Hannes Kapeller - 30 Years - Grocery Salesman

- Interview -

When did you start doing your job?
I have been working for Edeka as a trained salesperson since 2008 and been employed in two supermarkets. In total I have been working as a salesperson for 12 years, which I still enjoy to this day.

What motivates you and what do you like about your job?
I appreciate the contact with the people I meet at work everyday. The conversations, the exchange and the common contact with each other have always been important to me and are - beside my daily tasks as a salesman - profound part of my work and make this profession exciting every day. I like to take care of the beverage department, take responsibility and show commitment in my job.

Customer contact as well as contact with my colleagues is an essential part of my work and motivates me every day to implement my challenges and tasks in the best possible way. Helping other people, advising them and being there for them is something I take for granted in my profession.

What do you wish for your professional future?
My wish is to continue my profession as long as possible and to stay healthy, especially in the current situation - and also beyond.

To what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced or changed your field of work?
Essentially, the coronavirus has not changed much in my job, apart from the obligation to wear a mask and the applicable minimum distance. But the mask does not really make my work any easier at the beverage department.

- Comment -

I was able to accompany Hannes for a whole day in his daily work as a trained salesman in the food trade. His department - the beverage department. I quickly got to know his open and human manner. Delivery bottlenecks and the like, it seems that there are no longer any more. Hannes is a person full of motivation with an always open ear towards his customers and colleagues.

For me as a customer, it is often a two-sided blade - between defective or overcrowded deposit machines, long lines and people who seem to sprout out of the ground like mushrooms. What happens behind the scenes, often not visible to the many customers who stand at the machines with 50 yellow bags of disposable bottles feeling robbed in their lifetime. Opposed to this: A physically extremely demanding job with a lot of empathy and flexibility. No matter whether it is about filling shelves for customers, having pallet-loads of crates of drinks in the shop on time, or coordinating and managing the entire logistics in such a business.

Every day, these teams work on making it as comfortable as possible for us as consumers at all times. With regard to the current pandemic, not much has changed except for the current distance regulation, the plexiglass windows at the checkouts and the wearing of the mouth and nose cover. Operations continued unchanged even during the peak phase of the pandemic for employees in this systemically important profession.