For thinking what's the fucking point anymore?

[SapphireSeptember]

"You shouldn't say that because you don't know what people are going though!"
Which is what a woman said to me when I asked her to pull up her mask yesterday. Right back at you. How the fuck does she think me and my colleagues feel having to deal with Covidiots like her on a daily basis? (I work in a supermarket.) She had her nose sticking out and kept pulling her mask away from her face, but because she's struggling and trying her best (so am I) that makes it acceptable? She didn't say she was exempt, and honestly if you're wearing a mask wear the damned thing properly! I then overheard her say 'How dare she say that to me?" to one of my colleagues in a really angry voice. I couldn't have been more fucking polite about it if I'd tried!
(I wish I'd said what I was thinking, that I dare because I'm more scared of getting Covid and dying from it than I am of shitty customers, but that might not have helped.)
I'm getting to the stage where I just want to lock myself in my house and refuse to come out until this is all over. I'm having panic attacks, my mental health is shot, and I don't feel like I can do this anymore. I'm also autistic and find certain things hard to cope with. The only reason I go to work is because I work with some lovely people who are keeping me sane at the moment.

Added to that the two women I was working with yesterday were agreeing with her. I spoke to my manager who confirmed I'd done the right thing, and when I told them that they got shirty with me too.

Then there was the fuckwit I dealt with on Friday. Again, I asked him to pull his mask up over his nose. "I don't think so' he said, and pulled one of those sunflower lanyards out of his shirt. Apparently he's exempt because he's autistic, but chooses to wear a mask. (See above, I was also standing next to a colleague of mine who's autistic.) I couldn't quite believe it, either wear one or don't, they don't work if your nose is sticking out, he was with a young woman who was wearing hers properly and another bloke who also had his nose sticking out. (I've noticed in my area it's men who are more likely to want to share their germs with everyone else.)

Then there are the people who walk in without wearing one at all, I was doing my shopping after work and three people, not a mask among them. I asked them if they had masks, the two women pulled theirs out and the bloke said he didn't have one, but of course he didn't bother going to where we keep the spare ones, he just carried on walking along. Twat.

I work in retail and the other day there was a guy shouting the odds in the queue that he was extremely vunerable and therefore shouldn't have to queue. He had his whole family with him by the looks of it, so I had to stop myself from saying something along the lines of he shouldn't be out in public at all if that was the case. We're told by management not to comment to non-mask wearers, but it's frustrating that people seem to be using the stores that are still open to do their socialising in.

I feel for you. I'm in healthcare and I was terrified at the start of the pandemic, I understand how terrifying it feels to feel so vulnerable but have very little control. I think a lot of the people saying YABU probably don't spend hours in an exposed environment in combination with being concerned about contracting COVID.

@Cherrysherbet I suffer with severe anxiety and panic attacks which won’t kill you, you going without a mask could kill someone else. You need to resign or learn to cope as you would in many other countries.

@RoxanneMonke

I had a bad moment in the haberdashery dept of John Lewis pre-lockdown 3 God forbid you have a hot flush whilst wearing a mask. What if someone catches covid from you and dies? It has happened

I can't live my entire life on a 'what if' basis. Covid isn't going anywhere, and we need to live with it. Every time we get out of bed, we take a risk (and if we didn't get out of bed, the ceiling might still fall in on us).

I wear a mask in indoor public places, although I loathe masks. Occasionally I have to lower mine as I think people generally would rather I went to a quiet bit of the frozen food department to recover, rather than fainting/vomiting in the fresh bread aisle. Most of the time, I go about my business and wear my mask correctly.

If I see someone not wearing one properly, I don't automatically assume that they are a knob.

@withlotsoflove

It's the covid rap 🤣

Some of these comments are nasty but working in retail understand my life is worth less than anyone else's.
Where I work if colleagues can't wear a mask they have to wear a face shield, shame the same rules don't apply to the public.
I hate wearing a mask, I feel sick at the end of my shift but I still do it for 9 hours. If you really can't wear a mask for 30 minutes then don't go shopping
The more people bitch about supermarket staff the more tempted I am to think we should all go on strike for a week and watch as people realise we actually do a valuable job.

[quote higgledypiggledyhen]@withlotsoflove

It's the covid rap 🤣[/quote]
😂✨

@Annabell80

Some of these comments are nasty but working in retail understand my life is worth less than anyone else's. Where I work if colleagues can't wear a mask they have to wear a face shield, shame the same rules don't apply to the public. I hate wearing a mask, I feel sick at the end of my shift but I still do it for 9 hours. If you really can't wear a mask for 30 minutes then don't go shopping The more people bitch about supermarket staff the more tempted I am to think we should all go on strike for a week and watch as people realise we actually do a valuable job.

Are you in a union?

