I’ve received more dispatches from the trenches regarding victories over and strategies for defeating the Masked Morons.
We’ll start with Darien Sumner, a blessed soul who
lives in one of the few states (Alaska) without a mask mandate, so, fortunately, I’ve not had to make any decisions on what to tell the mask commissariat at grocery stores; I can simply deny my business to the Safeways and Krogers of the world and go to good ol’ Three Bears instead, which has no mask requirement, and is absolutely booming as a result. …
I am a business owner, and I do not require (nor do I encourage) mask-wearing in my shop. While we had a few (two, to be exact) people complain about this, overwhelmingly the most common piece of feedback I’ve had has been “I’m so glad you’re normal.” A great many people are beyond fed up with this, they don’t want to be the maverick who goes against the trend, which means it’s extra important for those of us who are “normal” to live our lives as normal. If they see us actually fighting with the mask gestapo, that will just encourage people to keep their heads down and go along to get along, but, if they see that normal people can live normal lives and just *ignore* the nonsense, that’s emboldening. And there’s money to be made, too — my business is up tremendously since the virus scare began, and the only thing I’m doing is providing an island of normalcy for people; I am the only business in my field in the entire state that isn’t enforcing the diktats to some degree or another, and I’ve captured quite a bit of the clientele that used to frequent the others.
How refreshing that the market rejects this nonsense and rewards those who react likewise!
I do also work a part-time job at which we adopted mandatory masks and testing about a month ago. I have quietly ignored these requirements, and nobody has directly ordered me to obey; I think it’s understood that I would respond by giving notice, and they don’t want to lose me, so it’s been swept under the rug. The net result has been that, not only have I never followed these rules, the rest of the staff (and the management) has stopped following them also.
Quiet resistance certainly seems to be working well for me up here!
It may not work in the Lower 48, though, so keep your weapon primed.
From Ontario, Canada, Dan describes a triumphant skirmish:
SHOPPER: (walks in quickly past BOUNCER)
BOUNCER: Fydvtf nf!
SHOPPER: (keeps walking)
BOUNCER: (louder) Fydvtf nf!
SHOPPER: (stops and turns)
BOUNCER: Zpv offe b nbtl!
SHOPPER: (stares)
BOUNCER: (louder) You need a mask!
SHOPPER: (indignant) No I don’t!
BOUNCER: Jt uifsf b nfejdbm sfbtpo?
SHOPPER: (holds hand to ear)
BOUNCER: (louder) Is there a medical reason?
SHOPPER: (firmly) My health is between me and my doctor.
Next time, I’ll be sorely tempted to keep my hand up for a while and see if I can get him to remove his mask.
Awww, just walk up and rip it off his face while asking, “There! Don’t you feel better?”
Andy in Londonderry, New Hampshire,
went to the local Staples supply store to check out a new computer keyboard. Need a special type for my purposes.
The employees all asked me to mask up. I politely refused. Then the assistant manager kept following me around the store saying I need to wear a mask as it is corporate policy. Then she said I could be helped by curbside pick-up.
Curbside pick-up is useless for me as I need to see and touch the keyboard in question to see if it fits my needs.
I finally had to leave and never to return. I will not be shopping at Staples ever again.
Yo, CEOs: slighted customers cherish very long memories of their dissatisfaction. And the friends—or bloggers and their readers—to whom they complain usually share their contempt. Something to remember when your employees harass rather than help a guy like Andy.
Mr. A from North Carolina rejoices over
Small victories in the land of 99% compliance. Despite very large “mask required” signs at most major grocery chains here, it all amounts to one of their agents asking you if you “want a mask.” A polite decline has worked thus far. This goes for Kroger, Whole Foods & the like. Also, twice now, I have encountered people entering the store who saw me without a mask and abstained from putting theirs on. Most mask zombies just don’t want confrontation, or to stick out. It’s important people get out of the house and set an example, even when it’s uncomfortable, and to also be above reproach, unless a zombie forces ones hand. More than anything, I’ve noticed this is just a vehicle for a certain type of individual to attempt to exert their will on others. Revenge of the nerds / embittered individual on steroids. But I’m sure some folks mean well 🙂
Hoping for the butterfly effect in the land of 99% compliance.
The stasi county council, which shouldn’t even be a thing at this point,
Indeed! Why do these politicians exist other than to add another layer of tyranny and corruption to municipal, state, and federal tyranny and corruption?
just announced a new group of Brownshirt mask “educators.” Whereas I used to be the lone voice on all of the local online threads, the tides have turned to about 90% opposed to what is going on, at least in the digital realm. …
YAY!!!
Mr. Anonymous from Southern California
Walked into the local Lowes this PM, completely naked above the neck, in search of 1×2 wooden stakes to set concrete forms. Unable to locate such, I accosted a clerk, who willingly and enthusiastically directed me to my desired purchase. He was wearing a black “face mask” which extended above his eyes and included two eye slits. I had the distinct impression I had found a person of sound mind, and possibly an ally.
Proceeding to checkout with my ten dollar purchase, I was engaged in conversation by the clerk, whom I had never seen before. He made a point of stepping out from behind the plexiglass barrier ... We had a quite pleasant exchange. I noted that his “face covering” was a bandanna, reminiscent of stereotypical photos of outlaws of the (Old) American West. Was he sending a message? We outlaws have to stick together. Perhaps he sensed a kindred spirit, and good for him if he did.
