It’s weird these days going inside shops. The mask mandate is gone practically everywhere in the Bay Area. Therefore, often times I choose to not wear one when I go the mall or the grocery store. Not because I am anti-mask or anything. Where I work - San Francisco State University - there still an indoor mask mandate, so I wear one at least 40 hours every single week. You can see why I try not to wear them outside of work.
The problem is: mask wearing causes my face to break out in acne (yes, still getting acne at age 34). During the weekend when I don’t wear one constantly, my face is noticeably less inflamed. So if I can avoid it, I don’t mask up.
Which makes for an awkward situation, because usually I would be the only one not wearing a mask. So I end up looking like one of those crazy anti-maskers who only got vaccinated to keep my job, and most likely voted for Donald Trump. It’s good to see people around here are still masking up indoors, but the bottom line is it’s no longer mandatory. Some days I simply don’t feel like wearing it. Sorry.
At least no one has hassled me for it thus far. And I do feel bad when I have to interact with a store clerk who is masked up. Massive apologies for spewing my droplets onto you so carelessly.
What I never understood is the mask mandate for indoor dinning. As far as I am concerned, that is pure theatre. What difference does it make against an airborne illness to only wear the mask when I’m walking to and from the restaurant table? Are we suddenly in some protected bubble once we’re all seated? Of course, rules are rules: I abide by the mandates just as most everybody else do. However, nowadays I don’t bother with masks when I go to a restaurant. It makes zero sense.
We’re going home.