@RoxanneMonke

Weaveron

I can't live my entire life on a 'what if' basis. Covid isn't going anywhere, and we need to live with it

If you want to take that risk it’s up to you. But it’s not your right to put other people at risk by not wearing a mask. Was haberdashery shopping in John Lewis really essential? What if you were asymptotic with covid and the shop assistant caught it? It’s not all about you

It was not during a lockdown (we were in Tier 2 at the time), so the 'essential' bit is neither here nor there. Though I would argue that as i have lost my job thanks to lockdown, it's essential that I mend clothes rather than buying new or doing without altogether.

I do take your point. However, the JL assistant was evidently willing to take the same risk, as she suggested it (and I was glad to say yes). She was still there every time I went to JL after that, so while I may have been asymptomatic and passed it to her, who was in turn asymptomatic, I think I probably didn't pass the Covid I probably didn't have on to anyone else.

Nobody should be living their life on the basis of they might have an asymptomatic case of Covid. We need to move beyond that, or there will be nothing left for anyone to return to.

I wear glasses so masks make them steam up. I walked into a morrisons and stopped to wipe my glasses. The security guard told me the trick is to wear your mask under your nose. Apparently thats ok as you breath in through your nose and out through your mouth 🤷🏽‍♀️ I has walked passed him before what he said sunk in so I didn't challenge him.

Not sure the masks make much difference tbh.

I’m not sure on the whole mask issue, I wear one because I can and so I won’t be harassed but it’s the same mask every time that lives screwed up in my pocket so how efficacious it is I don’t know.

Goodness, where does any of us start with this? I've worked through the pandemic, in education, not retail though. From the start I've felt retail workers have had it the toughest. There was never much respect for them before Covid, let's face it. (No pun intended!) Masks should be worn, people should be respectful towards one another, if you are exempt, and there is a way you could get someone to shop for you, you should arrange it. I've often said to colleagues who've witnessed bolshiness from exempt people in shops, or those just not towing the line, that they wouldn't refuse to be on a ventilator if they were in an ICU and struggling to breathe. They're unlikely to flash that sunflower then, that's for sure!
I won't bore you with my own experiences, though a colleague wearing a school 'staff' shirt (it's written across the back), was grabbed by a burly builder in a well known high street pastry shop, by the shoulders and, face right next to hers asked to "pass me a sausage roll darlin'". He'd mistaken her for a staff member of the shop! this was a couple of months into it too, when we were less blase about it all and 2 meters meant 2 meters!

I live in a small town in Wiltshire where everyone seems to follow rules re masks / my colleague from Glasgow says it is a very different story there and that a lot did not abide by these rules during the first lockdown and likes the fact that people here are more compliant - he is 27 years old and quite wild so it’s interesting.

The staff in my local Lidl are bloody saints - YANBU OP - wear a bloody mask and wear it correctly and if you have a genuine medical reason for non adherence, don’t wear it - I find it bizarre that some people just don’t get this - ffs we are relatively free in this country - we don’t have the Army patrolling the streets and we have furlough payments, an effective vaccination rollout, a semi-decent health service and UC - a lot need to grow the fuck up.

I wear a mask and a visor on every 12-hr shift I do - I absolutely detest it as do my colleagues but we do it for infection control and safety reasons.

You are in a shop for a short period - think about how much risk there is potentially to the low paid, over worked and undervalued staff - have a thought for others.

Thank you for all your hard work OP 🤗🤗

@RoxanneMonke

Since when did supermarket workers have the right to tell people what to do? If you're that anxious then maybe you should lock yourself away!

Why the fuck should they lock themselves away? They have as much right to feel safe in their place of work as anyone! Can’t believe the amount of people on this thread who are saying they should mind their own business. It’s like you don’t even read the news and take notice of the death rates.

Because it's not their fucking business to tell other people what to do? There is also a lot of people in the scientific world saying that asymptomatic spread is rubbish. People have lost all common sense. People actively walking round someone because they think they are going to catch something by brushing past them. The world has gone fucking mad. And if you think a piece of cloth being over your nose is going to make a blind bit of difference then carry on preaching your shit and calling anyone who disagrees a covidiot.

It’s not difficult to wear a mask correctly and we’ve been legally obliged to do it for over six months now. I really don’t understand why people struggle so much, it goes over your mouth and your nose. They’re not comfortable, sure but neither is being in ICU so suck it up.

The medical exemption thing is tosh too, it isn’t a thing in other countries. You know, other countries who haven’t managed to lose over 112k people. If you can’t wear a mask because it affects your breathing you’re probably too vulnerable to enter a shop anyway (or you’ll have had the vaccination by now!).

@Norwayreally

It’s not difficult to wear a mask correctly and we’ve been legally obliged to do it for over six months now. I really don’t understand why people struggle so much, it goes over your mouth and your nose. They’re not comfortable, sure but neither is being in ICU so suck it up.

The medical exemption thing is tosh too, it isn’t a thing in other countries. You know, other countries who haven’t managed to lose over 112k people. If you can’t wear a mask because it affects your breathing you’re probably too vulnerable to enter a shop anyway (or you’ll have had the vaccination by now!).

Bingo!