Stop taking the fucking piss out of my mask.

[Snagscardies]

It seems to be middle aged overweight men that have the most problem, or the rudeness to say something /point and laugh. Is that because they know they are more at risk so seeing me masked up makes them uncomfortable?
I wear it in any enclosed space including cars as I have to drive other peoples cars for work. I know the studies are limited but there does seem consensus that it will at least stop me spreading it if I'm asymptomatic.
Just going to a car and a man said 'why a you fucking wearing that' and laughed at me. Why?

Masks are not meant to protect you - they are meant to reduce the risk of infecting others.

Don't worry what people say, if they aren't wearing a mask, its their problem. Sticks and stones etc...
I do love the "masks don't work" comments on here, brilliant!

@Soubriquet

I’m not wearing a mask and have noticed people who do seem to think they’re invincible and don’t need to social distance.

Yeah I’ve noticed that too.

There’s me doing my picking, and those without masks tend to stand back and wait, those with masks, just barge up and reach over.

Yes, this happened to my kids' school principal in the local supermarket here (NSW) - she'd put her shopping through and was packing it in the bags at the end of the till area, then had to step back to the till to pay, except her way was now blocked by an elderly couple, wearing masks, who had moved right up despite the instructions to give 1.5m clearance (that's what it is here) and to wait. Being a school principal, she gave them her best teacher voice and asked them to step back , they were putting themselves at risk as well as her, and she was a school teacher. They pretty much laughed at her and said "we don't care, we've got our masks on". SHe was outraged and said "maybe, but I don't, and I've been in school all day with children.

AS said, masks don't protect the wearer from the virus, they're to protect other people from you if you're carrying anything. That message hasn't filtered through anything LIKE enough, anywhere! But probably because it relies on people being less selfish and more socially conscious - which we've all seen ample proof that there are far too many who are not.

Are you sure it's the mask they are laughing at?

How is a virus going to get into your lungs in a car with just you in it unless the previous driver just got out after coughing or sneezing? I'd be more worried about the steering wheel.

Oh and I do love the "masks do work" comments on here, brilliant!

@Hollowtalk "Why do people think doctors and nurses wear masks if it's pointless?" - because they are dealing people who are actually infected for definite and to prevent them spreading it to vulnerable patients if they are unknwingly infected themselves. Plus they are in way closer contact.

How is a virus going to get into your lungs in a car with just you in it unless the previous driver just got out after coughing or sneezing?

The point of the mask is not to stop the virus getting in, it is to stop it getting out of you.

But that doesn't make any sense, @DaveTheDesigner. Of course they don't always know that patients are infected when they enter hospital.

When the public wears masks it's the same - they don't know who's infected, and they worry that if they have it themselves they might pass it on to someone vulnerable.

And I went to Morrisons today and many people were in very close contact with me (not my choice.)

@hollowtalk There's a much higher risk in a hospital by definition and they'd be taking the masks on and off all day otherwise. I've been every week to a Sainsbury's superstore and you do have to pass close by people from time to time but unless someone's coughing and sneezing I'd say the risk is pretty low. More risk from touching the trolly or the products that someone may have picked up and put down in my view.

Please don’t laugh at people driving wearing masks. My DH is temporarily helping our local pharmacy delivering medication to people’s homes. He often has to get the key from the key safe and go in to deliver to elderly/disabled who can’t get to the door and wait while they check it (and chat!).
If he took it off when driving between drops he’d need an awful lot of masks.
Although so far nobody’s made any nasty comments to him, maybe because he’s not a woman........or maybe because he’s Jamaican and 6’4”...

It's about to get a whole lot more normalised OP. Anyone who feels obliged to offer their unwanted opinion is generally an arse. I'd ignore although there are some great comebacks on here.

@DaveTheDesigner is it really that difficult to understand that I wear a mask to protect other people.
If I sneeze in someone else car I spread it all over an enclosed space, the owner, feeling safe in their own car, touches steering wheel/gear stick and then touches face/eats etc.

"do see the odd person in a car wearing one and do think why?*

Well the op has said they do this because they drive other people's cars so maybe they don't want to breathe all.over the car and spread germs

Maybe the person you saw was driving from one Indoor public place to another and couldn't be bothered to tale it off in between.

Maybe they wee a volunteer who has been driving people around around and they keep it on until they get home

Just some reasons to wear a mask in a car if you just give it one moment of thought

I will lend you mine!!! It's actually quite fab and comfy when on.

@Nearlyalmost50
As everyone has already said, it's kind of ironic, given being a man puts you at twice as much risk as women for getting corona, and dying from it.

If you think about it, why should women wear masks to protect those men when some men aren't prepared to wear them themselves and/or make rude comments to those women that do. I guess we just have to protect the sensible majority. Ugh. Everything that winds me up in one small scenario...

That last paragraph is a really good point actually. Kind of annoys me now that we're protecting those lousy fuckers in addition to the general public.

I had this. Some elderly bloke pointed at my mask and said 'Are you living in fear?'
I was furious and also upset. It was my one trip out in weeks as I had something to collect.
I replied 'You don't know why I am wearing this and who are you to criticise me??'
He shut up after that.

Get one of these

I don’t understand why it’s funny to see people wearing them in the car. If I wore one to the shop, I wouldn’t mess with it until I was home and could put it straight in the wash. So I’d be wearing it out of the shop and in the car, take it off once I was home and could wash my hands.

It's an ugly persons dream come true, finally.

TitsalinaBumSquash I need that mask in my life and not just for corona!

I haven't had any problems, been wearing one for weeks since before lockdown started, and at least two-thirds of the people around in my area wearing them too. And no to answer a PP I don't think I'm invincible, I wear it so that I cut down transmitting to others, even if that's only a slim chance it's worth doing, and if others around me do it too, they are cutting down their transmission of the virus. Something that may slow down this disease and help us all get back to normal seems reasonable.

But it's interesting that men seem to have more of a problem - at least from articles I've read - Trump a prime example. Also in America masks and the 'mask wars' have become such a politically loaded issue with anti-mask rhetoric coming from the more right-wing and pro from the more liberal. And I do wonder how far that is true here. I'm surprised by the number of anti-lockdown posters, who seem on the whole to be more conservative with a small c, who also hate masks. You'd think they would want to do something that might help ease restrictions? Or maybe for them masks are too much of a reminder that we really are in the middle of a pandemic?

I had a man blatantly laugh at me the other day too OP. He eyeballed me on my journey to the back of the queue. The other day I had a woman behind me say to someone else that the world has gone mad - i assume because I was stood in my mask (and was the only one) but I am probably paranoid now! There aren't many people wearing masks where I am. I try to avoid going out.

Nobody here in East Kent is wearing them, even though our local cases are quite high at the moment. 😐