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| Topic | CA Grocery store staff physically assaulted after reinstating mask policy |
| Lebronwon 08/03/21 8:41:26 PM #1: | https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Thrown-watermelons-and-broken-glass-Oakland-16358035.php Last Tuesday, a customer at Community Foods Market in West Oakland, upset about the stores indoor mask mandate, threw a bag of groceries at a cashier, shattering glass items that were inside of it, owner Brahm Ahmadi said. Earlier in the month, another customer threw a watermelon at an employee, and in a separate incident the general manager had to duck to avoid a full can of soda that a customer chucked at his head, Ahmadi said. Since Community Foods Market started asking customers to mask up again in mid-July, verbal animosity and even physical harassment from customers have become a regular occurrence, Ahmadi said. His employees are worn down and stressed out, forced back into the role of public health enforcers amid conflicting local, state and federal guidance over the past few weeks. For weeks, some businesses have been creating their own policies around masks and proof of vaccination, while others are hesitant to do so out of fear of the potential conflict with customers. But on Monday, Bay Area health officers announced a renewed indoor mask mandate that will apply to everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated, to stem the surge of the highly contagious delta variant. That might take the pressure off business owners. The restriction applies to Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties and the city of Berkeley. Ahmadi didnt file police reports about the violent incidents because officers response can be delayed by a few days, he said. Security staff usually try to de-escalate the situation and ask the customers to leave, in some cases escorting them out of the store. The cashier who had a bag of groceries thrown at her last week called out for the next two shifts, he said. Ahmadi posted about the harassment to Instagram on Sunday with the message in the hope of supporting his staff: Please dont assault us. We believe this is in everyones best interest but, he said in an interview with The Chronicle, were bearing the brunt of some of the frustration thats being expressed in these unfortunate ways. Ahmadi supports the new mask mandate to help private businesses like grocery stores, restaurants and bars navigate the issue. Businesses are not in a good position to enforce public practices with regards to public health, Ahmadi said. Were not equipped for it. We really need public agencies to be the lead and the primary source of enforcement behind these things. Its not realistic to assume the private sector either has the will to lead or the capacity to do so. --- Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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