Just going to share a quick story. I'm not a leader, I'm definitely a follower. When I have had to lead, I've done the job well enough, be it at projects for work or otherwise. However, I would rather be a good worker bee than the queen so to speak.
That said, I tend not to be confrontational. I've still been wearing my masks despite the mandates in Texas. I went into an Albertsons, wearing my mask. and I saw two older gentlemen in their 50's. Neither of them where wearing their chin diapers, and they both had an air of strength and power, as in do not approach us about fucking masks. It inspired me.
I immediately took mine off. Nobody said anything.
Today, I went to the same Albertsons, this time without my mask completely. Nobody said anything once again. Then another man looked at me while wearing a mask himself as I walked past him.
When I checked out, I saw him again, this time without the mask.
The point is this: there are a lot of folks like me out there who aren't the leaders, or necessarily the ones who will pull the trigger. That is NOT a bad thing. We all can't be leading the charge. However we WANT to do the right thing. It just takes a spark to push people like me to act. If you know you are an alpha leader type, remember that next time you enter a store, and pull off your mask.
Way to go! Love your story, and I applaud you for taking the risk.
I’m doing the same in Commiefornia. Over the past few weeks, although I’m still the only one unmasked in stores, I’ve found that I’m not being bothered or questioned by managers anymore. Only had one Karen incident last week, who went to the manager, who then came and checked me out with no comments on masking, very friendly.