What's with Specsavers and masks ?

[LeftFootForward]

Semi lighthearted, but what is it with Specsavers and masks still ?
I was told over the phone earlier in the week that it's not compulsory to wear a mask in their shops anymore. I want some new specs and have been holding off until this was the case as I really want to see what my whole face looks like when trying on glasses.

I went to the shop today and wasn't allowed in unless I wore a mask. Do you have an exemption I was asked, we are NHS so you have to wear a mask. (They aren't NHS they're a private business that offers some NHS services but I digress).

Then box of masks and hand gel shoved my way. I was told I could pull the mask down to try on glasses, which begs the question why bother wearing one then ?

Didn't want to be that person arguing at the door so I left and went to another opticians.

AIBU to think they should have let me in without a mask ?

No thoughts @Innocenta as to why you want to continue wearing masks forever?

Regardless of the plastic screen- I'd class it as high risk to the staff and see it as reasonable- they are literally in peoples faces all day, with stock riches by multiple people. And readjusting frames for people

Only one degree!!!!! One???!! Get off this thread. You are not educated to the appropriate level to discuss masks. 😀

@MiniatureHotdog

Exactly.

@Bretonbear Yes, I just love being CEV. Masks are so pleasantly comfortable! My illness is a laugh a minute!

To be quite clear for everyone, the above is sarcasm.

Their house, their rules.

@Bretonbear

😂😂

I also think it's ludicrous that people are whining about being asked to wear masks for short periods, occasionally (e.g. while in a GP surgery or optician). As someone who has been an inpatient in hospital during the pandemic, I have had to wear one virtually 24/7, only taking it off to eat (and I was eating very little - a few minutes a day). I had to sleep in a mask. So I actually have experience of wearing it for genuinely long periods, and it absolutely IS crap, yes.

Which just makes me think people who refuse to wear them for half an hour are all the more selfish.

The prospect of making other people so sick they might die is truly hilarious, isn't it, @JollyWilloughby - pant wettingly funny!

The Boots I was in last week in London everyone was masked up and they were very insistent on everyone wearing one. All glasses were cleaned in between trying on etc.

@Innocenta why did you have to sleep in a mask in hospital? Everyone I know who's been in hospital didn't have to wear masks once they were admitted (at least most of the time).

@Innocenta

Wow you are getting more irrational by the minute. I was laughing at you with your double first not about “sick people dying”.

Nice try.

But Covid will never go away. The risk is surely no greater than other risks that people take every day?

Why wouldn't you just wear the mask lol

Because it was an unplanned admission and they weren't able to immediately put me in a side room. I was in the AMU initially, around other patients, and although it was a 'green' area, everyone involved felt it would be safer for me to be masked at all times. I have occasionally had admissions during the pandemic when I've been in well ventilated side rooms (with large windows) and been able to take it off for a bit, which ofc is much more comfortable.

Exactly I thought we'd moved on to people taking responsibility for themselves, and if they feel vulnerable wearing FFP2 masks or similar. Some of these CEV people have to take the bus into town, sitting in close proximity to people who are in the main not wearing masks. Then there is the parallel universe of Specsavers where chairs are spaced metres apart in the waiting area and everyone has to wear a mask, often waiting half an hour or more for their appointment (another bugbear of mine and reason I no longer go there).

I used to work in an optician. Staff have to get close to people's faces, take measurements, fit glasses, do contact lens tutorials.

A lot more 1:1 time with a customer than most retail settings (for example they can't just have someone behind a till ringing stuff through).

Optometrists themselves spend most of their time up close and personal with patients and locums cost £££.

A lot of specsavers are joint ventures (similar to franchises) so I would think that a lot of partners wouldn't be able to absorb the costs of staff sickness as well as a larger company could. They will be protecting their staff (and profits) by asking people to wear masks.

@JollyWilloughby The entire reason I am on the thread is because of people like you and your flagrant disregard for the impact your actions have on others.

@catsonahottinroof There is a wide range within the CEV category, and in practice the degree of risk (and the advice from people's own doctors) will differ quite a bit. It's not surprising that individuals are doing different things at this point in the pandemic, but that reflects actual differences in medical situation more than anything else.

Specsavers still take it all very seriously, far more than other opticians. Their doors are still locked and you have to have an appointment and knock on the door to enter. I took DD to Boots for her last eye test and I forgot my mask, they weren’t arsed at all.

Our optician asked me to put a mask on my 2yo and gave me a lecture about vulnerable people when I said I thought he was too young (and was already crying because he was afraid of the place... for some reason.... maybe the unfriendly vibe?!)

I don't get it honestly. People in an optician are no more vulnerable than anyone else. The one who is really being excluded from healthcare is my toddler with a serious vision problem who can't get his glasses fitted properly 😡 and then has to wait weeks for them to be manufactured "cos covid"

@MotherOfCrocodiles

Are you able to get a referral to childrens opthalmology? All mine have worn glasses from age 2 but they were seen at the hospital and only discharged to specsavers at around age 7.

They are used to dealing with really small ones on a daily basis and at that age it’s hard enough for them to sit through eye tests without the added distraction of masks. My son was 5 during covid and still attended the hospital ophthalmology appointments. He was able to wear a mask no problem but they said it was also fine if he couldn’t manage it.

Came for the specsavers stuff, stayed for the sardonic debate

I used to think sardonic was like a 'dry' sense of humour. I used to use it interchangeably with 'sarcastic'. Then I actually looked it up and realised it meant 'snarky' and I don't tend to use it now.

Just thought I'd return:
@Innocenta

"If you really have an overwhelming desire to put other people at increased risk you should probably get a psychiatric evaluation or something, because that's very troubling. Are you having any other thoughts of harming people?"

No. I don't think I need psychiatric evaluation. No I don't have thoughts of harming people.

Covid Mack rules:

3 May 2022 — Masks are no longer required in shops or on public transport - although they are recommended - but they remain compulsory in health and social care settings.

I will, as I always have, complied. I will wear one if I have to. Most places I chose not to.