So yesterday I walked into the front of a large local pharmacy in a small town. Most of the customers were not wearing masks, nor were the cashiers. The manager was not wearing a mask, had a broad smile on her face, and welcomed me to the store. Everyone in the front of the store looked upbeat and happy to be mask free.
When I go to the back of the store, where the actual pharmacy is, the atmosphere was completely different. EVERYONE getting prescriptions is wearing a mask and waiting solemnly, including a woman with her young son. The pharmacist and the staff are all wearing masks. No one says a word, and no one looks happy.
It's the first time I ever noticed major differences in mask wearing with large groups of people IN THE SAME STORE. That's when it occurred to me - the people who wore the mask identify with being sick. Their self-perception is reinforced by the mask wearing, as well as a sense of compliance. The health care workers wear the mask out of a false sense of wanting to "be safe" around the patients, despite no logical reason to do so, other than habit. It's these last two groups that may be the toughest to convince that they don't have to carry the persona associated with illness with them.
In Korea it's not even sick until proven healthy, it's sick no matter what. There's nothing you can say or do to convince others you are safe. It's driving me batty. Though, I'm immensely proud of my wife. Went into a packed restaurant, no one wearing masks while eating, manager was very distressed to see us and asked we should put on masks. She laughed at him, pointed at all the people without masks, he started nervously laughing and asked her again to put on a mask. She promptly turned around and told him to pound sand. He begged her to come back, said it's ok she doesn't need a mask. She waved him off.