I Asked A Stranger In A Store In Florida To Wear A Mask. It Didn't Go Well.

"I had hoped just asking nicely ― not demanding ― would elicit some sort of empathy and understanding. Boy, was I wrong."

I got into a fight with a woman at a store. Fighting with strangers in public isn’t typically in my wheelhouse. Historically, I’m quite nonconfrontational. I’m the person who apologizes when someone bumps into me or just shrugs when someone cuts me in line. But last week, I reached my limit: I had the audacity to ask a stranger to wear a mask.  I wasn’t planning on going inside the store. As a resident of Florida, where COVID-19 is exploding and completely out of control, every day I wake up to see what fresh new hell awaits me. I watch in horror as our COVID-19 cases continue to spike to record highs, leading to hospitals reaching capacity. I watch as the number of children who have contracted the virus continues to increase and we see more severe illness and hospitalizations in this demographic than ever before. And I watch as Gov. Ron DeSantis does everything in his power to prevent rational and frightened Floridians from practicing common-sense public safety measures, while promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories to fuel a dangerous virus. All of this led me to decide to avoid indoor public settings. Therefore, I was incredibly upset when I received the wrong infant formula during a recent curbside run to the store and, for some reason I will never understand, they did not allow curbside returns or exchanges. However, the associate who gave me this bad news assured me that the store was strictly enforcing its new mask mandate. So I put on my N95 mask and a brave face beneath it and I stepped through those once-inviting sliding glass doors.