Here’s the thing, you don’t have to wear a mask when going out, but as we said last week, under the Executive Order signed by Governor Whitmer, stores can still tell you to leave if you’re not wearing a mask, and believe it or not, they aren’t stepping on your rights.

Businesses are inherently private property even big stores like Walmart - a cop can’t write you a speeding ticket unless the business asked for that to happen, but they can do an accident report.

It’s kind of the same when you try to go into a store without a mask. They can’t force you to wear one, but they can refuse service and ask you to leave if you’re not.

That’s where a  big part of my open letter/ this article comes from;  quit being a jerk when you’re asked to wear a mask.

I was at Walgreens the other night and the cashier told a guy who walked in, “I’m sorry you have to have a face mask to shop here.”  Instead of saying, “gotcha, do you have masks for sale?”  He decided to call her a lot of dirty names and kept approaching her and getting so close, that I felt the need to step in between him and her.  Fortunately, a manager came up and asked him to leave before she took more abuse, and I took a knuckle sandwich to the face.

At the time I didn’t want to talk about it too much because I thought this was an isolated incident.  That is until I started seeing other people on Facebook and Instagram talking about horror stories of working in retail and dealing with the public.

These people did not ask to be the front line people of COVID-19.  They took a job to pay rent, groceries, whatever- provide for their family. Now in a pandemic, they’ are the main source of normalcy for most of us.  So when you go shopping or to the doctor, don’t get mad at people for trying to enforce either company rules or local laws; or being mad just because you haven’t found a mask.

We are all in this together; unless you’re SO rich you can hide in a bunker and not need anything from the outside world until this is over. Seriously your nasty, self-entitled attitude isn’t helping anyone and when this is over, people like you will go into history books for being jerks during a global pandemic, all because you weren’t catered to and you actually had to follow some structure - which reminder, IS in the business’ right to help keep their people safe and their store making money.

Just because life is crazy and everything is unsure, that doesn’t mean we need to lose our compassion. Just as aggravated or scared as you are of the unknown, so Is everyone else.  Take a deep breath, get a face mask for going into stores and businesses that require them, or don't and go places that don't care,  and let's all get through this with grace, humility and maybe some new understanding of our neighbors.

In case that was too long to read - quit being a  giant jerk when you’re out and about during this time. 

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