Can't sell you anything without a mask....

I went to buy some adult stuff the other day. I know there is a mask mandate everywhere nowadays, but I give two flying craps about the whole thing.
In I went unmasked as I'm used to it already, rarely people bother to ask me to comply anymore.
Not this Lady behind the counter...
ME: well I have no mask, and would just like to buy some tobacco, don't be difficult...
HER: sorry sir! I can't sell you anything without a mask.
ME: I thought this is a public service, and you are bound to sell to any paying customer, i doubt you have the authority to set a dress code.

This went back and forth, while the queue got longer and longer, some chuckles, some sounds of discontent and mainly time related stress.
One customer intersected and said she might just sell me the stupid tobacco as he was in a hurry, but she was set on no selling without mask.
So as a solution loving citizen I asked if she could give me a mask as I have none.
well.... I couldn't believe my ears when she said sure it's 2 dollars.... I thought you can't sell me anything without a mask... Now there was some serious laughter coming from the queue, the lady was getting embarrassed and angry at me for exposing the farce and inconsistencies. So she said if I don't leave, she'll call the police, as I'm impeding business.

It starts getting funny

a reply to: Terpene

It’s all about control.

a reply to: Terpene

On the flip side, I went to a bakery to get a salad roll, as I walked upto the founter this staff member was adjusting her face mask the area in front of her mouth, with food handling gloves in.

She sai can I help, i thought I would test her out, and asked for a bread roll, and k hoped she would change her gloves before grabbing the roll, well she picked up the roll.

I raised my voice and told her she has violated all food safety standards, and she is putting all customers at risk of possibly a variety of transmissible diseases.

She dropped the roll and said i change my gloves, j said too bad, I’m never coming back. I had been going there for years.

I used to run a kitchen, and have a supervisor food safety certificate.

Let me be the first one to say while it might have made you feel awesome to stand up for your rights in that moment, it was at the expense of someone else.
I'm all for civil disobedience to a point. Yes, I wear a mask in a store.Let me explain why....
My son is a store manager.
Just the other day someone entered his store without a mask,and got very confrontational about it. He was shouting in the store how everyone were sheep and various other comments we make here on a daily basis. Then it got real ugly. He started filming the staff,the other customers, playing the victim role while he himself started the entire thing. After he was escorted out by security, he posted his account of the incident online from his perspective he was targeted for being an antivaxxer.
I'm not sorry for saying that if you do this,and you take out your freedom of health or expression on an employee who is just trying to do their job,you suck. The rules come from head office which comes from public health and if they are broken no matter whether they make sense or not business are shut down and fined. Then people get annoyed because they can't buy what they want or need and employees are out of a job. Was that your goal? Get someone fired just for kicks? Employees are just as frustrated as customers. Show some damn compassion and I will believe there is some humanity left worth saving.

originally posted by: AccessDenied
Let me be the first one to say while it might have made you feel awesome to stand up for your rights in that moment, it was at the expense of someone else.
I'm all for civil disobedience to a point. Yes, I wear a mask in a store.Let me explain why....
My son is a store manager.
Just the other day someone entered his store without a mask,and got very confrontational about it. He was shouting in the store how everyone were sheep and various other comments we make here on a daily basis. Then it got real ugly. He started filming the staff,the other customers, playing the victim role while he himself started the entire thing. After he was escorted out by security, he posted his account of the incident online from his perspective he was targeted for being an antivaxxer.
I'm not sorry for saying that if you do this,and you take out your freedom of health or expression on an employee who is just trying to do their job,you suck. The rules come from head office which comes from public health and if they are broken no matter whether they make sense or not business are shut down and fined. Then people get annoyed because they can't buy what they want or need and employees are out of a job. Was that your goal? Get someone fired just for kicks? Employees are just as frustrated as customers. Show some damn compassion and I will believe there is some humanity left worth saving.

Good, hope it happens more. Gotta stand up to these nazis.

a reply to: Terpene
Thank you for the best laugh out loud I have experienced for a while.

a reply to: Terpene

Ha, that's awesome. Just wondering... If you just pulled up your shirt a bit over your nose and mouth, does that count? Man I drank at a bar all night with mittens as shoes, so who knows? People in my town insist you not to wear a mask. In an odd twist, it's the people that want you to wear a mask that are holed up at home while the rest of the world keeps on spinning.

a reply to: AccessDenied

That is hardly something new to me and doesn't give me much of a high anymore, but I don't comply easily, I stayed civil the whole time. if I hadn't had an appointment, I would have gone the extra mile, and got her fired.

The compassion you talk about is not compassion, it's compliancy, I know my rights, and If she would have known hers, she would know that refusing a company policy that infringes your civil liberties, should not get her fired or she gets a very good settlement...
She choose to behave that way

she was going to sell me a mask when she said she can't sell me anything without a mask... maybe I prevented her getting fired?
I had the impression that she enjoyed her position of authority, and as a compassionate being I made her feel great giving her a platform to act upon that authority until I showed her the flip side... Maybe she didn't know that the way to hell are paved with good intentions....


But you are right, that rant sounds like a major KEVIN moment. Funny how people cheer you on when you KEVIN for their cause.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

Wait, what, you are a humorous person?
I mean....
I feel humbled to make YOU laugh...

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: Itisnowagain

Wait, what, you are a humorous person?
I mean....
I feel humbled to make YOU laugh...

Really?

