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Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind

Full History - 2021 - 05 - 19 - ID#ng13ib
58
How has it been with no masks? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Catpants21
My store officially starts the “masks are optional” rule today, and tbh I’m a little stressed about it. I’m fully vaccinated but that doesn’t mean I necessarily feel comfortable with a lobby full of people with no mask. After a year of them I cringe when I see someone not wear one, or take it off. How has it been in anyone’s store that’s already put in place the optional masks?

Also, I’m really just more worried about people who aren’t fully vaccinated in a mask being stuck in a room with an unvaccinated person who fought wearing masks from day 1.
Level-Shock3104 39 points 2y ago
Our store has been doing it for a week or so and practically nobody wears a mask indoors. It's stressing out all of the baristas and shifts but our SM wants us to open the cafe for seating again regardless.

I had to ask three teenageish girls to back away from the bar as they didn't have masks and were breathing down on the ice.
Catpants21 [OP] 9 points 2y ago
We’ve had seating open since last Monday, so we’ve already been kind of no mask in half the bar, but the way our cafe is set up it’s so far removed from that that we were okay with it. But now our new SM is like “ITS A GREAT THING! NO MASKS!” And I’m like.... idk. But honestly a lot of people are still wearing them thank god
meiso -9 points 2y ago
i’d appreciate if you would read this until the end: just relax and live your life. covid-19 is virtually inconsequential for over 99% of the population. furthermore, if you are under 50 years old with zero comorbidities and take good care of your immune system (eat/sleep well, exercise periodically, get adequate vitamin D, C, B12, zinc), the absolute worst you will experience are mild cold/flu-like symptoms. for the other less than 1%, 100% effective treatments exist if the infection is caught early. cloth and surgical masks also do nothing to stop the spread of respiratory viruses predominantly spread via aerosols. if you’ve been fine with customers wearing masks, you’ll be fine without them wearing masks (this has been well-known for decades and confirmed with recent, 2020 randomized controlled studies). aerosols sail right through the pores and around the edges of these masks, so anyone that walks in has their aerosols (and whatever’s in them) spread around a large vicinity in the area around them by the bulk movement of the air. the aerosols also remain suspended in air for a significant length of time, so you’ve undoubtedly been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 viral particles countless times at Starbucks and everywhere else. also, regarding the ice, it’s been well-known since mid-last yesr that this virus is not spread through surfaces or ingestion, so while it may seem nasty and concerning that people are “breathing on ice”, it’s absolutely inconsequential. the only situation i’d avoid is someone sneezing in your face and you basking in their droplets for 30 seconds. but even then, it’s probably just allergies :) i realize a lot of what i’m saying sounds contrary to popular opinion, but im a virologist with 12 years of experience in respiratory viruses and have been researching aspects of SARS-CoV-2 since March 2020 as part of my daily work activities. there is a consensus in my field and others that much if not all of what health officials have been saying for the past year is utterly misguided at best, dead wrong at worst. so take my words how you will, but just realize that they are founded in real scientific processes, not the cargo cult gospel-like “science” you hear about in mainstream and social media. i just want to see people relax and understand that they don’t have to consume their lives with worrying about the massively over-estimated severity of this virus.
Level-Shock3104 6 points 2y ago
Fair enough. I have asthma so I'm just more cautious. My mother had it (We don't live in the same house so I didn't get it) and went to the hospital for 4 days. I'm just trying to avoid getting sick because I can't afford to miss work for a stretch of time.

Thank you for what you said though!
melodiic_ 3 points 2y ago
the issue is that very few people have absolutely zero comorbidities and even being overweight (as many americans are) is enough for someone to become seriously ill with COVID. my partner is incredibly healthy, just a bit overweight, and the virus dragged her to hell and back for an entire month. you don't get to make the call for whether total strangers will be fine if they get exposed just because they have the misfortune to work with the public and also have high risk illnesses or conditions.
meiso -10 points 2y ago
Actually, by far, most people have zero comorbidities with respect to how they're defined for covid. I'm not sure where you're pulling that data from, but it's dead wrong. With respect to your partner, even being overweight (is she classified as obese? if so, she's not healthy), if she kept her vitamin D levels over 40 ng/mL and supplemented with zinc every day, it would have helped significantly with her symptoms and likely kept her out of the hospital--again I'm speaking on average, but supported by a tremendous body of data that grows each day as more independent, peer-reviewed sources. Additionally, if she was treated with ivermectin (which is essentially being used all over the world in a nearly 100%-effective treatment protocol, except in the US and a few other countries), she absolutely would have been out of the hospital sooner and would have gone through less of a "hell." my father had covid too, but I got him on an appropriate treatment protocol fast, and he was fine in less than 72 hours, no further symptoms, no "long-covid" (which, btw, is completely anecdotal, unsubstantiated-in-the-literature nonsense). the point is, there are treatment avenues in between "vaccine or horror show".

