Semi mask exempt colleague at work stressing me out.....

[Watermelon888]

Colleague wears mask when client facing but struggling to tolerate it well. Colleague has ongoing chest issues and frequent chest infections.

Keeps coming into our office, keeps 2m distance, but coughing and deep breathing saying it’s a relief to take it off. We are supposed to keep them on all the time. Colleague keeps wearing it under their nose.

It’s particularly stressful this week with Christmas round the corner. My sympathy is wearing thin. They did have a covid test , negative a few weeks ago, but is still seeing all family indoors despite tier 2 rules.

What can I do?

I work in a public facing role and have to wear a mask all day for 12 hour shifts. I can tolerate them, I know some people can't. But the people who can't tolerate them have a responsibility to do as much as they can to protect everyone around them. That does mean staying 2m away from me, standing behind the screen at the checkout and not coughing in my proximity, the same as everyone else has to. In my experience those that wear the lanyard to say they're exempt from mask wearing seem to also think they're exempt from all social distancing obligations and they're the ones that piss me off. Plus the colleague who carries a 'factual book' around everywhere claiming covid is a hoax, while wearing a lanyard exempting him from mask wearing and coming way too close.

@Justsocross

I have a chronic lung/heart condition and am registered as extremely vulnerable . But I wear my mask whenever I go out !!! It is doable and I have to wear a mask at night and sometimes daytime for oxygen so have practiced for this for years she must be told to wear the bloody thing correct to protect everyone else !!!!!

If only everyone had your brilliant attitude. So many flaky people with the lamest excuses for not wearing a mask and you have every reason not to. I'm asthmatic and claustrophobic, but I'm not 'unique' and 'special' so I wear a bloody mask !

My DD has one lung due to a congenital abnormality, has had open heart surgery and numerous other operations
She wears a bloody mask all day every day at work. It's not comfortable, it's sometimes even almost intolerable but she still wears it
She's quite clear that if the day comes when she can't wear a mask then she cant safely do her job and she will resign

Just tell her to go outside when she needs to take her mask off and not to come into your workspace with it off.

Stop derailing the thread. This isn't about classrooms.

I bet you're one of those parents to 😂

So the woman is exempt because she genuinely struggles to wear a mask, but she tries anyway when she feels it’s most important and that’s still not good enough for you?

Do you think she doing this deliberately to try and increase her colleagues risk of catching covid or something? Do you think she’s having a great time through the pandemic and is just being difficult with her mask for cheap entertainment? No, probably not.

Most likely, she’s being genuine and trying her best, and other people around her need to be a little bit more understanding and less selfish.

Do you think she doing this deliberately to try and increase her colleagues risk of catching covid or something? Do you think she’s having a great time through the pandemic and is just being difficult with her mask for cheap entertainment? No, probably not.

Most likely, she’s being genuine and trying her best, and other people around her need to be a little bit more understanding and less selfish
Yes, so selfish of people wanting not to be coughed on by someone who is ignoring local restrictions and socialising indoors.

If she is clinically vulnerable and genuinely exempt from wearing a mask then she has a responsibility to follow the damn rules by not socialising indoors and ensure she's not coughing on her colleagues.

Why is she coming into your office? Does she really need to come in? Ask your manager to tell her to stick to her own office if you don’t feel you can.

@Okeydokeypiginapokey

There is no evidence that wearing of face masks stops the spread.

University of California, San Francisco: "Health experts say the evidence is clear that masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better." www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

I find it incredible that some posters are suggesting that those who can tolerate masks should just accept the risks of being exposed to covid so as not to offend the colleague who cannot/won't wear a mask. If you can't/won't wear a mask then you make damn sure you do everything else in your power to limit the risk to others. It is absolutely not up to everybody else to just suck it up to save the feelings of the person who can't/won't wear a mask or do anything to manage the risk.

There is no evidence that wearing of face masks stops the spread

There's absolutely loads, you melt.

I loathe the 'under nose' wearers... either wear it or take the bloody thing off
Me too. It’s like having your penis hanging out of your trousers. Either wear it properly or admit you’re refusing to wear one!

In my office we don’t wear masks all day, we keep 2m apart. I’m not exempt but I would struggle to wear one all day with lots of video calls, I’m not sure everyone would be able to hear each other? No problems with my hearing but do find it difficult hearing people in masks.

@Apollo3

There is no evidence that wearing of face masks stops the spread

There's absolutely loads, you melt.

@Apollo3

Why do you need to be verbally abusive?

They sound like a nightmare. They are exempt or not. I have a bad chest and frequent chest infections, possibly asthma. Tough. l wear a mask all the time at work

@WhatKatyDidNxt

They sound like a nightmare. They are exempt or not. I have a bad chest and frequent chest infections, possibly asthma. Tough. l wear a mask all the time at work

You're right. They are either exempt or not. However many people who are exempt choose to still try and wear one as much as they can, to be considerate. Doesn't mean they're 'semi-exempt'. Just means they're trying their best to do their bit.

