Four months ago, I was scared. Scared of rising death tolls not even close to their peak. The basics of the coronavirus were yet to be understood. And we didn’t know how big of a storm-surge of fatalities to expect. Conversely, though, I was also scared of a possible police-state type response. The initial government rollout of lockdown mandates felt rushed. Governors lacked the knack for empathetic explanation–a mandate for crisis-control in a democratic society. Something felt off–and many (myself included) mistook hints of their own fear as signs of hidden despotic impulses. In those extraordinary weeks, cracks in policy/ideology were fomenting into full-blown panic amongst many Americans. I tried to take in the full breadth of response on both sides. What if it was true that we were in the midst of devastating global pandemic and that our leaders would use it to curtail civil liberties in uncalled for ways? Time has showed me, though, you can’t open your mind to every libertarian point of view.
America has lacked a unified federal response. We’re left with 50 little splintered approaches. It all adds up to less than the sum of its parts. In early May it seemed at least partially under control. But then many red states announced Mission Accomplished and reopened all the little strip malls and fast food joints. Then, as often happens when the force of reality comes home, I found myself forced into the role I feared. I’m one of those retail workers who have become one of the few preventative forces combatting Covid’s spread. Doctors and nurses treat the disease… However, policy (or the lack thereof), has made McJob workers, making $8-$15/hr., the main enforcers of mask mandates. It’s a point that’s almost too weird to assimilate at once. One that speaks to the total commercialization of the country. It really is no wonder. Of course retail workers are policing the pandemic’s front lines. We’re the only ones who could. I guess here is as good a place as any to remark that this isn’t what we signed up for. Any adult working in retail has, consciously or not, chosen not to run with society’s enforcers or players in the psychopathic rat race.
Now, however, this is where we’re at. Whether acting on principle or merely bowing to a changed job description, we’re doing what we must. I’ll focus on the mandated aspect of enforcement. (Perversely, anti-maskers are most responsive to “We don’t make the rules”-type appeals.) If businesses (and by extension, their workers) do not enforce mask mandates, they are liable to receive a fine from the local Board of Health. At the same time, forcing a customer to wear a mask or get out often leads to dangerous situations for workers as well as other customers. Both governors and police departments have made clear they are not looking to criminalize this issue. The police in many cases are off fighting an urban war against BLM demonstrators. They can’t be bothered to help retail workers until a situation is truly, dangerously out of control. Not that I fancy the idea of a police state enforcing mask mandates. Still, mandates minus back-up for private citizens left to enforce them are hardly sustainable. Moreover the obvious contradiction puts the onus for maintaining the country’s democratic equilibrium on one sector of its workforce—a sector that gets nothing much in the way of protection in return.
Every maskless customer that walks in is a potential threat. And I’m not talking here about the threat from the virus. I’m focused primarily on the psychotic little confrontations we can’t avoid. Every maskless customer is potentially someone who is going to wild out when asked to comply. Right-wingers (i.e. most anti-maskers) have also become adept in the weaponization of social media. I’ve heard of more than one customer successfully manipulating a filmed confrontation to get an employee fired. Rule #1 for retail workers: no matter how belligerent or unreasonable the anti-masker is being–never step from behind the counter! Your coming out may have been reflexive or accidental, but anti-maskers can twist it to where they felt unsafe and you get fired (from your job that can barely pay the bills as it is). Please don’t wince at workers who snap or seem a little out of line. Remember, if we don’t enforce masking, hysterical pro-maskers will call the Board of Health or leave bad Google reviews. Both of which could impact our livelihood. Retail workers have been forced to become a mixture of cop and baby-sitter for America’s increasingly crazy middle-class.
