If you mask more than the average bear, what's the highest level of questioning/negative feedback you've gotten?
@bikepedantic I also don’t leave the house much, and I live in Minnesota, home of side eye.
I've had people fake obnoxious coughing fits then check to see if I was looking (I am. I'm looking right at you, you disgusting troll. I'm not going to give you plausible deniability.)
Cashiers pretend they can't hear me because my voice is "muffled"
A couple friends of mine were reported to store management for shoplifting (they were not shoplifting)
@pleaseclap that shoplifting one is messed up
@bikepedantic Yup: when the cops showed up to "sort things out" the accuser was long gone
The people who pretend they can't hear you (or get aggro because them misunderstanding you is apparently your fault for masking) are the worst part for me as well.
It sucks and it makes me wonder what kind of asshole shit they were thinking and doing to people before they had masking to focus on
@pleaseclap @betsythemuffin @bikepedantic Don’t worry, they’re still finding plenty of time to mill around outside drag brunches with their machine guns and teach their kids racial slurs to call their classmates.
@bikepedantic I still mask everyday in public (I'm on an intercity train at the moment and am the only one masked, mostly the same at work). The only thing I ever got was someone asking if I masked because I had covid, and they were actually worried about me, not angry or dismissive. I said, no I mask because I have read the science and they said "ok". That's it. (I'm in Québec)
@bikepedantic What I get over and over is being called a sheep. With maybe 5% of people masking, they’re still using exactly the same insult they were when it actually was the majority taking scientifically supported precautions that the government was also encouraging.
@bikepedantic Also, I do know a few people who have been grabbed, struck, had beverages thrown at them, or had their masks ripped off by strangers, so sadly I think physical assault should have been a poll choice.
@bikepedantic Voted the first; My experience was back in like, summer of 2021, when I was riding my bike and someone in a pickup truck was like "take off the mask, you <gay slur>!" at Mem Drive + River St.
Genuinely have no idea what the fuck his problem was, it seemed completely out of place and unnecessary.
@bikepedantic I wear “weird” (elastomeric) masks and go out in public a LOT. I do get some weird looks, but the only comments have been from people in my own (condo) building. I think it’s because people can wrap their minds around still masking, but they think it’s somehow beyond the pale that anyone would EVER wear one in their “home”. Back when there were mandates, there were tussles over whether the mandate covered the public space in our building, too (I think for the same reason).
Only side-eye so far. Wear an N95 (headband style) whenever I am in public indoor spaces. Also mask in private homes when airborne virus transmission is high here -- which it has been since before Christmas.
At home we control air filtration + ventilation + monitor CO2. We've had a very small circle of friends without masks visit, but only those who also mask everywhere and are feeling healthy.
We are both at elevated risk. So far we've been able to stay healthy.
@bikepedantic quite early in the pandemic, when we still had a mask mandate but it was changing to indoors-mandated, a neighbor who is NOT a friend yelled at me that he didn't need to mask in order to be near me on the sidewalk (within 5 feet of me in my garden), & he thought I was crazy for masking outside. I think this was in 2020. I've had more such experiences, but that was the most upsetting. Probably esp so because he is a very tall, large man who didn't notice how intimidating this was.