To think retail staff should be wearing masks too?

[cccro]

Sorry if this has already been posted.
Today I went to a few shops.
Wilkos -no staff wearing masks,yes screens at tills but staff at door and walking around aren't wearing masks.
Primark -no staff wearing masks
Superdrug -no staff wearing masks

What's the rule here?
Are sales assistants immune from catching covid?
I don't understand why they aren't wearing masks?

I find it a bit odd that shoppers are asked to wear masks and staff members aren’t. Seems to render us wearing masks an ineffective policy.

Bonkers

Legally not required to wear them. I think because it’s your choice to go shopping but the staff don’t have that choice they have to go to work. I work for 9 hours a day in a shop it would be awful to wear one for that long. I know healthcare workers have to wear them longer and I really feel for them.

Probably because wearing a mask for eight hours is very unpleasant.

It just seems crazy to me.
If not a mask surely a visor ?
I think it's bonkers too.

People working in schools and offices aren’t required to wear masks. It’s miserable wearing them for hours. Plenty of shop workers are behind screens now. It’s much better for communication with customers if they’re not wearing masks.

Primark near me has all staff in masks or visors.
Constant tannoys stating everyone must wear a mask. So it’s not every branch.

Staff have to go to work, masks are to protect them. Its your choice to go shopping.

Unless you are stood close chatting to them for more than 5mins, you are unlikely to catch it

YANBU. At The Range I heard the manager said they didn't have to and they wouldn't be wearing them because it's "against our human rights" I normally live abroad and every single retail worker wears a mask so I was very surprised it's not the case here.

Seems weird to me too. Also seems weird they don't want to wear masks - from reading the threads from retail workers on here I assumed they were all anxious about being put at risk by members of the public, and would want PPE if it was available to them.

They would have to wear them for long periods of time and also the masks are to protect them not the other shoppers (though hopefully that too). It is as if the staff are in their own bubble and realistically can't always socially distance/ wear a mask all shift. You as a shopper choose to enter their bubble for a short time and therefore need to protect them by wearing a mask. If you are lucky the mask might also give you some limited protection too.

The staff will be coming into contact with hundreds of people a day ..so shouldn't they be wearing masks to protect us?

The supermarket I work for is enforcing a policy that staff have to wear masks or a visor when on the shop floor.

We spend all day lifting heavy crates and stacking shelves. It's exhausting when not wearing a mask. It's even more difficult with one. I wear a visor most of the day but even that gets in the way of many of the jobs that we do.

We're not happy about it but it is what it is.

The staff will be coming into contact with hundreds of people a day ..so shouldn't they be wearing masks to protect us?

I think you’re overestimating what a mask will do over and above staying 2m away or being behind a Perspex screen.

Went into a few shops today and barley any staff were wearing them. The woman on the door ok tkmax was asking people to put them on at the door while she wasn’t wearing one 🤷🏼‍♀️

I work in retail and our employer is positively encouraging us all to wear a mask or visor, unless we are behind r6he till and a screen. It was uncomfortable at first but soon get used to it, i also ask customers to wear their face covering, would be very hypocritical to ask customers to wear a mask if none of the staff are.
I shopped in Asda on Saturday and 3 staff out of at least 20 wore masks, i was so disappointed i nearly took mine off - whats the point in me protecting staff if staff dont want to reciprocate?.
Morrisons on the other hand was exemplary.

I struggle to wear one whilst shopping so I understand why some of the staff dont. I feel like I am constantly touching my face in a panic cause I cant breathe.

@PurpleDaisies the staff on the shop floor and at door should be wearing them in my opinion.
Fair enough not if they are serving on a till behind a screen.

I don't understand why people are demanding staff wear them now when they have worked all the way throughout this, especially when the virus was at it's peak, without one? Retail staff are having a hard enough time from customers as it is without them getting hassle for not wearing a mask.

Every time I've been in B and M recently there's been a group of 6 members of staff in a group in the cleaning products aisle, just chatting. It's been impossible to get past while keeping a distance because they won't move (I've said excuse me and they just move enough to let me squeeze through). It's always that aisle, usually around the washing powders. One lady working in there wears a visor but nobody else wears a mask it visor. All the staff in our Tesco have been asked to unless they have an exemption.

I'm in France at the moment and all the retail staff seem to have to wear them here. In the UK I noticed a lot of the smaller places like petrol stations and takeaways they seem to be wearing them, but not the bigger shops.

@Jakobabear I guess shoppers could say the exact same.
Why do we have to wear one now when we didn't at the peak.
Guess it works both ways

@cccro because the government has said it's mandatory for shoppers but not for staff maybe?

Wearing a mask for half an hour whilst shopping is a whole lot easier than wearing it for hours on end doing physical work.

I work in a convenience store, I wore a mask for an hour before it got too much, I took it off.

Jakobabear I'm not demanding they wear anything, just surprised it isn't mandatory like it is for hospital staff (even non-clinical office staff), and surprised they don't choose to wear masks given the number of random members of the public they are interacting with all day.