By Sharon Terlep
Retail chains from CVS to 7-Eleven are being forced to decide
whether and how to enforce rules on masks after a string of attacks
on clerks and security guards by patrons who refused to cover their
faces.
As more cities, states and businesses require customers to cover
up in stores, face coverings have become a flashpoint in the debate
over how to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Some opponents of
forced shutdowns and social-distancing requirements are flouting
mask mandates, leaving grocers, drugstore chains and big-box
retailers to weigh public-health requirements against the risk of
putting their workers in harm's way.
This month's fatal shooting of a security guard in Flint, Mich.,
following a face-mask dispute with a customer is the most extreme
case of violence around the issue, but it isn't an isolated
incident. Assaults on store personnel have been reported at
retailers across the country, from a Target in Southern California
to a 7-Eleven convenience store in northern Indiana.
"It gets pretty confrontational. People are getting in our faces
and are really angry with our managers and employees when it's not
our rule," said Shaunte Wisch-Thompson, who works at a Kroger in
Streator, Ill., a small town about 100 miles southwest of
Chicago.
An executive order by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker mandates masks
in public when people can't maintain distance from one another. Ms.
Wisch-Thompson said one man refused her request that he don a mask,
saying he didn't vote for the governor. She said she tries to
reason with shoppers but doesn't force the issue. "It's not my job
to enforce masks -- I'm not a manager."
Retailers are taking varied approaches. Some chains have advised
workers to let mask-less customers in despite state and local laws,
while others are drawing a harder line on site or directing workers
to call local law enforcement if a shopper breaks the rule.
Costco Wholesale Corp. faced angry critics and a boycott after
the warehouse retail chain said earlier this month that all
customers must wear a mask, whether or not one is required by local
governments. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommends that anyone more than 2 years of age wear cloth face
coverings in public places, such as stores, where social distancing
is difficult.
"There are strong feelings on both sides. We do the best we can
in making the right decision," Costco finance chief Richard Galanti
said. "If it's the right decision, we help reduce the spread of
this terrible virus. If it's the wrong decision, it's a relatively
small inconvenience."
Not enforcing face-mask rules also comes with risks, and not
just to the health of workers and patrons. A CVS pharmacy in
Fresno, Calif., was put on notice by local code enforcers who, in
responding to a complaint earlier this month, found an unmasked
shopper inside the drugstore.
"It's up to the business to decide how best to get the customer
out," said Mark Standriff, communications director for the city of
Fresno, which mandates that businesses require customers to wear
masks inside stores. Especially in a drugstore, frequented by the
sick and elderly, keeping faces covered is critical, Mr. Standriff
said. "This is just like having to deal with any unruly
customer."
But CVS Health Corp., in a policy mirrored by competitors
Walgreens Boots Alliance Co. and Rite Aid Corp., has told its
workers not to refuse service to noncompliant patrons.
In cities and states where masks are required, CVS puts up signs
reminding customers of the rule, a spokesman said. Store managers
are told to refer to the signage if a shopper comes in without a
mask.
If the customer refuses, "our priority is to help them complete
their purchases as quickly as possible and provide them with
information about other options we have available for their future
needs," the spokesman said.
The company, he said, takes that approach to avoid potentially
contentious or violent interactions between employees and
customers. "It strikes the proper balance between complying with
local requirements while also protecting employees who are on the
front lines," he said, adding that the chain has experienced few
incidents.
Rite Aid and Walgrees also said they direct employees to avoid
confrontations with customers.
Target Corp. requires face masks in places where there are local
or state mandates, a spokesman said. The company added funding to
supplement staffing or to hire off-duty police officers to enforce
rules at store entrances. Workers may call local law enforcement in
cases where masks are required and a customer refuses to comply,
the spokesman said.
Retailers say conflict is rare, and people generally comply
without incident. Flare-ups, however, happen.
The shooting in Flint at a Family Dollar occurred May 1 after a
security guard confronted a woman entering the store with her
daughter. The woman was wearing a mask, but the daughter, in her
20s, wasn't, according to the local prosecutor.
The woman yelled and spit at the guard, who ordered the woman to
leave the store and told a cashier not to serve her, according to
the prosecutor's office. The woman drove home and returned with her
husband and her son, who shot the guard in the back of the head
following a confrontation, the prosecutor said.
Family Dollar parent Dollar Tree Inc. directs stores to ensure
customers are wearing masks in places where local authorities
require them, a Dollar Tree spokesman said. He declined to provide
the company's protocol for enforcing those rules. "We are going to
comply where they are required," he said, as was the case in
Michigan.
Less than two weeks later, a security guard at a Target in Van
Nuys, Calif., suffered a broken arm in a physical confrontation
with two men who refused to wear masks in the store.
In St. Clair Shores, Mich., a woman was charged after allegedly
assaulting a grocery store employee and spitting on police officers
after being told to leave because she wasn't wearing a mask.
Police in Mishawaka, Ind., are investigating an incident this
week in which a male patron of a 7-Eleven threw a cup of coffee at
a clerk who refused to serve him because he wasn't wearing a mask.
The man left and then returned. When the clerk again asked him to
leave, he knocked her to the ground and punched and kicked her
before leaving again, police said.
Even the strictest face-mask mandates generally make allowances,
in line with CDC guidelines, for people with health issues that
could make it difficult for them to breathe in a mask or to put on
or remove a covering.
Determining that need presents another potential complication
for retailers.
"We are not in a position to decide who does and does not fall
into this category in our stores," said a spokeswoman for Hy-Vee
Inc., a Midwest chain of more than 240 supermarkets.
--Jaewon Kang contributed to this article.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 16, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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