Half of the unmasked just forgot to put them on. (That’s what they say, anyway, though they were probably betting on our apathy.) But then politely comply upon being asked. I’m getting good at telling who the troublemakers will be. They look tense and mistrustful—presumably after imbibing online anti-mask propaganda. Sometimes I have a moment to reflect before initiating the conflict… It must be exhausting to go about town, repeating these squalid little confrontations in every storefront—and to what end? One lady stuck out. With fear and anger in her eyes she just kind of grunted “I don’t believe in masks.” She was middle-aged, probably recently empty-nested—with a short haircut that would seem butch outside the context of suburb/conservative Christianity. The empty, entitled, and yet angry expression in the eyes was familiar. I’d seen it in profile pics of thousands and upon thousands MAGA Twitter accounts spewing Qanon and the most abject Trumpery. It’s hard to tell online if they are real people or Russian/Chinese bots. One broke into reality for me that day. Escalating too far felt like punching down. It was just her and me in the store. “Listen,” I said, “If you come in here again you need to have a mask. We don’t like enforcing it either, but we’ve been put in this position. I’ll get you taken care of real quickly and get you out.” I think the expression on her face was surprise. She scurried out without saying anything else. She was expecting a confrontation—doing her duty to fight against Satanic NWO deep state or something. When that didn’t come, we were left with an awkward, aching moment that didn’t fit any script. Not that we were in an Altman movie. I surely wasn’t directing anyone. I was exhausted, didn’t do my job really. And, to be real, every anti-masker we don’t confront will be a thorn in another retail worker’s side. Yet I won’t forget that non-confrontation was something a little different—more human?—than the ideological clash both expected. Maybe it’s good every once in a while for nobody to get what they want.
I’m aware, though, that a failure to contest anti-maskers jeopardizes my health and, more importantly, that of my friends and family. Sometimes empathy for a villain cedes your own self-worth. The most telling joke of this whole retail-worker kerfluffle came on a Twitter thread. A barista notices her first customer of the day coming in without a mask. “Could you please put a mask on?” she asks. “Why?” asks the customer, genuinely confused. “There’s no one in here.” Therein lies another problem with our retail-oriented Covid strategy. Workers in the customer service industry are often seen as less than human. (The addition of a mask certainly doesn’t help.) We’re faceless automata that represent a company or brand. At the slightest inconvenience, it’s somehow okay to unload upon us the full brunt of American frustration and rage. Add to that the assumption that any adult working in retail must be slightly dim or marred in some other way….that, however, is a discussion for another day. American society tends to have a certain contempt for service workers, yet we’re being deputized to enforce national policy. My plaints on this score sound like those of actual cops. They object that folks don’t see the human being behind the badge. Except cops remain awesome figures to many Americans (even after officers beat or gun down unarmed civilians).
In the past few months I’ve been subjected to death stares, threatened with lawsuits, etc. Once I was accused of discriminating on the basis of religion. (“Ma’am, Republican is not a religion.”) But I hesitate to end on a sour note. It’s hard to write anything happy about masks. They’re a positive thing in a negative way. They keep senior citizens and compromised younger people from being decimated by Covid. I’ve bumped into exactly one feel-good story. A (masked) lady was faxing unemployment paperwork. We got to talking—she said the Covid era had been particularly hard on her. She’s had a deathly fear of masks or anything that inhibits her breathing ever since she nearly died by drowning at three. She was forced to resign from her job when it became clear she was going to have to wear a mask, or risk getting sick. In the aftermath, though, she’d done deep work with her therapist. Together they pushed her to get her over her fear and out in public. She was just a random customer who came in—-one of the safe, masked people I didn’t need to worry about. But behind the mask there was this whole story. “Hell yeah, you wearing a mask right now is BIG. Regardless of coronavirus crap, you should be proud of yourself.” “Thanks,” she said, “I am proud of myself. But at the same time let’s hope we can stop wearing these damn things real soon.”
America is limping through this crisis with all its usual baggage in tow. But there may be some new clarities on the come. The lowliest jobs have been shown to have real worth. Retail workers have long dealt with the unspoken assumption that we are poorly compensated because our jobs aren’t that productive. We handle the physical process of transactions, not the “intellectual” work behind them. But the last six months show how often the country as a whole depends on us for its well-being. For now, I guess—wear a mask, be kind to your local retail workers, and vote for whatever ideological descendent of Bernie we get in 2024. The whole depends on each part. A strong coronavirus response requires conscious strategy—not just bumbling through on local levels and private realms. Retail workers have our part to play—but nobody should ask us to act as enforcers. Perhaps we can course-correct after a November change in leadership. Whatever happens down the line, though, I hope “essential worker” sticks in minds as more than just another buzzword.