Working at Walmart is always a high stress job. Most employees are grossly underpaid and overworked with very little room for negotiation or recourse, and the stores notoriously attract some of the weirdest and most frustrating customers on earth.

The struggles of working there have increased exponentially the past month as coronavirus has spread, and grocery stores remain one of the few essential businesses open. Because of shelter-in-place orders, many people have been rushing to their local stores to stock up on food and supplies for weeks (some even longer), while employees fight to get hazard pay and proper protection from the virus.

In a creative attempt to cheer up Walmart employees and show her appreciation for their hard underappreciated work, the photographer and mother-of-five Amy Cook left post-it notes around her local store.

Went to Walmart this morning to fill the cupboards and freezer (also had some old guy behind me in line call me an idiot...
Posted by Amy Cook on Friday, March 20, 2020

She wrote:

"Went to Walmart this morning to fill the cupboards and freezer (also had some old guy behind me in line call me an idiot under his breath knowing I would hear him so I promptly spun around and informed him that I have 5 children and was only buying a normal amount of GROCERIES)...and decided to spread some cheer and hopefully giggles in this stressful time."

"My goal was to reach the stressed overworked employees and make them laugh especially with all of the horrible customers they have been dealing with and the exhausting back breaking labor they’ve been putting in to keep the shelves loaded as best they can. To all retail employees, we LOVE and appreciate you and hope for your health and safety! I hope you found these entertaining and not annoying ❤️"

"Side note: If you saw these shopping I hope they made you laugh ❤️ please don’t run to Walmart just to find them...practice safety and stay home unless you need groceries. And WASH YO HANDS. Thank you 💜"

The notes were spread all around the store with jokes, rhetorical questions, and topical thoughts. Cook wrote that she hoped they would give employees a moment of lightness amidst a very dark timeline.

The post-its included jokes about self-quarantining, "Silence of the Lambs" quotes, and COVID-19 related existential malaise.

There were also puns, parenting jokes, and poop jokes.

She was strategic about where she left the post-it jokes, often customizing her jokes based on aisle or product.

Regardless of which store section an employee worked in, it was inevitable they'd come across at least one of Cook's messages.

The extra large bottles of alcohol felt prime for memeing.

Of course, there were plenty of digs at the toilet paper hoarders of the world.

What the store lacked in toilet paper, Cook made up for in pop culture references.

Of all the post-its Cook left, perhaps this one sums up how many of us feel the most:

While cook initially shared her notes with friends and family, the post quickly went viral with thousands of people sharing and commenting on what a nice idea it was.

In fact a few days after her post got big, she posted a follow-up thanking people for their positivity and sharing a few kind messages from strangers, including Walmart employees who appreciated the gesture.

These made my day. I thought I got all of the message requests and then I found about 50 more in the filtered messages...
Posted by Amy Cook on Monday, March 23, 2020

While everything is incredibly scary and uncertain right now, it's good to remember that small gestures can legitimately help quell the overwhelming anxiety.

Mom leaves funny post-it notes in Walmart to cheer up overworked employees, receives lots of responses.