He’s Baaaack

I’d been wondering if the "pandemic/stay at home/cancel everything" was going to put an end to what has become a tradition for me ─ finding the elf hidden in the market, posting photos of my finds.

So much simple fun.

Fortunately, not. The little guy is back.

Looks like I won’t need anything from the market for a few days, so I’ll have to come up with something so I can search ─ a magazine maybe. LOL.

And speaking of the market, there was an incident a week ago, when a guy in a wheelchair, not wearing a mask, rolled up to the cashier, as I was checking out, and began a conversation with her.

She called him by name and the two were quite friendly, as I stared at him aghast, on the verge of asking “Where’s your mask bro?”.

The young man bagging my groceries offered the guy a mask.

“I have one”, said wheelchair man.

If he had one, I didn’t see it and, as he continued his conversation with the cashier without masking himself, I kept staring, in my head saying, “You said you have one, put it on”.

For some reason, I couldn’t get the words out of my head and through my mouth, but the cashier he was being so friendly with saw me staring daggers, gave him a mask and told him, “You’d better put this on. People are giving you bad looks”.

I don’t recall if he put it on, as I was heading away by then AND, inasmuch as he’d been talking his germs all over me, I sprayed my entire fully dressed body, top to bottom, front and back, with Lysol the minute I stepped in the door of my unit.

I keep a cleaning station just inside the door, to wipe my hands, mask, glasses before stepping fully inside the unit, head to the sink, wash my hands.

Wouldn’t you know, I stopped into the market yesterday, and who did I spot in line but wheelchair man, not wearing a mask, but with what looked to be one provided to him by the store hanging around his neck.

He’s making non-compliance a habit and, being in a wheelchair, on such friendly terms with store employees, is getting away with it.

I was so incensed that I located a manger, pointed out the anti-masker, said it’s not the first time.

Manager said, “Thank you, ma’am” but did nothing.

Waking up at 2:30 a.m. this morning, still thinking about wheelchair man and how the manager should have wheeled his maskless arse on out of the market, I fired off a complaint to the Public Relations Department of the market’s corporate office.

“On December 2, shortly after noon, I approached a young manager to complain about a maskless man being allowed to shop in the market. I informed that manager this was not the first time I’d seen this individual, in a wheelchair, being allowed to put others at risk. Manager was polite, responded “Thank you” and did nothing to alleviate the situation. I’d like to know why this maskless individual, who appears friendly and known to all the cashiers, was not ordered to wear a mask or leave. His being in a wheelchair should afford him no special privileges during this serious pandemic and doesn’t make him any less a viral threat to the rest of us.”

If that doesn’t elicit a response and/or I see him being allowed to visit the cashiers, shop again without being appropriately masked, I’ll go to war ─ complain, take names, photos, send emails, post tweets.

Oh ..... wait .... along about 9:30, I checked email and find I’ve received a response already.

“Thank you for taking a moment to bring this matter to our attention. We sincerely apologize for the unpleasant experience you encountered during your visit to our Shandin Hills store. We value the safety of our employees as well as the communities we serve and we continue to educate our staff on the importance of wearing their face covering properly. We do our best to notify and enforce shoppers to wear a face covering when entering our stores and we are offering a complimentary face mask to those who are not in compliance. Our management team and staff have been educated on how to assess these matters and kindly approach shoppers privately.

However, the California Department of Public Health has indicated that there are some individuals who are exempt from this mandate. Those individuals include; Persons age two years or under. These very young children must not wear a face covering because of the risk of suffocation. Persons with a medical condition, mental health condition, or disability that prevents wearing a face covering. This includes persons with a medical condition for whom wearing a face covering could obstruct breathing or who are, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove a face covering without assistance. Persons who are hearing impaired, or communicating with a person who is hearing impaired, where the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication.”

Thinking to myself, how do they know he has a medical condition that prevents wearing a face covering, I pushed on with the issue:

“Thank you for your prompt response, but let me point out his being in a wheel chair, able to talk incessantly, joke with the cashiers, indicates no problem with breathing. In fact, the first time he wheeled himself over to converse with my cashier, I was in the line of fire. Meaning, he was talking his germs all over me to where, when I got home, I sprayed myself top to bottom, front and back, with Lysol.

I would appreciate store management checking, next time he's in there refusing to wear the mask they provide, if there is a valid medical reason for his doing so or just being stubborn. If he really can't wear a mask for medical reasons, he should be encouraged to shut up, stop talking, stop putting others in jeopardy.

Also, I believe I've seen some stores offering, for those who cannot wear masks, to just give the employee their grocery list, remain outside, away from other customers, and the employee does the shopping for them.

Thanks again.”

Having now done all, I’ll just ─ as written in Ephesians, stand .... but nowhere near wheelchair man. LOL.