COVID has taken a deep emotional toll on everyone. Then you factor in that the kind of people still going out to restaurants and such during the pandemic are also often the most entitled, least thoughtful segment of the population, and you get some real horror stories.

It used to be "here's a story of a shitty tip I got". Now, it's like "I had to call the cops on someone who started throwing chairs when I told him he had to weak a mask."

Healthcare is the same. Just story after story of burned out nurses having patients dying of COVID screaming in their face about it being a hoax.

I feel so sorry for anyone who's job forces them to deal with people so decoupled from reality.

Which part?

But I have to say, I understand why people asked to mask up in some cases flip out. Does it make sense to anybody that society has somehow decided that the way to be safe in restaurants is to put on a mask so a host can walk you 10-15 feet to your table for 10 seconds where you then proceed to take your mask off for over an hour? The mask ritual especially in this case is dehumanizing performative theater that doesn't make a lick of logical sense. Most people wouldn't be so uptight about the Covid rules when they make any sense: but many of them are beyond nonsensical.

Now that said maybe there are valid reasons why it's riskier to have people walking around a restaurant unmasked, like say HVAC might pull air up from the tables, but you walking around past a bunch of tables spreads droplets into their airspace. I don't know, I'm not an expert, but I can think of reasons that seem to make sense.

I think actions such as politely voicing displeasure at the policy to the worker so they understand that many people think the policy is dumb, asking to speak to the manager or owner, and leaving so the restaurant doesn't get your business are the right thing to do in this case.

> I understand why people asked to mask up in some cases flip out

I do not.

> Does it make sense to anybody that society has somehow decided that the way to be safe in restaurants is to put on a mask so a host can walk you 10-15 feet to your table for 10 seconds where you then proceed to take your mask off for over an hour

Maybe. If the tables are spaced far apart and preferably outside. Packed in an enclosed space? No.

However, eating out at a restaurant is not a right. Don't like the rules, go somewhere else. Similarly, businesses can refuse service.

We are not toddlers. Not supposed to be, anyway.

I understand that there's some people who are thriving and happy wearing masks, but that's certainly not everybody. As for many people like me, they are not worth wearing. Masks are psychologically damaging and dehumanizing in many ways. Already imperfect human communication is further harmed with masks. They are unnatural and damaging. And outside of wearing an N95 perfectly in one room for one task, I believe that the way they're used in practice is harmful to health (people are constantly adjusting and touching them, not washing them for ages between uses, etc)

> Maybe. If the tables are spaced far apart and preferably outside. Packed in an enclosed space? No.

If we can acknowledge that a rule doesn't make sense for health and safety in a certain context, then why follow it?

> Don't like the rules, go somewhere else.

There are plenty of people who would gladly do this but cannot when the rule is in place by Government edict.

> Similarly, businesses can refuse service.

I'm all for property owners deciding the rules on their property, but that's not exactly the system that's been built up and that authoritarians advocate for.

> We are not toddlers. Not supposed to be, anyway.

Toddlers don't have the capacity to fully understand their world and make rational risk-management decisions.

Toddlers are the ones who are expected to comply with what they're told.

I'd say that people who are using their own judgement are the opposite of toddlers here.

Which I think is more the fundamental issue of a lot of people who flip out about many things, including this issue.

Pray for the retail workers that frequently cannot wield your expected level of judgement themselves.

Put yourself in another person's shoes and try and realize why being forced to cover yourself, especially going on 2 years now with no end in sight, feels so unnatural and distressing to so many.

Think about how the masks impacts all human communications, not only in terms of facial expressions and body language, but even just communicating in immigrant communities where English is a second or third language and clear communication is already difficult in the best of times when people aren't masked.

This is not a small or trivial deal to many people. Use your empathy and talk to some mask-critics about how its psychologically damaging to them.

You are the one that needs to re-calibrate themselves and have some empathy, rationalizing this situation is reprehensible:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29813465

"I'm not saying that pulling a gun on anybody for this reason is in any way reasonable or proportional. What happened to your sister sounds horrific and her former-employer sounds awful beyond words.

But I have to say, I understand why people asked to mask up in some cases flip out. Does it make sense to anybody that society has somehow decided that the way to be safe in restaurants is to put on a mask so a host can walk you 10-15 feet to your table for 10 seconds where you then proceed to take your mask off for over an hour? The mask ritual especially in this case is dehumanizing performative theater that doesn't make a lick of logical sense. Most people wouldn't be so uptight about the Covid rules when they make any sense: but many of them are beyond nonsensical."

You can dismiss my anecdotes if you want, but this is not a small or trivial matter to me and a lot of other people. Having this concern completely dismissed does nothing except harden my resolve to avoid complying with this dystopian medical theater.

If I was in their position, I would be demanding a hefty premium for having to leave my house to earn money.

The grocery store near me has been bleeding workers the past few years and it's reached the point where there are consistently long checkout lines filled with annoyed shoppers even on non busy days. I could complain about the wait to the workers, but what would that do? I could complain to their shift manager, but so what, they don't do the hiring? Maybe I could find the grocery manager, he would probably want more help, but he doesn't control the budget. Now we're at 4 layers of management, the store director, who could increase hiring, but the regional manager wants to juice the numbers for his bonus so maybe I could reach out to the state director...

What i'm getting at is it seems like corporate bureaucracy at so many places has reached a point where anybody with real power to make changes has been completely isolated from the public. It's just powerless workers being yelled at by a powerless public. I don't really know how we fix that.

One large supermarket, that is part of a chain, for a town might be more efficient, but I bet two smaller, independent, supermarket would lead to a nicer experience.

Hell even just cracking down on vertical integration and having the one, independent, store would be much better.

These problems usually boil down to the idea that corporate power is some how right and proper, but government should be avoided at all costs.

Governments are how the little people tell the faceless corporate bureaucracies that they are doing a shitty job.

Indeed. I'd even generalize further and say isolated from any of the details which would could lead to positive changes that are actually in line with their thinking. Whether that be they are too far removed from the details or for byzantine reasons the details never make it to them.

For a grocery store. That's insane bloat.

> reached a point where anybody with real power to make changes has been completely isolated from the public. It's just powerless workers being yelled at by a powerless public. I don't really know how we fix that.

Just get groceries delivered.