Retail Workers Are Being Pulled Into The Latest Culture War: Getting Customers To Wear Masks

It’s been nearly a week since the city of Mobile, Ala., began requiring masks in public. But inside the discount store where Kae Palmer works, not much has changed. Most shoppers still come in without face coverings. Workers are quick to remove masks when they’re not on the sales floor. Palmer, who brings her own masks from home, worries about her health but doesn’t feel like there’s much she can do about it. Corporate guidance, she says, has been, “Just serve the customer and don’t talk about their lack of a mask.” Like millions of other retail and service workers, she has been pulled into the front lines of a growing culture war between those who are willing to wear masks and those who aren’t. Mixed messaging and politicization have turned a public health safeguard into a lightning-rod issue. As a result, workers have been berated, even assaulted, by aggressive anti-maskers. Read more at The Washington Post.