My big stupid face mask failure
The lockdowns went into effect in my town on March 17, 2020, and face masks mandates followed on April 3, 2020. I did not know what to do.
I knew I was either going to wear a paper bag of shame over my head to mock the mandates, or I was going into the store guns blazing and without a mask.
I went maskless, and by the time I left, the big, tough manager was sweating, his voice was quivering, and his hands were shaking. I would be long banned from that store.
It was a Whole Foods.
Walking away, I knew this much — I didn’t want to go through each day doing that to myself or to others. That would get old pretty quickly.
I knew these mask orders had exemptions.
I knew these masks were all nonsense.
I knew I was in the right by challenging it all.
But I felt so awful for how rattled the manager ended up. Doing that to people is not how I want to spend my day. There had to be a different approach. I had no idea what that different approach was, but it seems like I needed to so massively fall on my face that day in order to at least learn what I didn’t like, to at least learn how I didn’t ever want to handle that situation again.
That much I learned that day.
The next day, I tried it differently. I had read the new health orders carefully. I saw that face mask exemptions were in there, and I wondered how I might be able to use those exemptions to go through life maskless.
Well, on the other side of town, there was a different Whole Foods, with at least an hour worth of people wrapped around the block in line waiting to get in. I called ahead, and for the first time I told a manager the same words I present in my books Face Masks In One Lesson. I said to him, “I am unable to wear a face mask safely.”
That day changed my life. Though the line wrapped around the block, I was not made to wait in line. I was escorted to the front of the line as soon as I arrived. The manager came to meet me and expressed how happy he was that I had come. My entry was even announced to the staff over their earpieces. This was VIP treatment. I has NEVER been treated so well at a grocery store before.
Employees were told on their earpieces that a maskless shopper was coming through. They were told on their earpieces to stop me from being harassed if they saw anyone harassing me. They were told on their earpieces to quickly lend me a hand if they noticed me needing help. And in I went.
I doubt even Bruce Willis was treated so well at a grocery store that day.
Maybe you can understand — after enough experiences like that in West Coast lockdown land — why I started to explain to people that using these techniques can allow you to live like a VIP, even in one of the most locked down places in the country.
That’s because that’s how I live and continue to live — like a VIP and 100% Maskless.
Some people walk through the day like a pariah. They are trying to do what they want to be doing, but at the same time are constantly apologizing for themselves. I don’t see myself that way. I see myself as a blessing to those I encounter. And I work hard to make sure that’s what my entry into the life of another often looks like. I don’t want to cause them strife, I want to be a sparkling gem in their day.
I hope you see yourself the same way.
That doesn’t work for everyone I encounter over the course of a day. Not everyone will let me be a gem in their day. But it works for a good 19 out of 20.
Is that something you would like? Would you like to spend more time walking through the world as a Maskless VIP?
There are so many reasons not to like face masks, and being treated like a VIP for not wearing one is one of the most rewarding.
If you aren't already living that way, you can find out how to do that in Face Masks In One Lesson.
Allan Stevo