Rick in Oregon
…generally drive[s] through a little coffee place that I like downtown. … This is a tiny little town with a supermarket, a couple of fast food restaurants, and a few locally owned restaurants and businesses, all under great stress because of the fascist dictator’s threat-breathing. The cowed populace taking this buffoon seriously, they get more harassment from citizens than guideline enforcers.
I was shopping for my sister’s birthday. I knew of a little gift store that had some nice things of all varieties, homemade crafts, and the like.
I was saddened to see that Covid hysteria has killed that little store. It’s totally empty. So, I drove a way further and saw a little coffee shop that I hadn’t really considered visiting before. As I pulled into the parking space, I noticed that the owner has a make-shift patio in two of what would otherwise be parking spaces, surrounded by an ornate wrought-iron fence. There are 5 or 6 tables some like you would expect, tall with bar-stools around, and other low tables.
What struck me is that the place was pretty packed, all elderly folks and not a single person with a mask on. When I exited the car, maskless, several of the women gave me big toothy grins and greeted me loudly. I was giddy. Human interaction, politeness and joy. Wow. I said hello back and walked about 2 feet taller.
When I entered the shop, nobody inside was wearing a mask and every look I got was pleasant. I thought I had walked into the past and it was a past filled with people who remembered what it meant to be human.
And that, dear reader, is World War III’s ultimate goal: Our Rulers mean to dehumanize and then enslave us. Every last one of us. Which is why we must fight under God with all our strength nor ever give up.
The woman behind the counter was serving a customer and turned to me and asked if she could help, probably because of the incredulous look on my face. But I had decided to enter because of a sign outside that said “gifts.” So I asked where her gifts were and she directed me to a shelf of various trinkets and hemp products.
Well…I picked something out and asked if she made breves. Then I couldn’t help but ask, “I know this is a bit weird, but I noticed that nobody around here is wearing a mask. I feel as if I’m in an alternate, wonderful otherworldly dimension.”
She laughed and then leaned closer, putting her hand over her unmasked mouth and whispered, “We’re kind of rebels around here.”
My heart leapt. My people! 🙂
I learned also that this woman sits on the town council. She has had several run-ins with the health department, not because she or the health department wants to, but because some rude customers had reported her. She has no signs demanding masks and wears a bandana around her neck, “just in case they walk in.” But after three visits, the health department declared that she was doing everything required. “They are drinking coffee,” she answered to a visiting bureaucrat who wondered why nobody was masked.
I won’t buy coffee anywhere else from now on.
Pardon me once more, CEOs, but see how easily you can win a customer’s undying loyalty? Simply treat him as you’d want to be treated. Do you appreciate others’ dictating your wardrobe and refusing to interact when you don’t kowtow? Neither do we.
And the customers…..I mean if any of the outside diners was under 70 I’d be surprised. They seemed completely unconcerned they might come into contact with a covid bearer. There are pockets of resistance. 🙂 I am happy to have found one.
Troops, our job is to expand and increase those pockets!
Mark Carroll in Arizona
ran into my first Mask Nazi yesterday. I’ve seen YouTube videos of morons attacking people verbally/physically because they weren’t wearing a mask, but this was a first for me.
I was grocery shopping at Albertsons where I never wear a mask (I never wear a mask anywhere, and Albertsons is great – employees are always nice and while I am almost always the only unmasked person in the store, no one, customer or employee, has ever said a word to me about not being masked. I considered the possibility that I had become invisible until this incident.) I was at the self-checkout scanning my groceries, and a customer (adult male, not sure of his age – maybe 50) started yelling at me. He yelled, “Wear a mask. What the f— is wrong with you?”
Knowing you can’t reason with a moron, instead of explaining I have a medical exemption/condition (which is true – three, actually), and kind of hoping to have some fun, I answered “I’m not as gullible as you.”
He didn’t say anything else to me, but kept yelling as he walked out the front door. Two of the ladies near me waited to leave until he was completely gone. One of the employees asked them if they wanted to be escorted to their cars, but they said they were fine as long as he left.
The whole incident was pretty brief and I wish it had lasted a bit longer so I’d have a better story, but it was fun while it lasted.
Your Intrepid Reporter has yet to wear a mask despite attending several funerals “requiring” them and church services every Sunday (even during the ostensible “lockdown”). I flounce in and out of grocery stores with impunity. This past week, scratching furiously at severe contact dermatitis, I patronized a medical clinic; I refused to don a muzzle despite the doctor’s request: “Look, there’s a rash all over my face—I’m not putting any cloth over it!”
My fellow warriors would no doubt agree that confidence and a purposeful stride help immensely. Don’t stop to talk in stores, especially if a “Mask Enforcer” stands at the door; simply throw “Medical exemption” over your shoulder as you march onward. And in social settings, insist that you cannot wear a mask however many times the enemy rudely urges you to. One of the funeral directors twice ordered me to muzzle up; I refused (not all that politely the second time, either. What has our society become, that an employee who must have completed umpteen courses in tact and diplomacy for dealing with short-tempered mourners nonetheless harassed my husband, father and me?).
And pray, pray, pray. I beseech the Lord each morning to strengthen me as I fulfill my vow against this sign of the occult.
Naked faces will win this war. Bare yours as you man the barricades!
12:10 pm on August 12, 2020
