Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
City shop worker issues mask plea
A SUPERMARKET worker is pleading with shoppers to wear a mask while in city stores.
The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, said her plea comes after one shopper blatantly ignored mask guidelines, while wearing a T-shirt claiming there was “no pandemic”.
It comes as Morrisons and Sainsbury’s warned they would now ban shoppers from entering its stores if they don’t wear a mask, unless they have a medical exemption.
The worker, who has worked on the checkout in one of Dundee’s major supermarkets for 23 years, said this latest incident was the last straw, after months of putting up with verbal abuse from customers.
She added that, despite rising Covid-19 positive cases, the number of shoppers who refuse to wear a mask is increasing.
And she said that the worse culprits are people in their 20s and 30s, who think they are “invincible”.
Now she is pleading for customers to wear masks and to have a little bit of respect for herself and her colleagues, who are among the key workers who have worked continuously to keep essential shops open during the pandemic.
She said: “This last year has been tough to say the least. I have worked right through the pandemic with a lot of my colleagues having to self-isolate, putting more strain on us ‘healthy’ colleagues.
“Having customers verbally abuse you as you ask them to keep their distance became a daily occurrence and the number of customers entering the store without wearing a mask is on the rise. Of course, you have the genuine people who can’t wear one but nine times out of 10, most of them, and from seeing it day to day, young adults and people in their 20s and 30s are the worst culprits for not wearing a mask.
“They just don’t seem to care and think they are invincible. The last straw came this week however, when I witnessed a 40-something-year-old man with no mask, walking about the store with a T-shirt on, no coat, bearing in mind it is January.
“His T-shirt read, in capital letters, ‘THERE IS NO PANDEMIC’.
“How he was able to come in the store in the first place beggars belief.
“If he had walked past another customer who had lost a loved one to this dreadful disease and they confronted him, I’m sure the outcome wouldn’t have been the best.”