I drove to Best Buy to purchase headphones the other day. The store remained set up for “drive-by” shopping. So the salespeople, mostly Gen-Z types wore masks as they sat curbside at a table.
I lowered my car window and asked about going in. The young salesman told me they only allowed minimal people in the store at a time and were booked until Wed. This was a Monday. I could clearly see that the store was nowhere near capacity.
The salesman relayed that I could shop online. No sh*t, Sherlock!
I replied, “I like looking at the merchandise and testing it, particularly headphones”. Then I added, “If I want to shop online, I will just buy it from Amazon”.
He responded, “That’s probably your best bet.”
What a dumb ass! Send the client to another store. No customer service savvy whatsoever. Besides the $50 headphones, who knows what else I might have bought. But now Best Buy has a perturbed former customer. I plan to set up an appointment and take pictures of everything I plan to buy elsewhere.
But that wasn’t my only run-in with the masked crowd.
In another incident the next day, I canceled an appointment because they insisted I wear a mask.
The receptionist wore a mask and sat behind 2” of Plexiglas. Like she was bringing in lepers. The amount of interaction I would have with her was minimal at best.
I had taken my son it to get his eye looked at. It was slightly swollen. Honestly, his mom asked me to take him, but I never would have. You could barely see the swelling. It was something his body would fight off within a day.
I’m no doctor, but if I were the receptionist, I would have thought, “Ca-CHING! Here’s this guy bringing in a kid for nothing. A quick $75 co-pay, and $400 billed for recommending over the counter eye-drops he can get at Walgreens.”
While I was upset to be taking my son in for nothing–no “eye crap” that might mean an infection—I would have erred on the side of caution. That’s what dragged me to the medical facility that had no other patient in the building. Yet there I was, waiting. Waiting to overpay for an eye that had barely visible swelling, akin to rubbing one’s eye too hard. But no “crusty” residue that might indicate infection.
Easy money for this facility, particularly given our bloated and practically criminal healthcare system. Easy money that this receptionist is too stupid to take.
Three times she asked me to put my mask on. She could barely hear me speak through the thing. And vice-versa. I struggle breathing through these dumb masks, as I don’t like breathing my own CO2.
I said to her that the mask was silly, and that I would wait outside. But since my youngest is a minor, I had to stay with him to get this ripoff complete. Each time I talked to her, I pulled my mask below my nose.
After the third time, she asked me to please keep my mask completely on my face. I said nothing to her. But I told my son, “We’re leaving”.
She was about 95 percent complete in processing us in, but I had enough. Why pay $75, and contribute to the corpulent healthcare fiasco, when I can play WebMD and just go get some eye-drops.
That’s my plan for all businesses.
If you require me to wear a mask, I will do one of two things: (1) explain my medical condition that precludes me from wearing a mask, or (2) patronize a non-mask required establishment.
I foresee mask wars. Detroit News agrees:
“No mask, No service” signs are popping up at all kinds of businesses as the country begins to slowly reopen after the coronavirus pandemic shutdown that began in March.
Some retail chains, like Costco Wholesale, have already started to require masks for all customers and employees.
The move follows a flood of videos on social media showing shoppers who refuse to wear face masks being confronted by store employees (and other shoppers, in some cases) who explain that customers are required to wear masks.
But can store owners legally enforce that policy? The short answer is yes, as long as they don’t discriminate against anyone on the basis of “protected classes” such as gender, race, age, disability, national origin and religion.
“All businesses have the right to refuse service so long as it is not violating one of those protected classes,” Robert Mascari, chief assistant district attorney in Madison County, New York, told Syracuse.com. “You can’t refuse to serve me because I’m half Italian and half Irish. You can refuse to serve me if I’m being an idiot.”
Right to refuse service, because you choose to breathe freely?
For a disease with an infection rate now essentially confirmed to be lower than the flu for most of the population and we must wear masks?
Here’s the irony. You don’t have to wear a mask when you eat or drink. So the disease makes an exception on how it transfers when you eat and drink?
The article continues,
Constitutional law and First Amendment rights lawyers say face masks requirements are similar to “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policies or when businesses have a cash-only policy or make sales final.
If you don’t agree with a requirement or a rule that a private business has, they say the only right you have is to make the decision not to shop there.
Right. But if you don’t want to make a “gay” cake, you can get sued and lose your livelihood?
Worse, to equate shirts and shoes to masks is patently ridiculous. It’s about decorum, and a mask has nothing to do with decorum. For example, what if my mask reads, “F*ck YOU!”?
My out is simple. I’ve said it on my radio show. I have a medical condition that prevents me from wearing my mask. By not allowing me into a store, I will file discrimination charges against the owners.
But what do you do when the state requires you to wear masks? That’s happening in Virginia.
As NBC News reported,
Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that Virginians will be required to wear face masks inside public places as of Friday.
The new rule applies to any public place “where people can congregate in groups.”
People will not be required to wear a mask if they are eating or exercising. If a person has a health condition that prevents them from wearing a mask, they will not be required to do so. Children under the age of 10 are also not required to cover their faces.
Northam’s mandate comes after he was photographed not wearing a mask while visiting Virginia Beach over the weekend. The governor said he was there to speak to the mayor, thank first responders, and answer media questions at his coronavirus press conference.
Do I really need to emphasize the hypocrisy? How many Leftists have you seen preaching about the safety of others, then NOT wear a mask?
The article continues,
He (Northam) said he was caught off guard when people asked to take photos with him.
“In the future, when I’m out in the public, I will be better prepared,” Northam said. “We’re all forming new habits and routines, and we’re all adjusting to this new normal.”
In the future, we need to stop the nonsense and dump the masks.
