To think shop workers shouldn't be asking people why they aren't wearing a mask?

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

My friend is epileptic. She can't wear a mask because it takes very little to trigger a fit, and wearing a mask creates too much of a risk. Over the last 2 days she's been asked in 3 different places (Greggs, Morrison's and the Co-Op) in an abrupt and snotty way "Where is your mask?" By staff. This is with lots of other customers around. She responded "I'm medically exempt" and has been asked why she's exempt in two of those places. She's also been told (online) that she should stay in to protect others and get someone else to do her shopping etc.

AIBU to think this is appalling ableist behaviour to put someone on the spot in front of others? She doesn't owe anyone her medical history. Yes there's sunflower lanyards she can pick up but she's apprehensive about wearing anything around her neck for obvious reasons. Why can't we just trust others that they're doing it in their best interests?

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Oh yes, I know it's hard. With the way things are, having a job at all is a bit of a privilege right now. Look on the positive side, some of us have chronic illness, disabilities, no job or income and are scared to go into a shop for fear of being aggressively challenged or bullied. I'm glad that's not the case for you.

I’ve been to Iceland and co op, lots of people not wearing masks and no one has said anything.

Co-op's policy is not to challenge customers, same as Sainsbury's and Asda I think.

@amillionwishes

Putting the point across from the other side is important, even if it is ignored or jumped all over. There's plenty of us that know what it's like to do this day in day out and the baggage being treated like shit regularly causes.
I'm in hospitality, I have nothing but admiration and respect for retail staff, you've done this through the worst, at the beginning when things were very bleak indeed. Four weeks in and I'm feeling the strain, God knows how you must be feeling. 💐

Well after all my moaning ive just gone to Asda, wore a mask. I think i counted 2 or 3 other people in there wearing masks the rest werent. Granted, this was between 9-10pm when it is alot quieter but it was still fairly busy.
No one was challenging everyone. Everyone just got on with it tbh.

To be fair, I go early or late as much as I can, specifically because I can’t wear a mask.

Druple if your reason is genuine then go out whenever you want to if you feel safe to do so. No one I have met or spoken with has any issue with genuine exempt people being out and about without a mask. The issue is that most of the population are claiming to be exempt. There's no point in anyone wearing masks if the majority are not doing it or are not doing it properly. In fact after working tonight in a shop my biggest issue is with people who do wear them but insist on touching them constantly. That's far more dangerous than not wearing one at all.

There's a few things that jump out at me from this.

1. People shouldn't have to wear anything that disclosed their hidden disability - a persons medical history is personal.

1. People are scared, lack of masks and public uncertainty will make some act in ways that they probably wouldn't normally - the person making the challenge might be terrified of catching the virus and/or taking it home to their family.

1. A person with well controlled epilepsy shouldn't have any issues with wearing a mask. Your friends epilepsy must be well controlled considering she has been seizure free for 14 months and a doctor has signed her as fit to drive.

1. If something 'simple' like wearing a mask is enough to trigger a seizure then she should probably hand that driving license back.

Basically, both sides need to show some consideration for the other and think before speaking. Stick to maintaining social distancing and maintain good hygiene practices.

I work in retail, my employer has said we have to ask. Personally I’m uncomfortable with this, I don’t feel anyone should have to explain themselves especially in public.

My friend has told her staff they can ask and encourage compliance if they feel safe to do so and want to but they don't have to. Her shop is not in a great area and she tries to be mindful of her staff's safety and the fact they are women working alone in a dodgy area. She makes sure she, her brother or her husband are in on a night with the staff as they have been threatened by customers in the past and made to feel unsafe. The joys of working with Joe Public has no limits, does it?

What about those who won’t wear masks and believe in their freedom to do as they please sign a waiver during the pandemic. Then the hospital staff, shop assistants and other workers exposed To COVID-19 on a daily basis get less chance of catching the virus.

Then if those who have signed the waiver get the virus they can be denied hospital treatment and sort themselves out at home. Just like people who have cancer and other severe medical conditions have had to do during the first peak.

Apparently the second peak is coming and second parks are more deadly. There will be less beds as doctors have complained to the NHS that they don’t want to deny those with cancer and other severe medical conditions this time as thousands will die. Those who are doing the right thing by not exposing themselves by wearIng masks and staying home to lessen their contact and to stop exposure to others can be first in line for hospital treatment if they need it.

Unbelievable the selfishness on this thread.

[quote IAmFleshIAmBone]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Oh yes, I know it's hard. With the way things are, having a job at all is a bit of a privilege right now. Look on the positive side, some of us have chronic illness, disabilities, no job or income and are scared to go into a shop for fear of being aggressively challenged or bullied. I'm glad that's not the case for you. [/quote]
No, I'm just scared that I'm going to catch a disease that could leave me even more disabled or dead - lucky me. So fortunate.

@hotdoggone

I see mask wearing as similar to herd immunity achieved through vaccines.

I wear my mask because for me it's easy and offers others (some of whom like the OP's friend can't wear their own) some protection.

Much like lockdown, people have forgotten that it's about societal risk and not individual.