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: AccessDenied

That is hardly something new to me and doesn't give me much of a high anymore, but I don't comply easily, I stayed civil the whole time. if I hadn't had an appointment, I would have gone the extra mile, and got her fired.

The compassion you talk about is not compassion, it's compliancy, I know my rights, and If she would have known hers, she would know that refusing a company policy that infringes your civil liberties, should not get her fired or she gets a very good settlement...
She choose to behave that way

she was going to sell me a mask when she said she can't sell me anything without a mask... maybe I prevented her getting fired?
I had the impression that she enjoyed her position of authority, and as a compassionate being I made her feel great giving her a platform to act upon that authority until I showed her the flip side... Maybe she didn't know that the way to hell are paved with good intentions....


But you are right, that rant sounds like a major KEVIN moment. Funny how people cheer you on when you KEVIN for their cause.

Obviously I wasn't there to gauge your situation. Not everyone has the capacity to even understand their rights or how to go about exercising them. But to be sure, in my opinion, going off on retail staff is just shooting the messenger. I'd rather reserve my energy for those who are making the ridiculous policies in the first place rather than those forced to enforce them just to pay their bills.

Walked into Home Depot yesterday.

No mask.

No one said a word to me. I'm done complying with fascism.

a reply to: Terpene


On the flip-side, I got one from my bank (one of them) that will make you smirk -- we've got a savings account through a different local bank than our checking account (better APY) I was fairly surprised to receive an email from them, stating they're done with masks in their branches regardless of what anyone else says. In other words, this copy-paste bit (less the typical CU member stuff at the start) :

Now that the State’s executive orders have been lifted, it’s important that our employees and security cameras have a complete and unobstructed view of each individual conducting financial business with us. This includes all areas of the branch, including lobby ATMs.

Please Help Us Out
When visiting our traditional branches, we ask that you please refrain from wearing any type of facial covering. This is for the protection and security of both our members and employees.

Beginning Tuesday, September 7, members will no longer be permitted access to our traditional branch lobbies if their face is covered.

When the "money houses", as my kids used to call banks when they were much younger, start putting their foot down in the opposite direction, #'s not going the control freaks' way anymore.

I suspect this won't last beyond the winter holiday season before they outright give up. Can't get control when the banks say # Off to the government needling.

a reply to: AccessDenied

It is not my fault companies use retail staff as first line of defence, it doesn't justify the staffs behaviour either.

Really the whole totalitarian wet dream is only possible because of what you point out. it is the way to enforce compliancy. I know everyone needs a job to pay their bills, but no one forced you to make that particular job.

The psychology hasn't changed much since nazi Germany. It's doing the right thing against the perceived enemy. Which magically makes your actions no matter how inhuman and antisocial, the right thing to do.
Using your citizen against each other to implement your control grid...

10 years ago I said things are starting to look eerily similar, the rethorics combined with the financial situation, on a global scale. Now I think we have moved into the endgame...

Went to Home Depot to buy an appliance.

As we sat there, I notice the extremely overweight associate is wearing a mask. He commented that it was the first day the Home Depot was requiring masks again.

He asked which model were wanted to buy, I had taken a picture of the model with my phone, so I handed it to him.
As he was creating the order, I noticed that sweetie reached into her purse and pulled out her plastic bag of masks and removed one. I was kind of shocked since we normally don't mask unless asked to do so.

The associate finished preparing the order and handed the phone back.
I noticed that sweetie squirted some hand sanitizer on the mask and
then wiped down the phone and
threw the mask away.

So, I guess we do mask.

a reply to: Terpene

If the lady behind the counter is asking you to wear a mask because it's part of store policy then it's not her fault.

Just sounds like you wasted everyone's time because you don't like / agree with masks.

Maybe go to another store if you don't like that store's policy. Arguing with a minimum wage clerk who is bound to follow policy changes nothing.

a reply to: projectvxn

You know we lived a real cushy life when masks are "fascism".

Over the past week I have been to different stores in the NJ and PA area and not a single store had that sort of requirement.

Since ATS is filled with people that give their perception of events and not reality, not saying that is the OP, would you DM me the name of the store so I can call and get what their official mask policy is?

originally posted by: CptGreenTea
a reply to: projectvxn

You know we lived a real cushy life when masks are "fascism".

No kidding...
This whole pandemic has really opened my eyes to how dumb and selfish people can be.
I guess some people would rather argue with a lady who's just trying to do their job, and hold up other peoples day, instead of doing this tiny little thing for a couple minutes.
Sheesh

originally posted by: CptGreenTea
a reply to: Terpene
Arguing with a minimum wage clerk who is bound to follow policy changes nothing.

And yet, sometimes that arguing paves the way for positive changes within the business that benefit the customers AND the bottom line more than previously thought. My own example of being the lowly employee catching flack for # out of my control was working at a hotel. We had a STRICT 'No Pets' policy. A veritable "End of discussion, don't argue about it, get out if you don't like it, there's more money where yours came from, etc" kind of stance.

After yet another pissed and befuddled inquiry walk-in left, I got to thinking about how dumb that rule was, and how frequently pets were taken along for travel, across the income classes. It was a dumb rule that had no clear origin explanation on the books, so I dug my heels in, and got it changed. Our revenue went up, and stayed that way. Switching to Pet-Friendly brought ALL the boys to our yard.

Had people not complained, many tired & angrily, that rule would probably still stand today.


SOMETIMES, the employee actually does feel for ya, and listens enough to do something about a nonsensical rule. The catch is not being an aggressive, yelling, threatening jackass about it.