An Open Letter To The Shopper – From An Employee – Part Two

We all joke about Karen's constantly in the world. The rude little remarks, the snied little looks, or upset about a rule or something no one can truly control. To be honest, until working in retail, I'd hardly ever seen any Karens.

Now, I know we have our own opinions on wearing face masks. Some are all for it, while some do not want to wear them, but still do it out of common courtesy, or even those who play the system.

I'm a retail worker, and for roughly eight hours a day, I have to wear a face mask. Add on the three additional hours I am here in the studio, that adds up to eleven hours a day. If I can wear one, so can you. But I'd like to remind you, that just because studies and tests have been done saying that you can still breathe while wearing a mask just the same as not wearing one, it doesn't mean I can breathe.

It's not the fact the mask is restricting airflow, it is the thought that I can't breathe through this piece of cloth resting on my face for eight hours. It feels like I can't breathe, and while I can, that thought stays resting in my mind. This thought process has to lead to panic and anxiety attacks amongst my coworkers and myself.

Recently, I'd found out that a customer at the store I work at, has been complaining to my local corporate head because masks weren't being properly warned.

Let me begin to say, if you're going into a store and tattling on retail workers who are already putting their lives on the line, you should just stay home. And if you're tattling on a retail worker who is in an aisle or an area where customers are nowhere near with their mask down for a second, stop.

Most of us are already feeling run down in the retail business. The last thing we want is you tattling on us just because we need a second. We hate these masks just as much or more than you do, trust us.