To think that masks are supposed to be worn by staff as well as shoppers?

[hoopaloopa]

I had to go into B & Q to get some bits to make repairs and was happy to see pretty much every customer was masked up. However, when I was going round the store around 50% of the staff had no face coverings, including some young men doing some physical work. Once I got to the checkouts only 2 out of ten staff (including a group of three that were chatting together) were wearing masks.

When I left I wrote an email of complaint but my DH thinks IABU as there are people who are exempt from wearing them but I think that there is no way that 2/3rd of B&Q employees would come under these categories. Have I missed that staff are exempt from mask wearing and therefore AIBU?

Yes, you have.

Staff are not required to wear face coverings.

Staff are not required to wear face coverings, just customers. Therefore, it is my very first UABU

YABU and have misunderstood the regulations.

We are abroad and staff here wear masks or visors. Without exception. What's the point of having customers wear them but not staff?

I also thought they should be wearing face coverings so I had to look it up - I am in Scotland. Apparently they don't have to wear masks if they maintain a 2m distance or are behind perspex. Many don't maintain a 2m distance from customers or each other. I was pleased to see 100% face coverings on customers in local Asda recently though.

Do you think that there's a real conceivable danger your life could be at risk from these unmasked fiends?

And yes you have missed something. Shop workers are not required to wear them.

This is about the 1000th thread about this! No they do not have to wear them. You should have checked your facts before sending off your email!

Ok, I will write another email saying I got it wrong. Makes wearing masks totally pointless then.

Yay another thread which will likely have the same sort of answers as the many others. Yes you were being unreasonable as they don't have to, if you felt uncomfortable then surely you could have left the shop. Or were you buying something super essential?

Shop staff don’t have to wear them.

Most customers are only in shop for a little while whereas shop workers have to do an 8hr shift.

Staff don't have to wear them. Customers wear them to help keep staff safe.

You have a choice to go to a shop, they don't have a choice to be there all day

"Yay another thread which will likely have the same sort of answers as the many others. Yes you were being unreasonable as they don't have to, if you felt uncomfortable then surely you could have left the shop. Or were you buying something super essential?"

Bits to fix the boiler, so pretty essential.

I wore a mask for about 10 minutes the other day. It was a very thin one, but I was hot and bothered by it. I’d give up my job if I had to wear one all day.
How would you expect people doing “physical work” to wear a mask? They’d bloomin suffocate!

happy to see pretty much every customer was masked up

How twee 🙄

Hope B&Q hand you your arse for your error.

YABVU

Retail staff do not have to wear them. There is an exemption.

You should have checked before sending an unnecessary email and making yourself look foolish.

Clearly you know now that you are wrong but a couple of weeks ago hardly anyone was wearing masks, now (in my area) almost everyone is so that's got to be an improvement, the risk is lower now than if your boiler had broken a month ago and you'd gone in then.

God, this pandemic is bringing the worst out of people. Emailing to complain?!

And there is a coronavirus section for the millions of mask topics that get posted.

As for your "happy to see every customer masked up", are you the mask police? Do you really go around checking that everyone around you is wearing a mask when you are out and about?

You do understand that some people are exempt for various health reasons, don't you? Look it up properly before you challenge the wrong person for lack of a mask.

They don't need to wear them but if I'm honestly I haven't heard a sensible explanation as to why.

I'm not a mask zealot, I resisted myself until they became mandatory and this is one of the reasons. Surely either they're important or they're not? If I'm so risky my fleeting contact with staff and other shoppers requires a mask, why not the staff who are potentially in more prolonged contact with 100s every day?

I was happy with keeping a distance, hand washing and avoiding shops as much as possible, so I'm not "worried", I just don't understand the reasoning.

So instead of looking into it first, you wrote a complaint not knowing whether you are even right about the stuff you are complaining about ?

Priceless. 😂🤣😂

@hoopaloopa

Ok, I will write another email saying I got it wrong. Makes wearing masks totally pointless then.

No it doesn't!

That's like saying 'my car doesn't have airbags so there's no point wearing my seatbelt'.

Every precaution taken helps a little. Yes, it would be safer if they all wore masks too, but customers wearing them is still better than no-one wearing them.

If you think you might have missed something, wouldn't it be better to do a quick Google search first before firing off complaints emails? Don't forget there are real people who have to read them.

I'm not sure I understand the it would be awful doing physical work in one argument. DS is working at McDonalds, physical work, 8/9 shifts in a hot kitchen. He's not allowed in the building without one.

You can't expect people to wear masks all day. Masks cause you to breathe in your own carbon dioxide and prevent enough oxygen getting into your lungs.