Face mask face off

[DonutDolittle]

In Tesco self checkout this morning: Woman shopping wearing mask, needs assistance with a voucher.

Assistant: I can't hear you, I'm a bit deaf, can you take off your the mask.

Woman shakes head and points to the notification on the screen whilst saying she needs help.

Assistant: Well I can't hear you and I don't know what the problem is. There is no one else. The mask thing is a little over the top.

Woman takes off mask: I work in A&E and last night dealt with a Covid positive patient. I'm protecting you, you idiot.

Woman storms out, leaving the shopping.

Assistant bursts into tears. Another person comes over. She's saying it's not fair she's not an idiot, she can't do her job like this, something about discrimination.

Manager comes over and tells her to go home and have a day off. Then all three walk off.

AIBU to think that through all of that someone should have really noticed my awkwardly flashing red light and given me some assistance..?! There I am stood like a fucking lemon waiting for someone to confirm that I have indeed bagged said item and they all just walk off. Fuckers. I'm half joking.

if she is partially deaf she should ask her manager to place her elsewhere-she cant tell people that masks are ott and to take them off

what happens if they become compulsory

why wasnt the nurse customer self isolating after exposure?

what happens if they become compulsory

There will still be an exception for those who need to lip read.

Bloody hell its a shitty time to be deaf at the moment.

'shouldn't be in a supermarket if she's been working with covid positive patients!'

So healthcare workers on Covid-19 wards can count themselves out of shopping from March until who knows when. Got it.

Assistant was well out of order here. Like the woman said, she's protecting others and tbh masks don't muffle sound THAT badly.

Tesco should make a reasonable adjustment for their employees with hearing impairment which makes interactions with people who are wearing masks possible, whether this is moving to roles where these interactions are reduced or providing facilities to enable the interactions-eg writing pad for customer to write their question.

And there was "someone else" who could help if there were 2 others nearby and the manager, the employee should have escalated to them sooner to assist their customer.

It doesn’t read as though the assistant explained a disability though, it reads as though she was complaining that she couldn’t hear the customer clearly simply because the mask was muffling

She said "I can't hear you, I'm a bit deaf". How is that not explaining a disability? It's quite clear.

What a pair of drama llamas.

I'm afraid the assistant was in the wrong the moment she said the mask was a bit OTT - that's what happened first in the sequence and kicked off all the rest. She has no right whatsoever to say that, particularly in a work environment.

(I say that as somebody with DH and DC with hearing difficulties).

But yes, everybody is overwrought at the present time.

The mask thing is a little over the top.

This is where the assistant overstepped. She said she was "a little deaf" then trotted out this line. She was making a judgement on the mask wearer. If she is unable to help people wearing masks, given they are now recommended in stores (and mandatory in Scotland) she should insist the manager assigns her another role.

I think that the problem was that there was no one else that the assistant could just have fetched without a fuss.

I think that she was wrong to tell the customer that the mask was ott-that's not her call to make-especially if there are signs telling customers to wear one!

That probably pissed off the customer who rudely then called the assistant an idiot.

“The mask thing is a little over the top” that’s rude. If you can’t handle a snappy response don’t take digs at people.

Having said that the worker shouldn’t have been put in that awkward position at all. She should have been rotated to a different role where she wouldn’t be at a disadvantage because of her disability.

" tbh masks don't muffle sound THAT badly."

I'd have to disagree with that.

My hearing isn't great-I have tinnitus.

I find it noticeable.

Assistant really badly out of order. First for asking them to remove it then secondly for commenting. I wouldn't want to be served by someone with such a poor attitude or is prepared to put everyone who comes after her at risk.

Tbh im not at all surprised by the customers response, especially if she's actually been on the front line dealing with covid.

And this really shouldn't be a disability thing. The customer could just have easily had a hidden disability that rendered the mask sensible. Reasonable adjustments shouldn't mean increasing risk to others. Writing it down, using a phone to type all reasonable. Remove your mask is just foolish

@hardboiledeggs

Assistant was well out of order here. Like the woman said, she's protecting others and tbh masks don't muffle sound THAT badly.

