Dear Editor,
I was shopping at a local grocery store this afternoon.
On the entrance door there is a prominent sign saying “Face covering required” as per the new provincial requirements.
I encountered three shoppers in the store without masks, one of whom was interacting with a cashier at the till.
As I approached the security guard at the store entrance to ask why these people were allowed to enter the store, another maskless women walked in the door and walked right past the security guard who said nothing to the woman.
I asked him why they weren’t enforcing the mask requirement and he told me that he was instructed by management not to enforce the mask requirement. When I finished shopping, I stopped by the customer service desk with the same inquiry and was told that staff are not permitted to enforce the mask requirement or even ask a customer to wear a mask.
I was told only a manager could enforce the requirement.
I did not encounter a single manager in the 20 minutes I was shopping in the store, so enforcing the provincial requirement for people to wear masks while in a retail store or protecting the health and safety of the customers and staff was clearly not a priority for this store.
I find this absolutely disgusting and unacceptable during this second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What good is making it a province-wide requirement if it is not going to be enforced?
Steve Fairbairn
RICHMOND
