Mask mandates have returned, at least in some places...
Just yesterday (10-14-2024), I went to a used bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa, and I was checked at the entrance by a masked employee who presented me with a face-diaper wrapped in plastic. I responded with the usual, "No thanks, I'm good," but that wasn't good enough for her. She insisted that they require everyone to wear a mask, and when I told her, "The pandemic is over. It's 2024," another male employee rushed to her aid and accosted me.
I tried to reason with him, explaining the studies which show the inability of face-diapers to block respiratory viruses, but he insisted that their masks were special (insert alphabet soup name) masks, and they actually do work. (Clearly that was bunk, because they were typical masks, folded flat and wrapped in plastic.)
I felt like I had been transported back in time to 2021, and I told the employees, "I feel like I'm in a dream." But they did not empathize and seemed to rather relish the dystopian surrealism. The male employee then repeated that they have a mask requirement and added that they're "proud of it." And around this time a face-diapered employee joined in to gang up on me by adding the old familiar line, "It's a private business, they can do what they want." Love it or leave it, in other words, and so I left, knowing full well the futility of trying to reason further with these demented cult members.
I only wish I had been able to further express myself and make better points. For example, I failed to point out the total redundancy of requiring other people to wear masks when they themselves are face-diapered. I also failed to point out the total irony of a used bookstore being overly concerned with germs. Their wares are doubtlessly brimming with germs from mildew, residual urine, and gods know what else. The romance section alone would probably terrify them if illuminated under a blacklight.
Oh well. As the saying goes, hindsight is 2020. Or, in this case, 2024.
I visited their website (https://www.thehauntedbookshop.com/) after the incident, and they have a whole front page section dedicated to their beloved mask requirement. And then I learned that mask mandates have returned to healthcare facilities in certain counties in California.
We'll see if the madness spreads beyond these blue citadels, but no matter what, I would be prepared to once again confront these petty tyrants. This is definitely déjà vu.
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branchandroot
Mask Mandates Have Returned
Date: 2024-10-15 05:40 pm (UTC)Just yesterday (10-14-2024), I went to a used bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa, and I was checked at the entrance by a masked employee who presented me with a face-diaper wrapped in plastic. I responded with the usual, "No thanks, I'm good," but that wasn't good enough for her. She insisted that they require everyone to wear a mask, and when I told her, "The pandemic is over. It's 2024," another male employee rushed to her aid and accosted me.
I tried to reason with him, explaining the studies which show the inability of face-diapers to block respiratory viruses, but he insisted that their masks were special (insert alphabet soup name) masks, and they actually do work. (Clearly that was bunk, because they were typical masks, folded flat and wrapped in plastic.)
I felt like I had been transported back in time to 2021, and I told the employees, "I feel like I'm in a dream." But they did not empathize and seemed to rather relish the dystopian surrealism. The male employee then repeated that they have a mask requirement and added that they're "proud of it." And around this time a face-diapered employee joined in to gang up on me by adding the old familiar line, "It's a private business, they can do what they want." Love it or leave it, in other words, and so I left, knowing full well the futility of trying to reason further with these demented cult members.
I only wish I had been able to further express myself and make better points. For example, I failed to point out the total redundancy of requiring other people to wear masks when they themselves are face-diapered. I also failed to point out the total irony of a used bookstore being overly concerned with germs. Their wares are doubtlessly brimming with germs from mildew, residual urine, and gods know what else. The romance section alone would probably terrify them if illuminated under a blacklight.
Oh well. As the saying goes, hindsight is 2020. Or, in this case, 2024.
I visited their website (https://www.thehauntedbookshop.com/) after the incident, and they have a whole front page section dedicated to their beloved mask requirement. And then I learned that mask mandates have returned to healthcare facilities in certain counties in California.
We'll see if the madness spreads beyond these blue citadels, but no matter what, I would be prepared to once again confront these petty tyrants. This is definitely déjà vu.
--Sam