For those of us with impaired hearing yes they do. What an ignorant comment.

Re the OP - apart from anything else I've never heard of a manager/supervisor dealing with a staff situation in front of customers. Massive no-no. Standard practice would be take them somewhere private.

I feel really sorry for the assistant. However, if she's hearing impaired she shouldn't have been put on the tills in the first place - it's a management problem more than anything else.

I imagine the assistant is pissed off because she's struggling to do her job and then the customer refused to do a really small thing which could have helped her out. Her response as OTT but I think it came out of frustration as opposed to malice.

Did the shop assistant make no attempt at all to look at the screen?

That's weird, considering that's what her job involves?

The whole problem could've no doubt been instantly solved if she had.

This thread is weird.

@hardboiledeggs

Assistant was well out of order here. Like the woman said, she's protecting others and tbh masks don't muffle sound THAT badly.

They do if you're hearing impaired!

@hardboiledeggs

Assistant was well out of order here. Like the woman said, she's protecting others and tbh masks don't muffle sound THAT badly.

How do you lip read through the mask?

They were both rude and a bit over the top.

On a side note, how hard is it to work out what the problem is with a self service check out?? I never have to explain the problem to an assistant, they usually come over and sort it while continuing their conversation with a colleague etc.

The customer shouldn't have shouted, but the assistant seemed like they were being a little bit awkward. "

The mask thing is a little over the top" basically implies that they thought the customer was an idiot for wearing one, and while the customer shouldn't have shouted at them, the assistant shouldn't be surprised at getting a less than friendly response.

@StillCounting123

I thought people were supposed to self-isolate if they've been in contact with a Covid positive person? Why was she out and about in Tesco?!?

Um all front line healthcare workers have been in contact with people with COVID. They wear PPE so that they hopefully don’t catch it. They are also in contact with any other number of patients who don’t have COVID. How exactly would it work if every time they came in contact with a covid patient they had to self isolate? And in ED they won’t KNOW if patients are positive or not so many will just be cautious in case

I'm with the assistant - I rely on partially lip reading and find masks make it very hard for me to understand. It's discrimination to suggest she shouldn't be allowed to do a job she's probably managed to do for years. There's Perspex screens, masks aren't needed

On a number of occasions at the check out I've had problems understanding what the assistant said to me or vice versa through masks. We have managed to explain or mime sufficiently with good humour without anyone taking their mask off. We are all struggling in difficult times and both the customer and staff member are working in higher risk frontline work which we should be grateful for.

Saying that masks are over the top was wrong, but there's no excuse for calling the shopworker an idiot. Hopefully the supermarket will make suitable adjustments to ensure that the deaf employee has a role more suited to her disability. We should all wear masks IMO in busy supermarkets.

I can't stand it when the self checkout tills don't work. M&S ones are the absolute worst.

The nhs worker needs to get used to the idea that at times they might need to remove the mask within the community. Calling someone an idiot for doing their job shouldn’t be acceptable, and as an a&e worker they should know this themselves.

It’s whoever decides where staff work who is also to blame. The whole thing could have been avoided if they had the employee on the tills which of course are behind screens.

If I was the worker I’d be talking to my union about it to ensure my rights were adhered to. I wouldn’t be happy about being sent home. Manager could have just sent her on a break to enable her to calm herself down. Then talk about carrying on or going home. Not sent home like you would for being “naughty”.

Flashing light on self service. I give it a minute and if it looks like no one is coming. I call out that assistance is needed.

It’s unfortunate this happened and that the employee got upset, nobody should be called an idiot in their workplace. It does sound like the employee’s ‘mask is a bit over the top’ comment and insistence to remove the mask frustrated the customer and provoked the outburst.

I’m also not sure why the employee didn’t just look at the self service screen which would’ve showed the error and presumably provided information on what the problem is.

And as others have said the supervisor shouldn’t have dealt with it in full view of other customers. Not professional.