- A Trader Joe’s customer in Texas forcibly entered the store without a mask.
- Texas has withdrawn its masking mandate, but stores can enforce their own policies.
- Workers have already seen a negative reaction, as some customers refuse to accept the store’s policies on masks.
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Trader Joe’s client accused the grocery store owner of violating Texas state law after employees denied the masked man’s entry.
The situation highlights how the new state rules have placed many frontline workers in a vulnerable position as they are forced to enforce corporate rules without government support.
Last week, Texas became the largest state to suspend its masking mandate. On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott announced that the mandate would no longer be effective as of March 10. Abbott said he plans to open the state “100%”. His decision came just days after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned against reopening states too soon.
In Texas, there were more than 2.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with more than 45,000 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.
In a video of the Trader Joe incident posted on Instagram, the unmasked buyer pushed the receptionists at the door, who offered to give him disposable masks and refused to let him in without a facial cover.
The man said he was disappointed by the grocer’s owner’s decision to keep a mask requirement at the store and said he should be allowed to enter without a mask due to an undisclosed disability. Store employees – located near McKinney, Texas – told the man that they would let him in without a mask if he put masks on his two children, but then he passed the workers.
“I don’t understand that anywhere I go in Texas,” said the man in the video. “You are breaking the law. You are harassing and discriminating against me because of my disability. … I have a civil right to buy in places open to the public.”
Several workers then confronted the man as he walked through the store with his children, speaking against Trader Joe.
The Instagram post, which dubbed the man “Karen male”, received mostly negative comments.
“Businesses have the right to impose a masking policy, even without the government,” wrote a user @stefanootchka. “Have these people never heard of clubs that require the use of belts, ties and blazers? Have they heard of no shirt, no shoes, no service?”
Customers revolted against mask orders in stores and restaurants across the state
After Texas and other states eased restrictions, customers became increasingly resistant to wearing masks, signaling that applying the mask may become more difficult for retail employees.
Workers at the Mexican restaurant Picos in Texas said customers had threatened to report them to the immigration and customs agency for requiring people at the restaurant to wear masks.
“It was awful,” Richards told The Washington Post. “People don’t understand, unless you are in our business, how it was, how difficult it was to go through everything we went through during COVID. For people to be negative with us for trying to stay safe, lest it happen t keep happening , it just doesn’t make sense to us. “
The situation goes back to the beginning of the pandemic, when people protested and boycotted stores for demanding masks and social distance.
Employees were put in the difficult position of not having official masking policies or not being allowed to ask customers to make masks.
The use of masks has also become inherently political. Some customer encounters have even become violent, with employees shot or beaten for asking customers to wear masks.
Some stores have hired private security companies to help apply the masks, while others have told employees that they cannot apply mask restrictions for their own safety.
Trader Joe’s faced adverse reactions during the pandemic when it comes to enforcing the mask’s mandate
In July, Trader Joe employees were attacked in Manhattan by two customers who refused to wear masks.
Just two months ago, a California Trader Joe’s was forced to close earlier due to protests against the masks.
In February, customers threatened to boycott Trader Joe’s after an employee was fired for asking the CEO to implement more COVID-19 protections for worker safety.
The employee, Ben Bonnema, was rehired within a month after his letter to the CEO went viral on the Twitter.
“We put our lives at risk every day, showing up for work,” wrote Bonnema. “Please come to us by adopting these policies.”