The Awful Ways Maskholes are Treating Servers

This maskhole is having an argument with the waitresses because she doesn’t want to wear a protective face mask in the cafe.

It’s been twelve long months that our country has been learning to live with Covid. On April 3, it will be exactly a year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first suggested that Americans wear facial coverings to help curtail the spread of the virus. Still, there are selfish people who refuse to wear masks and seem to enjoy creating scenes in public places while spreading their filthy germs all over others who are trying to do the right thing.

These people are called “maskholes” and they are most prevalent in grocery stores and restaurants. Just this week, a woman in a grocery store thought it made more sense for her to remove her thong and place that over her nose and mouth instead of a mask after a cashier asked her to cover her face. That’s a true maskhole, right there.

Waiters and waitresses have to deal with maskholes all the time too. Even though enforcing a mask mandate is nowhere in the job description of a server, that’s what’s happening again and again. A Denny’s waitress quit her job on the spot after two men refused to wear a mask and she was sick and tired of being the enforcer of a rule that she has nothing to do with. That waitress is not alone in her feelings of frustration. Dozens of servers have similar stories to share of their encounters with maskholes.

Bethany: “One of my regulars got out of his seat and reached across the bar to pull my mask off. Each time I asked him to stop as I pulled my head back. Finally had to tell him if he did it again, he’s out of the bar for the night.”

Mo: “I had someone call me a bitch because I asked her to keep her mask on until she had a drink in front of her.”

Monica: “I asked a maskless customer to wait on the patio while I brought him the bottled water he wanted. He argued that masks are ‘stupid’ and then when I brought him the water, he (seemingly purposefully) coughed on my arm. Someone there knew his name and I called the cops who spoke to him. He apologized.”

One server even keeps a tally of hashmarks in her server book to keep track of how many times she’s been asked why she’s wearing a mask. “I won’t admit how many marks there are, but I’ve heard every variation from ‘election virus’ and ‘global hoax’ to the classic ‘fake news.’ I’m over it.”

Some customers think the whole thing is a joke like the man who called his waitress “doctor” and said that his wife was ready for her proctology exam. These are all prime examples of maskhole behavior.

The most common occurrence of this “maskual harassment” is when a male customer tries to convince his female server to remove her mask as if it’s some kind of Covid-19 strip routine. Carol shares a story of a coworker who had to deal with four men coaxing her to pull her mask down. “It wasn’t just hey take off your mask because we can’t hear you. It turned into smile for me/show me something.” When she wouldn’t do what they wanted, they called her a bitch and a male server took over the table. In a perfect world, those men would have been asked to leave the restaurant entirely. Another server named Donna says that a man told her he wouldn’t tip her at all until she took off her mask and smiled at him. Fortunately, a woman at the table told the creep he was making his server feel uncomfortable and the harassment stopped. By the way, a waitress’ smile has NOTHING to do with how much she should be tipped.

Maskholes are everywhere. If a restaurant or grocery store requires a mask for service, then wear the mask. If you don’t like it, there’s no need to verbally harass the employee who asks you to put it on. Just accept the rules or don’t. Cashiers, store employees, and servers don’t want to act like hall monitors in the sixth grade and have to constantly remind customers about the rules. They just want to do their jobs as safely as they can and get through this pandemic just like everyone else does. Wear your freaking mask and for God’s sake, don’t be a maskhole.