It's all me, me, me and I'm so fucking sick of it. There seems to be a real undercurrent of arrogance brought out by coronavirus. The notion that individuals and their families are the only people capable of following the rules. When in reality the vast majority are doing their bit. You don't know someone else's circumstances, by making assumptions and stewing over their perceived rule break, you're just contributing to making the UK a more divisive, unpleasant place and using valuable headspace.

It's no one else's business why another shopper isn't wearing a mask. Just worry about yourself and do your bit.

I hate the idea that as some of us are able to enjoy more freedom, those of us who are disabled and perhaps already more restricted are being made to feel scared to do the same. How did we get here?

And amongst those people being restricted are the recently de shielded who are still being told to avoid going out unnecessarily, to avoid pubs and restaurants and to only go back to work if their work place is Covid safe. Are you worried about those disabled people too?

@OffThePlanet I hope you are not trying to say that those who wont wear are the same as the ones who cant because they are exempt

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

So am I, what's your point? You're in a far better position than some. I have seen many on this thread try to be empathetic to you, but you can't show any yourself.

I don't think anyone would say those with a genuine medical exemption are the same as the idiots who claim to be exempt when they're not and the fact remains that 99% of people could wear a face covering and indeed would if their livelihoods depended on it such as nurses and carers.

Going on the examples here there is no medical reason why epilepsy would exempt you, especially if it is so well controlled that the sufferer can legally drive. I know an epilepsy sufferer whose epilepsy is not control and he wears a mask 8 hours a day while working in the NHS. If the issue is anxiety which could trigger a seizure then the Ops friend could practice wearing a mask in the house until she became acclimatised to it or could investigate other options such as a light, loose scarf or plastic face sheild. Ditto the person whose asthma is triggered by warm air. There are masks with expirators that prevent warm air building up inside, a light, loose scarf would not cause an excess of warm air nor would a plastic face sheild but instead of investigating those options the two examples have simply declared themselves exempt and are happy to endanger others along with the millions of other people who've done the same.

Ah.............im not disabilist but.....................!

It's not disablist, Helena. It's frustration. Frustration that the elderly, vulnerable and disabled people who I work with on a daily basis, whose mental health is already nose diving due to lockdown, face spending yet more time isolated from their loved ones dye to government incompetence and the selfishness of others.

Its not hard for most people to follow the rules. If you can't wear a mask then wear a chiffon scarf loosely around your mouth and nose, if you can't wear that wear a plastic sheild instead and for the love of things good and holy do not touch your face covering unless you can wash your hands before touching anything else. Seriously, if you can't wear a face covering without fiddling with it constantly just don't wear one or better yet stay inside.

The number of people playing with their mask and then fingering produce in shops is what's going to trigger the second wave from what I've seen tonight. I don't think I've felt the need to sanitize tinned goods until tonight.

[quote IAmFleshIAmBone]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

So am I, what's your point? You're in a far better position than some. I have seen many on this thread try to be empathetic to you, but you can't show any yourself. [/quote]
Maybe you could point out how I'm in a far better position? I struggle to get to work, I struggle while I'm in work, I come home in such bad pain that all I can do is take pain killers and lay down, then I go to bed and get up the next day and repeat. Now I also have the worry of catching a potentially fatal illness on top. Then, joy of joys, on my first day off I take the immunosuppressant medication that lands me in bed for the two days I have off. Sorry if I don't really see the bright side to that.

@user1471500037

I will never wear a mask - Keep Britain Free!

Free from what? certainly not Covid and associated deaths! People are free to do all sorts of stupid things but it doesn't mean that they should.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras yet again it's all about you. I can see what the other posters were saying now.

[quote IAmFleshIAmBone]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras yet again it's all about you. I can see what the other posters were saying now. [/quote]
Omg, so far it's been mainly about another poster and now you taken up the Barton, deciding that you will tell me how much luckier I am than others, including yourself. Don't complain if I reply to you. It's not me making it all about me - it's you and other posters making it all about me when you choose to attack and berate me and then complain when I answer back.

You told me that I am lucky - I responded by telling you why I don't see it. It's not my problem if you don't like that.

metro.co.uk/2020/07/27/shouted-not-wearing-face-mask-bus-exempt-13035084/

comments underneath are interesting too.

You know this thread ... has really brought into focus for me how anyone in a service type job is held in such low regard by society in general. @Nomore79 - yet we have people on here saying that shop workers are so privileged to have their job at all that they should be happy to be abused - as happens at the place where my teenage DDs work, 9 hour shifts in this heat (think garden centre type place), screamed at by customers, because they should mind their own business and not mention masks to customers?! Are these posters real?

One of my DDs asked me why adults behave like this - interestingly its most often women as well - I just can't begin to unpick the level of selfishness on this thread in order to explain it to her.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras I'm not complaining, of course you're going to reply. It's just so confusing because you make no suggestion that you have empathy for others, in fact the opposite, yet you seem to want it yourself.

@Gingerfish91

I’ve been to Iceland and co op, lots of people not wearing masks and no one has said anything.

Co-op 'safety info' announcements include having consideration for people who cannot wear masks.