I have never put on a mask since all this started. Ever. I live in a pretty conservative town in a blue state. Not a single store in town has ever hassled me much about masks. So yeah, getting told I wasn't welcome at a store over a mask was a bit of a shock. First time I've been "kicked out" ever.
Not gonna lie, it bothered way more than I thought it would. Haven't been able to stop replaying the incident in my head since. I had just been able to build up enough confidence knowing I could walk into any store without fear of being humiliated. That's gone now. How do you all manage this kinda stuff? I've written corporate a message, but I'm pretty sure I'll just get a canned response. This thing has got me BUMMED out, man. Like.. bad. Makes me want to never leave the house again.
Anyway, sorry for the weird post but I don't really have many friends or family to talk to about this stuff. Thanks for reading.
So I left out the details of the incident, here they are.
I walked into the store, shopped for about 20 minutes. Had lots of interactions with other employees. All super nice and had nothing to say about masks. Even saw another couple not wearing masks. Cool.
I'm in an almost empty aisle when the "store manager" confronts me about facial coverings. She's very condescending. Telling me things like, "I'm gonna go get you a mask okay? You're gonna wear a mask, okay?". I told her I couldn't wear a mask due to a health condition. Her reply was, "why? What?.... Well, I don't care and it doesn't matter. The CDC says you still have to wear a mask or face shield". I kept telling her that I simply couldn't wear a mask and she kept repeating that bullshit line about the CDC (which is totally false anyway).
Anyway, I knew this was it. There was no way this woman was going to listen to anything I had to say. So I asked her if it was corporate policy to NOT honor medical exemptions. She said "yes". I asked for her name and calmly left. The entire thing took 2 minutes.
Got home and collected myself. Wrote a message to corporate detailing the entire incident. I fully expect a canned response and nothing to come of it.
So yeah, that's where I'm at right now.
Good just reporting it. At least make it annoying for these elites.
Yeah, honestly have no idea what else to do.