Has anyone called out mask slip ups in shops?

[Dollyparton3]

I use the term "slip ups" politely.

Last week in Matalan, man at the tills with his family had pulled his mask down to his chin. Another woman walking round the store with it pulled under her nose so her moutb was covered but nothing else.

Yesterday a couple in an antique shop both pulled their masks down then took them off whilst walking around the shop. I get very huffy and loud every time I see it but what I really want to do is call it out and ask them to "put the mask on properly or leave the shop". Is it just me? Does anyone have any witty suggestions of how to suggest to people that they follow the guidelines properly for the good of everyone?

Nobody needs to be “reminding” or “correcting” anyone on this. If you are wearing your own mask correctly then that’s all you can do.

In hospital, staff wear masks - but the patients with Covid don’t! Your protection comes from your mask. Nobody else’s protection is any of your business.

No, because I'm not an interfering busybody. No one has the right to "call out mask slip ups" and if you think you do you need to get a fucking grip. You are not the mask police.

@Dollyparton3
I haven’t read the full thread but I’m sure someone will have mentioned it that
A) it’s none of your business
B) you will be contravening the 2010 equality act

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

It is irritating. It’s proven that if we wear masks we protect others.

Those frothing at the mouth on this thread about their god-given right not to wear a mask are just demonstrating they don’t give a shit about others and are all plumped up with their own entitlement.

Piss off

I pull mine down to sneeze 🤧😂

Someone mentioned it to me today but I wasn't wearing one

[quote Reedwarbler]@MarshmallowManiac she's not asking a simple question, she is wondering how she should get people to comply with the law. This is not her job. If she wishes to do this perhaps she should join the police. Does she also go round flagging down speeding cars or detaining shoplifters?
Op, you look after yourself and stop worrying about what others are doing, it really isn't your place to monitor mask use.[/quote]
That had me in hysterics.
Needed the laugh reedwarbler

Why a witty comment? Why not a kindly-given comment?

I assume the aim of the comment is to encourage people to wear their masks correctly?

A witty comment may bring you pleasure, but will most likely be met with anger or defensiveness and is quite unlikely to change anyone’s behaviour.

A kind, friendly comment may well encourage or remind someone to wear their mask properly.

I would imagine those wearing masks incorrectly fall into one of the following categories:

1. Absent minded. We’ve all been there!

1. Have an invisible disability that has made it necessary for them to drop their mask or adapt how they wear it (a mask covering just the mouth is better than no mask at all). For example, I have discovered that masks and the light pressure they apply around my cheekbones are a migraine trigger. Fortunately it has not yet affected my ability to wear a mask so long as I keep the stints short and the mask not too tight. I often wonder how fellow sufferers and people with facial neuralgia are coping.

1. Actively avoiding wearing it and getting some degree of perverse pleasure from flouting the rules. I imagine these are the minority. You are unlikely to change their minds with any comment, witty or otherwise.

As an aside- I thought face coverings are mandatory in shops and on public transport - in England- not just advisory ( except for those who are exempt of course) . Have I got mixed up? Presumably if people are not wearing their masks correctly its because they have slipped down, the mask is too small, they can’t breath well enough so are covering their mouth ( protecting others from sneezes spittle and coughs- but not protecting themselves from others ) or have forgotten to pull it on properly?

@maggiso they are but you don't need to have proof of exemption so anyone can say they are exempt. The general public aren't supposed to challenge people who aren't wearing them.

Really, people should mind their own business. Poor 10 YO DD came back upset from a trip out with her older (mask wearing) sister because she'd been called out by an assistant in a charity shop yesterday for not wearing a mask. When she replied politely, as I've told her, that she's exempt as she's 10, the woman laughed and said 'so you think you're immune from the virus'. Poor soul left the shop and won't go back again.

If anyone wants to see where this madness can end, have a look at today's Times. There's a round-up of Coronavirus news from around the world, including a report from China of one shopper beating another to death for not wearing a mask in a supermarket!!!! I had to re read it to check I hadn't completely misunderstood!

Well nighty night, off to bed
I’ve had a real shit day today.
But this thread had had me and mr Dowser in hysterics
We really needed a bloody good laugh.
Thank you one and all.
Sometimes the entertainment on mnet is second to none, we rarely put the tv on these days
( our house is a covid free zone and no tv keeps it that way)
Bloody brilliant and I’ll like to nominate it for classics.

I had a very nasty woman scream at my 12yr old. He has asd and tries to wear a mask as he hates being seen as different. He was starting to show signs of going into a meltdown when we were out shopping. So we went to a quiet corner of the centre where he pulled his mask off and was getting more and more distressed. She came storming over and really laid into us about how I shouldn't take him out if he can't behave normally.

Your protection comes from your mask

No. No it doesn't.

Masks are for the protection of others not the wearer.

How can people not know that at this stage?

It's also interesting the amount of people in England who consider they are exempt from wearing masks (judging from this thread).

In Ireland, this point is rarely made. As I said earlier, there's almost no-one without a mask.

Surely you'd expect the same number of medically exempt?

People may not always be wearing them correctly but they are wearing them.

Wearing a mask is to protect us all so it's in all interests that people wear them properly.

I think a lot of people don't realise how to wear them properly sadly.

I have politely asked someone - did they they it needs to cover their noise as well as their mouth to work. They thanked me and lifted it up.

If someone was driving on the wrong side of the road I'd hope that someone would point this out to them. Not quite the same but both can cause harm and I don't see the issue with being helpful. I'd want someone to give me a heads up personally.

Yes they may not take the help well but I'd rather politely mention it than ignore it. Most people are reasonable and take things with the intention they are given if spoken to in the right way.

I just can't understand the type of person who would make a comment to a child or anyone actually, what the hell makes them think they are so superior. It just makes them stand out as ridiculous rule loving twats.

During lockdown my DD was working in one of the small local supermarkets in our village. Masks weren't mandatory then and not so widely available. A few people did improvise though, sometimes with comical results.

A man came into their shop wearing a snorkel mask. He resembled the Man from Atlantis in it, for those old enough to remember that (dating myself a bit there). He proceeded the staff had around the shop wearing the snorkel mask and the staff had to keep a straight face until he had left.

Yes man from Atlantis with his yellow shorts who washed up in Dallas and still had a connection to water with the shower debacle😊

In Ireland, this point is rarely made. As I said earlier, there's almost no-one without a mask.

That's because Ireland is less full of individualistic selfish wankers who look to try and find excuses to avoid their obligations to wider society.

This didn't go the way OP was expecting, I don’t think!

I would be avoid being 'huffy'. I think the act of huffing could risk spreading the virus if it is done with any force. So I think you should try and develop some distraction techniques.
Not evidence based, just my opinion.

I'm exempt from wearing a mask. I wear one anyway simply because I'm scared of the reaction I will get if I don't. It sucks.

@redlipped

But therefore you can wear a mask and therefore you should wear one.