you're right, neither you or i get to make the call about what other people do, but we do for sure get to make the call for what we do ourselves. and i absolutely reserve the right to attempt to educate people when they are being continually bombarded by damaging, misleading information through the media, public health officials, and other government officials (e.g. that masks work--in fact, letting people believe this is actually quite harmful, since people with masks on are less likely to physical distance, and likely drove much of the spread). If you and your partner truly believed she was at risk, she should have stayed home and isolated until she felt the risk was no more. Masks do not work in the least to stop this disease, and even if they did, if you feel she is at such risk, would you really trust that wearing masks and social distancing would always be adhered to by everyone around your partner? is it really worth taking that chance just to go out on the town, or even work a job? if you believe this virus is that dangerous for "high risk" people, is it worth their lives? do you truly believe that masks are bullet-proof enough to fully eliminate that risk? If so, I'd really rethink your logic.

lastly, to try to put you at ease (and this is again being supported by a growing body of evidence in the literature), T-cell immunity from being infected with covid is likely to last years, if not a lifetime, and it is showing robust defense against all of the variants we are seeing, much better than any of the current "vaccines" being peddled. so your partner, or anyone else that has contracted covid, should feel completely safe, comorbidity or not.
ajd0224 11 points 2y ago
Honestly things have been totally fine , people that are comfortable taking off their masks are coming in mask free and not impeding on other peoples space and the people that aren’t ready can keep it on, unfortunately us partners have not been given the same freedoms to decide if we are comfortable yet, Osha has already said that employees can follow the same guidelines as the state, moral of the story, wear your mask if that’s what makes you comfortable, stay home if you’re not feeling well and wash your hands, we don’t all have to have the same feelings about this we just have to support and understand each other
hlyfckitsyu 10 points 2y ago
Most people are wearing masks but of course some aren't and waltz in looking smug asf. I'm in NY.
Adventurous_Board933 10 points 2y ago
We've had 2 people come in maskless so far. Thankfully Virginia is filled with people that care about others
randomhoe999 2 points 2y ago
I hope this is what happens in ny but I’ll see what happens today when I come in
Adventurous_Board933 2 points 2y ago
Oh ny's governor lifted y'all's mask mandate? 😮😮😮
randomhoe999 3 points 2y ago
Yupp 😪😪 well you still have to wear a mask on public transportation
Adventurous_Board933 3 points 2y ago
That's dumb af 🙄did not expect that from y'all's governor
stqmine 9 points 2y ago
Florida has it where everyone isn’t wearing masks 🤪
Keyndoriel 8 points 2y ago
Thankfully at my store about 70% of our customers still wear masks but still, I hate all of this. If we gotta wear masks then its not totally safe to be maskless, now is it?
C0ffeeCoffeeC0ffee 7 points 2y ago
I've worked two shifts since the change and only seen one person in the store without a mask
Honey_Ginger 4 points 2y ago
I just feel like okay customers have the option but partners don't because they might infect no? So what makes the customer superior? It's bullshit.
59625962 4 points 2y ago
I didn't wear my mask in my for my shift today. Ny here
Catpants21 [OP] 6 points 2y ago
That’s shocking honestly because I know OSHA still has a mandate for retail employees to continue wearing masks.
59625962 -5 points 2y ago
That's not true...
Keyndoriel 5 points 2y ago
Yup were still required to wear masks behind the line as of the DM email we got
59625962 1 points 2y ago
I was fine today without a mask
59625962 1 points 2y ago
Oh I'm at a tarbucks lol. We have no rules
Babeygoo 3 points 2y ago
Our regular who fights with us every single day and harasses our baristas about masks/sitting inside tipped us the past 2 days so, 🥲
v_is_4_violet 3 points 2y ago
It's honestly not different from how it's been. We already had so much people not wearing masks and our cafe has been open for indoor seating. I'm just more angry that they didn't give us enough warning to get vaccinated and that I have coworkers who don't feel safe when they deserve to feel safe .
Ok-Ingenuity-2617 2 points 2y ago
Let’s just say... I got covid and I only go to work and home.
Catpants21 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Damn I’m so sorry. That’s awful. How are you doing?
Ok-Ingenuity-2617 2 points 2y ago
Getting better but it was an experience I’m not excited for when I return. Thank you!
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