Store clerk calmly handles maskless customer
WOMAN REFUSED TO WEAR ONE AT CITY GROCERY STORE
A video of a local grocery store clerk’s cool-headed confrontation with a customer who refused to wear a mask has gone viral on social media.
Eighteen-year-old Brynn McNeely was working Wednesday evening at her job at London Road Market when she was approached by a female customer who was not wearing a mask.
The woman presented three items for purchase at the till. In keeping with Alberta Health regulations, McNeely informed the customer that masks were required for all customers in the store, and offered the woman a mask if she didn’t have one of her own.
The woman refused to accept the offered mask, saying she had a medical condition which allowed her not to wear one. McNeely said it was store policy that all people inside wear a face covering, and if she refused to wear one she would have to leave.
At this point, the woman became belligerent, McNeely says, and still refused to wear the mask.
To prevent further escalation, McNeely, who recorded the incident and later posted it to social media, then offered the woman a plastic face shield, which the store also provides. The woman also refused that option, and was then asked again to leave. The woman refused to comply despite repeated demands by McNeely that she leave the property at once.
“She definitely blew it out of proportion, I believe, because she could have simply put on a mask or left the store,” states McNeely.
“It could have been that simple. She had three items she wanted to buy, and she put up a stink for no reason. But I did keep my cool, and didn’t let her win.”
McNeely then called in her boss, David Gurr, who is general manager of London Road Market.
Gurr says this incident is just the latest incident as a few other people opposed to masking have also been asked to leave the store over the past few months.
“What a lot of people are doing right now, these antimaskers, they are just walking around saying, ’I got kicked out of here. I was told to wear a mask there — so let’s see if this place will let me in without a mask,” he explains.
“The fact of the matter is we have signs clearly posted on the doors that clearly state a mask must be worn. Alberta Health Services has mandated masks with very limited reasons on why you cannot wear a mask. One of them not being medical exemptions, as the City of Lethbridge bylaw states, and as we have said to some councillors already — every time we have an issue with someone without a mask, they always bring up the BS verbiage that the city bylaw has. Which Alberta Health Services supersedes both in terms of actual authority, and, secondly, Alberta Health goes farther than the City of Lethbridge does.”
Gurr, figuring the situation with his employee had gone on long enough, warned the woman she was trespassing and she must leave.
When she refused to do so again, Gurr called the police.
“If people come in without a mask, we offer free masks,” he explains.
“If the person says they have medical issues, we provide face shields for them. If at which point they say, ’I am not wearing that,’ which is usually where it goes, we say unfortunately we can’t have you in the store for the potential of spreading COVID-19. At which point, if they put up a stink, which some have, they will be issued a verbal trespass notice — at which point they have no business to be on the property. If they persist, we phone the police and we do follow through 100 per cent with a trespassing fine of $600.”
Gurr says eventually the police came and ended up giving the woman a $600 fine as they sent her on her way.
He says McNeely adhered to both store policy and followed provincial public health regulations in refusing to serve the woman, and he is proud of how she stayed calm even as the woman persisted in trying to escalate the situation.
“I have to protect my customers, my staff, and my business,” Gurr states. “And when we have people blatantly going against health orders, who might have COVID and be spreading COVID to my staff, I am not very happy.
“If you can’t wear a mask, phone your order in," he advises. "We have taken phone orders since 1929. And we now have online options that you could also place your order on. We get orders completed for at store pick up in a half hour, and deliveries every hour. We have so many options out there, and the fact is most businesses in the City of Lethbridge now offer delivery, curbside pick-up, or in store pick-up. There has never been a time in history where it is more convenient to get your goods.”
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter.