Boos, epithets and heckling greeted apparent replacement worker candidates entering Market Basket's perishables warehouse and office complex Wednesday.

A job fair announced by the protest-riven grocery chain's new co-CEOs Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton, now in its third day, was opened up Wednesday to the general public.

Monday and Tuesday had been for current Market Basket employees looking to apply for warehouse, headquarters and store manager jobs, but on Wednesday, members of the public were invited to apply.

The 71-store Market Basket chain has been in mounting turmoil and has been losing tens of millions of dollars in sales since employees began protesting the June ouster of CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, whose reinstatement they're demanding, and urging consumers to boycott.

Arthur T. Demoulas was ousted June 23 after allies of his cousin-enemy Arthur S. Demoulas gained control of the board.

His critics say Arthur T. has been funneling Market Basket money to real estate entitites and other businesses he controls, while Arthur T.'s backers say the Arthur S. side wants to drain cash from the company's employee retirement fund, slash pay and raise prices to boost profits and dividends.

Employees were by turns furious and mystified by the job fair, many of them calling it a psychological warfare stunt by Gooch and Thornton to scare and antagonize them.

"To have a job fair, I think, is ridiculous," buyer Lori Bouchard said. "Basically, we're all still – as far as we know – employed. I mean, we haven't been technically fired. I don't know what jobs they're hiring for."

Karen Bostwick, who works in accounts payable at the Tewksbury headquarters, is among many employees confident Arthur T. will return to run the company.

"What do they think the plans are going to be when we all get back in there? We'll get our jobs back," Bostwick said, "and then what happens to them?"

Employees were also surprised about the job fair because store managers, who must meet targets for sales per employee, have been ordered to cut employee hours, since sales have plummeted amid the consumer boycott and and the delivery fiascos that have left many stores' shelves empty.

If they're cutting hours, employees asked, why are Gooch and Thornton advertising to hire new workers?

Eddie Diaz, who works at the Andover plant where he was protesting, was desperate for news of where things stand in Arthur T.'s bid to buy the 50.5 percent controlling stake held by the Arthur S. side of the family and mystified as to why Arthur S. and Gooch and Thornton won't move to end the employee rebellion.

"When's it going to be enough? When the company's gone and done? They need to make up their mind and what they're doing. They need to let us know what's going on. We're all in the dark," he said.

It wasn't just workers who were protesting. Paula Sargent of Merrimac, Massachusetts, who has shopped at Market Basket stores in Plaistow and Seabrook, New Hampshire, for 30 years, said she was furious at the Arthur S.-controlled board for allowing the job fair and the protracted imbroglio.

"If it's not criminal, it should be. I personally think this is outrageous," Sargent said. "There are thousands of years of loyalty amongst these employees who have worked for Arthur T."

With videographer John E. Stuart