Consider it like people with dyslexia who get extra time/extensions for exams. Just because they don't always use the extra time doesn't mean they're semi-dyslexic. Just means they don't always need the full allowances made for them. But I'm sure we'd all agree that those allowances need to always be available to them.

Or people with MS who have good and bad days. They'll always have a blue badge. Some days when they are feeling better they may choose not to use it. Doesn't make them 'semi disabled'. And I'm sure we'd all agree that they need to always have the option of having their blue badge, should they need it.

How are workplaces forcing masks as they are not gov guidelines for offices etc - 2m apart is sufficient

@RaspberryCoulis

Why can't people get their head around the fact that everyone is different? Just because you can wear a mask comfortably for hours and have asthma / pneumonia / no lungs at all does not mean everyone is the same.

I have asthma and find masks incredibly uncomfortable and restrictive. I can tolerate one for 15 to 20 minutes for a quite dash round the supermarket, but even then take the opportunity of being in a quiet aisle to pull the bloody thing down and have a few breaths normally. There is no way I would be able to wear one for an hour or more.

Excellent post. I have c-ptsd and ptsd. If I can’t get free flowing lung full of air it can cause me to panic. I can just about get round the supermarket with one (although have had a few trolley abandoning episodes), luckily DH does most of it. The thought of having to wear one all day at work in fear of being ostracised by someone lucky enough to be able to wear a mask with no issues (and this is 100% luck - you don’t realise how lucky you are with that) could very well push me over the edge).

*:02arevioletsreallyblue

OP, if your colleague is mask exempt then they are exempt, there's no 'semi' about it. But they're wearing one as much as they possibly can. Have some empathy for their disability/illness rather than letting your patience wear thin hmm. If you're that worried talk to management about steps they/you can take to keep you safer (screens, home working ect) but you don't get to be annoyed at your colleague for having a chronic condition and doing their best.*

This exactly^^

I am mask exempt, but I wear one for as long as I am able too. I work in retail so have really tried hard to wear one when I can but if it gets to the point that if I carry on wearing it I'll end up in hospital.. then the mask comes off. I have what a lot of people think is a minor heart condition, for me it isn't minor...(I've be been blue lighted before pre covid and mask wearing exacerbates my condition, the ambulance was actually called by my GP, so was his worry about me.) My then managers were "Ultrablue why did you not tell us?"

My managers have never ever questioned my "semi mask wearer status" they trust me to make my own calls on my decisions.

Today my mask wearing has caused physical pain so has been on and off all day, if I had of kept it on I would now have been in hospital. So I guess what I am saying is don't take other people's actions lightly, when we semi wear masks we do it for a reason. We are trying to protect others, but we can't put our own selves at risk.

The problem wouldn't even be the semi mask wearing. If someone is coughing and even breathing in and out heavily, the droplets go farther than social distancing guidlines tell us to stand from each other. So yes. If someone is meeting others, then comes to the office and coughs, it is absolutely understanding others won't be happy. Quite franly, I would refuse to work in office with someone like that because I don't want to get ill as a risk group.

How's about having some empathy for your colleague who is clearly struggling despite being exempt.
They're trying.
Stop whinging!

My managers have never ever questioned my "semi mask wearer status" they trust me to make my own calls on my decisions.

Today my mask wearing has caused physical pain so has been on and off all day, if I had of kept it on I would now have been in hospital. So I guess what I am saying is don't take other people's actions lightly, when we semi wear masks we do it for a reason. We are trying to protect others, but we can't put our own selves at risk
You sound very reasonable and it's good your managers have the approach they do. I'm sure many genuine people will take the same approach as you.

I'm also willing to bet that you're not regularly socialising indoors, ignoring local restrictions and then coughing over your colleagues though (which is what OP's colleague has been doing).

My wife is a itu nurse, she has to wear a ffp3 mask for 12 and half hours, yiu shiukd see the state of her face when she finally takes the thing off! I have 0 sympathy for people that dont wear mask or under the nose, in places like supermarkets etc!

@MrsMomoa

How's about having some empathy for your colleague who is clearly struggling despite being exempt.
They're trying
Stop whinging!

Why the fuck should people have empathy for someone who can't/won't wear a mask yet goes into a shared office and coughs all over the place? This attitude is absolutely infuriating! Why does the colleague who is 'trying' not to spread covid by coming into an office and coughing all over the place deserve more empathy than the colleagues who are actually trying not to spread covid by wearing a mask? Being unable/unwilling to wear a mask does not make you more special/deserving of empathy than others. Should everyone else be happy to be at increased risk of catching a potentially fatal disease because someone they work with finds it more comfortable not to wear a mask and thinks everyone else should suffer the consequences? It is up to the non mask wearer to limit their potential risk to others in this instance. Entering the office space and freely coughing all over everybody else is exceptionally antisocial.
If the non mask wearer were a smoker who said it was uncomfortable for them to go outside to smoke in the rain and cold due to chronic asthma so they ought to be allowed to smoke in the office and fuck everybody else's health would you still see the other colleagues' complaints as lacking empathy?