Our local Co-op has a box just inside the door, which I think is meant to automatically work out how many people are in the shop. It counts the people as they walk past it and there are red and green lights. Nobody takes a blind bit of notice of it. The lights hardly ever work, and usually once you've gone past it, it says, "Next customer please !" or some other irrelevant drivel.
The shop also has floor markings indicating a one way system, which again, hardly anyone bothers with.
I have a medical exemption from wearing masks, and in all the time since masks have been a thing, it's only been mentioned to me about three times. The first was in a charity shop. I wear a clip on card which clearly states I'm medically exempt, but one member of staff said, "Have you got a mask ?" so I replied, "No."
Then another member of staff asked the same question, so I gave the same answer, because I don't have one. Then he said, "You need to wear a mask or you're not allowed in."
I replied, "No I don't, because I'm exempt.
The second time was in a branch of another well known convenience store. Again, I was wearing the clip on card stating that I'm exempt. A member of staff said, "Haven't you got a mask ?" to which I replied, "No."
She said, "Do you want one ?"
I replied, "No thanks, I'm exempt."
Despite this, she said, "But you have to wear one or you're not allowed in."
I repeated that I was exempt, and she got quite irate and said, "But you have to wear a mask or you aren't allowed in !"
I again told her I was exempt. She walked up quite close to me and said in a very hostile tone, "If you don't wear a mask, you can't come in !"
I was fed up with this so I unclipped the card, held it up to her and said, "I'm exempt, sod off, go away !"
She said, "Right, I'm going to get the manager."
A spotty teenaged relief manager appeared at some point while I was at the till, so when I'd paid, I went up to him and said, "What's her problem ?"
He said, "We take the health and safety of our staff and customers very seriously."
I replied, "And so you should. And I do not appreciate being pestered when I'm going about my lawful business."
He quietly said, "Yes, fair enough !"
The most recent and also most surreal one was this. A guy in the queue behind me in a Co-op last week asked me if I was exempt from wearing a mask. I was wearing the clip on card stating that I'm exempt for medical reasons. I said yes. He said, "So am I. But I still wear one."
When I asked him why, he said, "Because I want to help prevent the spread of covid."
I said, "Obviously you don't have to answer this question, but why are you exempt ?"
He said it was because he'd had lung cancer, so we chatted about that for a while, and I told him a relative of mine had recently been diagnosed.
What I find most odd about the mask thing is the number of them I see literally thrown on the floor all over the place. Surely if it was that contagious, there would be biohazard bins literally everywhere, and severe penalties for anyone discarding them anywhere else. Does the virus die upon impact with tarmac or something ?