute details for everyone’s Thanksgiving feasts would require hundreds of people to venture to the stores for a can of cranberry sauce or that forgotten package of biscuits, I was sure I would see what action really happens inside the stores.

At 9 a.m., the store was already full of shoppers and the cashiers were working diligently on pricing and packaging one order after another.

Once I arrived, I was introduced to the boss (as everyone calls her) Michelle Persons. Michelle’s parents Paul and Leila Marquit, have owned the store since 1975, and Michelle says she started working with them as a teenager and has had a hand in the business ever since.

After a quick introduction, it was off to the back to see where I would work first. The market, the only one in the village, is more than just a grocery store. While heading to the back of the store, I could smell coffee brewed for shoppers, and everywhere I looked, people were greeting and smiling at the customers. “We open at 8 a.m., but there are people here knocking before then,” said Persons. “I let them in ... I would never turn away business.”