My complaint:
My husband and I have just returned from our local Lidl in Fishponds, where we noticed that several customers, including young women and teenagers, especially around the checkouts, were not wearing masks, or were wearing them under their chins.
I mentioned to the checkout operator (who appeared to be the manager) that I was upset that so many people in the store were either not wearing masks or not wearing them properly.
He reacted rather aggressively, telling us that mask wearing is not enforceable, and there is nothing he can do about it. We told him that surely he can enforce it in his staff, as we noticed that the store security guard was wearing his mask under his chin. When he heard this the security guard then made a point of putting his mask on his forehead for a joke.
Several of the non mask wearing customers started arguing with us, saying that it has nothing to do with us. I told them that as a nurse I cared for a ward full of Covid patients at our local hospital during the worst of the pandemic, and as I will be one of those putting myself at risk again if Covid hospital admissions increase, it has everything to do with me.
I was very unhappy that my husband and I were made to feel as though we were the ones who were in the wrong. We were ganged up on by people who have no consideration for others, and not backed up by the Lidl staff, who don’t seem to realise that it is now mandatory to wear a face covering in shops.
Suggested solution:
We feel that Lidl should employ a member of staff at the entrance to the store (as they did to monitor entry at the height of the pandemic), to ask non mask wearers to prove they are exempt from wearing a mask. Otherwise, surely Lidl should show social responsibility by refusing entry to those who chose not to comply with the new law?
We also feel that at the very least we deserve an apology from the store for the way we were made to feel humiliated.
If your not comfortable with shopping amongst educated and informed people that know about the dangers of masking and how useless it is, then you shouldn’t shop there.
As a qualified nurse with almost 47 years experience in the NHS and who currently wears a mask for the whole of each 13 hour shift, I know that the only “danger” of mask wearing is when they are either not worn, or not worn correctly. Incidentally, if you were that well educated you would know that “your” should actually be spelt “you’re”, when used in this context, so your comments should be taken with a large pinch of salt!