Don’t speak to us like Covidiots, we’re just doing the best we can

Don’t speak to us like Covidiots, we’re just doing the best we can

I pick up some broccoli and potatoes, and walk into a local shop. Buying locally is safer surely, and I hate supermarkets anyway. The minute online ordering was possible, I was on it for all the bulky basics. For fresh fruit and veg? I could get those from around the corner. Easy.  

But nothing is easy anymore. As I go inside the shop, the woman at the till has no mask, and a man who has served me for years is also not wearing a mask. I stand back, and she points to her homemade badge saying that she is exempt from wearing one. She also tells me I should have some “respect” for her. I do, but why are all the guys in the shop also maskless and why put her in the most interactive role on the till? No one needs another row. Not even me.

We all agree to respect each other, which means she now has to respect that I won't be buying anything there anymore. But what does “respect” in the current circumstances even mean? 

 It's fine. There are plenty of other shops, but what if there weren't? As I go past the park, I text my daughter