I posted a few days ago about an incident where I was asked to leave a grocery store for not wearing a mask. Post here.
The TL;DR version is this:
I go into a grocery store, shop for a 20 minutes. Every single employee at that point had been super nice and said absolutely nothing mask-related. In an empty aisle, the "store manager" walks up to me and asks if I'm aware that I have to wear a facial covering while in the store. I tell her I have a medical exemption. She says, "I don't care, it doesn't matter. The CDC says you still have to wear one." I knew she was completely wrong and arguing was of no use. So before I left, I made sure to ask her if this store's corporate policy was to NOT honor medical exemptions. She said, "Yeah". I asked her name and calmly left. I came home and felt pretty awful about the incident. Did not expect to ever have it affect me in such a way. I wrote corporate an email as a last resort but expected nothing to come of it.
Anyway, I have an update. I don't why I'm so surprised because I knew I was right, but it turns out this grocery DOES, in fact, honor medical exemptions. I wrote them back again because I wanted them to clarify some things and I wanted to make absolute sure I wouldn't be hassled again. They again replied and told me their management teams would be informed so "everyone is on the same page" and that I was good to go.
I know this is probably not a big deal to most of you but I hate confrontation and do everything I can to avoid it. All of the mandates and restrictions have affected me in ways I never thought possible. I pretty much hate going anywhere now due to the anxiety of whether I'm going to get humiliated and kicked out of a store over their stupid masks.
This one feels good, man. Feels like the little guy finally won one lol. Still have never worn a mask and never will. God bless America.
I lost the embarrassment gene a long time ago so it doesn't bother me if someone says something to me about not wearing a mask. I just say no. And in all these months I've only had to leave 2 places. Sure, I get the occasional eejit recoiling from me as they pass me in the aisle but I just smile at them and go about my business. And I always wear headphones and pretend not to hear the repeated "ma'am"s as I breeze through the front door. Do you mind if I ask what store this was?
I have put up with all the eyerolls, the purple-haired ladies screeching for me to "mask up", and the occasional employee asking me to wear a mask. I have ALWAYS ignored it all and when it came to it, just said "MEDICAL" and walked away. Never ever had a problem until this place. This was the very first time I was actually told I couldn't shop without a mask, medical or not. Wish I were like you LOL. But my brain just goes into overdrive and wont let me function when it comes to confrontation. I hate it. This was at WinCo.
You know, you may be like that now, but you may find yourself changing over time. I used to be like that, and now nobody wants to mess with me because I let them know with just a look, don't go there. If they do, I enjoy 'educating' them. Funny how things like that work. :D
Yep me too. It's how I've changed the most due to covid. Taking that step to buck the rules is hard to do for me and many of of us here it seems, but it's these stories that provide much needed encouragement.
I heard someone say something a while back that might put the fear of God in these people. You tell the person that they can take your word for it that you have a medical exemption or they can pay their attorney to read it in a courtroom, and if they still act uppity you say, "Maybe I wasn't clear - I wouldn't be suing WinCo, I'd be (look at nametag) suing YOU personally, Jane Doe. And I hope you have plenty of money to pay that lawyer you'll need because while you seem to be all in on protecting the WinCo company line, I can assure you they won't do the same for you and would drop you like an infected mask".
We just had an incident with a cashier at Winco too! I don't want you to dox yourself but...WA state?
Yup.
In my country, there are many reasons for being exempted from wearing a mask. One of them is anxiety. ow, they maybe thinking claustrophobia or something, but I'll tell you; I've never felt as much consistent anxiety as I have because of being forced/required/expected/coerced into wearing a mask or feeling rotten because I'm being asked to do something I consider unethical.
So that's my reason. Anxiety. Justified. And it's NOT legal for a store or anyone to ask me for PROOF, etc.
At this point, I realize that in reality, they cannot justify these demands, but that they will continue until everyone starts pushing back.
If people want to wear a mask, that's their choice. But not mine.
The only caution I would put here is to not give them a reason to point at a mental condition. In my country, they would mark that down and use it against you. This is how they tried to limit combat veterans from purchasing firearms.
Ah...I see you haven't been to Costco. They're fucking mask Nazis.
I love you Amber ??
SO DO I.