This pandemic has made people so rude!

[Geneva1994]

First time since the start of the pandemic I have forgotten a mask anywhere, as I always have 1 in my car, bag or pocket. Today I went to b&q for opening so the shop was empty, realised I didn’t have a mask in my car as I thought so I poked my head round the door and apologised to the lady but asked if they had a disposable mask I could have (or pay for!) as id stupidly forgot mine, only to get an earful and be told I’m the reason covid is still spreading she then started slagging me off to a colleague as I walked off and I heard her say “surprised she didn’t try and say she is exempt”.

AIBU to think some people are going crazy? How are they going to cope when restrictions are completely lifted

YANBU. Personally, I would be complaining about them too. It sounds like you were polite and apologetic, and the staff were very rude to you. Them having to work all throughout out the pandemic, or feeling they are at risk from people with no mask on, is no excuse for rudeness.

YANBU. Personally, I would be complaining about them too

Then you need to get yourself a life. And a grip.

@PaperbackRider it’s you isn’t it? You’re the rude member of staff?

@PaperbackRider

YANBU. Personally, I would be complaining about them too

Then you need to get yourself a life. And a grip.

Wow, so rude. I hope that made you feel big.

A lot of people are feigning being exempt because they don’t agree with masks or can’t be bothered wearing one. She was rude and definitely shouldn’t have treat you like that but I imagine working in retail she comes across a lot of fakers.

My sympathy is with people who have to work in shops where the public “just pop their head round the corner” without masks. This has been going on long enough that you should have a bloody mask with you. If you don’t, don’t go into the shop.

@PaperbackRider

I’m exempt but choose to wear one anyway to avoid peoples stares and nasty comments

Why do people keep saying this? You're not exempt if you can wear one, so if you choose to wear one, you are not exempt.

OP, you were supposed to have a mask and you didn't. They aren;t the ones at fault.

Because they are exempt... you’ve made up your own definition of exempt. My DS is 9 and is exempt based on age but wears a mask.

@Derbee

My sympathy is with people who have to work in shops where the public “just pop their head round the corner” without masks. This has been going on long enough that you should have a bloody mask with you. If you don’t, don’t go into the shop.

A lot of shops have notices saying if you forget your mask, you can pick one up at the door and pay for it with your shopping.

I think this pandemic has given some very small-minded, inconsequential people some sort of unpaid role as police. They'd never make it in real life so they have to live out their fantasies through nose-poking here and everywhere else.

Sorry this happed to you, OP. Some people are just like that.

Because they are exempt... you’ve made up your own definition of exempt. My DS is 9 and is exempt based on age but wears a mask

We're talking medical exemptions, not age, ffs.

IF you are able to wear a mask you are not exempt, medically speaking. It's not about what condition you have, it's whether you can physically wear a mask. If you can, you are not exempt.
IT's not rocket science.

You should have had a go at her for not having masks available for customers.

You should have had a go at her for not having masks available for customers

Are you for real? The entitlement is amazing.

Another unfortunate side effect of the "exempt but can wear a mask when I want to" gang taking the piss. People have had enough of it and patience has truly run out.

PaperbackRider, what are you even talking about? Social distancing is the first precaution, masks (of the type generally worn) do little.

I'll add to my previous post by including posters like you who rush in to spout nonsense. Protect yourself from others and mind your own business. Urgh. This place sometime.

They've always been rude. The pandemic has affected their ability to pretend not to be a shit.

some of the comments on this thread are ridiculous.

no OP, you weren't being unreasonable for trying to do what you thought was the right thing. you didnt think oh screw it I'll go in and pretend I'm exempt or any of that. we are all human, lots of us forget things.

people who work in retail have had to put up with some morons in the general public I'm sure but OP isnt responsible for them and wasnt remotely rude.

When I have worked in retail and catering that kind of behaviour would of been disciplinary - no matter how tempting it is it is wholly inappropriate and unprofessional to speak to customers in that way and then proceed to speak about them loudly enough that they can hear. if you dont like that, then find a new profession.

PaperbackRider, what are you even talking about? Social distancing is the first precaution, masks (of the type generally worn) do little

Yawn. Are you still peddling that? Over a year and still with the bollocks.

It's not the same bracket, you example would be a rare enough event, OP's is something they will have to put up with multiple times a day. You can't go into the shop without a mask, so you can't go into buy one if you don't have a mask.

So if the problem here was that several people a day do it and it's getting annoying then they need to solve that problem.

I've seen stands of masks to buy right inside the shop door, packs of disposable masks outside or just inside the door.

Staff walking around with disposable masks in their apron pockets.

Simply being rude then walking away bitching about a customer isn't the way to go about it.

I can accept that possibly this staff member has reached the end of her tether with it today but then she needs to ask her boss to find a solution.

Many of the conditions which allow exemptions aren't constant, they have good days and bad days. The criteria for being mask exempt isn't "will keel over and die if a mask touches them", and many people who are exempt try their best to wear one whenever they think they might possibly be able to tolerate it. That should be considered a good thing, but instead they're called piss takers.

YANBU. I work in retail and yes some of the general public have been awful but that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to be narky and shitty with customers. It’s just a race to the bottom if that happens.

I’m sick of everybody treating each other like shit. I had a lovely lady through my checkout in floods of tears because she’d been shouted at by a man for having her mask down. She was shopping with her young DS. He had special needs and kept pulling her mask down off her face as he wanted to see her. She was in bits.

I think we need to recognise that the vast majority of us are doing the bloody best we can.

So if the problem here was that several people a day do it and it's getting annoying then they need to solve that problem

Yes, they need to wander around giving masks to idiots, and coming up close to the maskless over and over again. That's the answer. Not that the idiots should bring their own masks.

This thread is full of privileged whiners who have no clue about what its been like on the front line. Probably all working from home and doing fine while others were out there risking their lives. And whining about them "being rude" when you're the one who isn;t wearing a mask!

@Blankspace101

You should have had a go at her for not having masks available for customers.

This is terrifying that you even think this is a "thing".

Shops aren't a taxpayer facility! They're a private enterprise. No one has a divine right to shop wherever you want. The store invites you as a customer.

If they want to refuse you entry, they can. You just then have to go home and get your masks.

The reason why they don't or rarely ever refuse customers is because entitled people tend to then shout loudly about discrimination or whatever, so they don't want the PR back lash.

If they want to refuse you entry, they can. You just then have to go home and get your masks

I would of happily done this without an earful, but there’s no harm in asking (or so I thought)

YANBU OP. B&Q is like a warehouse, and likely not busy at opening. Risk of transmission minuscule. You were very polite in apologising and offering to buy one. She was rude.