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?

Don't agree with abuse of workers but anyone wanting a break from their mask is best to do so away from customers/patients etc. Defeats the purpose of mask wearing otherwise.

Well maybe that's why shop staff are exempt.

Risk is to do with statistics. 5 staff before... 5 staff now...
200 customers before... 2000 customers now.

But that only works if those customers and those shop staff never go anywhere else except for their homes and the supermarket, in the same way they did during lockdown.

But those 5 staff are now going to more places. Other non-essential shops, pubs, restaurants, mixing with family and friends, going out to places like the beach, or potentially on holiday etc. Therefore they're in contact with more people and have a much higher chance of coming across someone with the virus than beforehand.

They're also in touch with more customers who may be asymptomatic and spreading the virus to them. Then in turn, they can spread it around. Everyone is more at risk than they were before, as we're all moving around more and interacting with more people.

Riv1234
Exactly

@corythatwas KFC arent enforcing it at all, their policy is:

"Provision of masks for team members who would like to wear them."

If a branch manager is insisting they wear them then that's up to them, just like in retail.

Fair enough, it probably is our local branch manager, then.

Point is though, the branch have done this successfully for several months now, in fact they were doing it while the store was still only drive-through, and staff are coping perfectly fine.

I work in a supermarket, as the government has said staff don’t have to wear one we have been told management can’t enforce it only ask us to wear one if we can. I have done an 8 hour shift today and have worn a mask from shop opening at 6 until I finished at 1 unless on break or in the back. I would say in our shop about 50% of staff were them, some due to medical reasons and some because they just don’t want to and don’t have to. Our store manager has made it known he has had quite a lot of customer complaints about staff not wearing them but he can’t force the issue. He did actually decide today to go visit a rival supermarket to see how many staff wore them there but I had left before he returned, customers are mainly wearing masks, in fact I could probably count on one hand the amount of customers I have seen without a mask in the past week however I do see a fair few with them under their nose or even on their chin but overall I think the public are wearing them

I will say though, I have no medical reason to not were a mask but it was uncomfortable wearing it for that length of time and by the end of my shift leaves me with a sore throat, probably from breathing in drier air for so many hours

They are sometimes dangerous.....moving stock with steamed up glasses, not great

Also, we don’t know long term health affects from breathing in whatever particles are in the masks. My throat is sore from a 30 min wear

Dry eyes....again,daily,from hot breath which then moves on to steam up glasses

If they are made mandatoyfror retail then we will need cooler uniforms,air conditioning shorter shifts and more breaks.

Don’t expect the shelves to be full if we are being forced to feel uncomfortable with warm weather and niggling health problems

@corythatwas maybe teach your son to not be a sheep??

Well it's not like customers gave a dam when coming right up to your face asking where the bread is for the last 4 months so why the upset now about staff not wearing masks. Jelousey maybe or perhaps that some people dont feel so superior now as they look down at shop staff.

I have a degree but still work in retail as fits in with my lifestyle.

@corythatwas maybe teach your son to not be a sheep??

Ok, should I tell him to stop washing his hands too?

His mask wearing does no harm to other people and is designed to keep them safe. If he wears one, then maybe that will stop him spreading infection to somebody else who cannot wear it for medical reasons.

Of course there are such people. But he won't protect those people by refusing to wear a mask in solidarity, any more than you help a disabled person by sitting in the disabled access seat or by piling into the only lift in the building when you could walk the stairs.

I have a condition that means my hands get red and sore with washing, particularly in winter. It hurts. I grit my teeth and wash my hands anyway, for the sake of not spreading norovirus. But even if I wasn't able to do that- where would be the advantage in everybody else also giving up hand-washing?

Masks make communication impossible. Queuing at checkout today on large supermarket. The customer in front of me asked me a question about the plants I was buying, Cpuldn' hear what she was saying, so she had to take off her mask to ask me , which I was fine with as I think they are pointless anyway. And for her to hear my answer I had to pull down my scarf.
I could see why none of the shop staff were wearing masks as you simply can't communicate with your mouth covered.
So no- utterly pointless to make anyone wear a mask in any situation where they need to exchange information. Any why it is obviously a non/starter in schools.

And why they are commonly referred to as muzzles.

if we all wear a mask for the short time we are shopping then they don’t have to do it for the whole day

How is it I've managed to communicate from behind a mask every time I've been to the pharmacy and the doctor? I had a cervical smear the other day and the nurse had absolutely no difficulty in understanding me, nor I her.

Yes, again, there may be people with speech defects who cannot do it. And people with hearing difficulties who struggle with understanding if they can't lip-read. The rest of us can probably improve with practice.

Supermarkets are a much louder atmosphere then a doctors surgery or a pharmacy

@corythatwas did you and the nurse have the addition of screaming kids, chatter from 50-60 other customers, piped music,store tannoys and closing/opening rolls, noise from store equipment to compete with to be heard?

No,didn’t think so!

No we shouldn't be. I personally have asthma and could not breathe yesterday. I'm in that store for hours, you choose to go, leave us alone. It wasn't that long ago we were heroes and keyworkers. How that's changed.

I work in a very busy petrol station, we as in the staff are not wearing face masks, We have to wear head sets which are very uncomfortable by themselves, A face mask on top whilst working a 15 cage delievery of heavy drinks and alchohol whilst also being called to the tills if there is more than 2 people waiting so having to put my glasses on too is just not possible in this heat,

We are lucky to have 4 people on shift at any one time and get enough abuse from people who fill up and suddeny cant pay or drive offs, Our job is shit enough at the best of times without making us wear a mask for 8 to 10 hours a day when most of you visit my place of work 10 minutes max through your own choice, I have no choice but to be there,

@TopBitchoftheWitches

No we shouldn't be. I personally have asthma and could not breathe yesterday. I'm in that store for hours, you choose to go, leave us alone. It wasn't that long ago we were heroes and keyworkers. How that's changed.

I don't understand the relevance of your key workers remark.

People can appreciate what you do and still think you should be wearing masks at work now that everything is opening up again.

keep 2 metres away ...... and shoppers should be in and then out

but no, they browse and ask stupid questions and touch everything

I work in retail, not a supermarket though so not a keyworker/hero.
Our head office have said we have to wear masks on the shop floor so I have been even though my manager does not.
No masks have been provided, I’ve bought my own washable ones.
I work 7 hours without a break then get the bus home. Every evening I have a sore throat which I’m sure is due to the mask. My cheeks and chin are covered in spots.
I’ve had 3 pregnant women this week telling me they can’t wear a mask because it’s “too hot/difficult” and they can’t breathe.
My job involves product demonstrations which mean my customers are not 2 metres from me, they are barely even 1 metre and then they have to try out the product for themselves so we are passing it between us without any protection as no one has provided any gloves and on my minimum wage I can’t afford to keep supplying them.