An argument over a mask at a Georgia supermarket Monday ended with a suspect opening fire inside the shop, killing a cashier and wounding a sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.
The suspect, Victor Lee Tucker, 30, will likely face murder charges, DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox told reporters.
…
Tucker was checking out when the argument occurred, the statement said. He left without making his purchase, then immediately returned with a handgun and allegedly shot the cashier, the agency said.
Argument over mask at Georgia supermarket ends with fatal shooting (nbcnews.com)
The reaction to the company’s mask mandate was an absolute overblow, but not the cause, only the tripwire. We are seeing a lot of what should have been minor disagreements blow up into bloody exchanges and the only thing that makes sense to me is people simply tired to hold it in.
The Covid pandemic theater created a pressure cooker of emotions without a decent escape valve and we are seeing the fissures appear and anger come out in spurts or simply a lack politeness and tolerance. Add to this pressure, the uneven distribution of law, order and consequences for bad behavior and you get a segment of the population just saying “Fuck the consequences” and go stupid.
Yesterday I went to a Big Box Store particular to the South searching for a cheap replacement dishwasher for the kitchen. I had been hunting a particular model and even though the website said they had in stock, the store apparently disagreed and said it could deliver one when they had it back in stock but with a hefty delivery fee attached.
Yesterday I went back to the store and saw they had 2 units of the model I wanted in display. After waiting a bit too long, I hunted down a sales rep and told him I wanted the dishwasher that was on sale for $XXX. Masked and everything, you could tell she was not happy with me interrupting her 10:30 am break period (Stores opens at 10:00am) so she pounced on the computer and announced they were out of the dishwasher but they had one in stainless steel finish costing only 30% more.
I do not react well to bait and switch so I told her that and that I was seeing at least two of the items in display. And yes, I was curt with her since we are now in the less than happy zone. She replied that floor models were not for sale as company policy and there is nothing she could do. I looked at her (mask-less) with incredulity for two reasons: 1) I have been a customer of that store since I moved to Florida and all the appliances in out house were bough there. 2) Next to one of the dishwashers I wanted, was a very expensive one with a huge sign that said “ON SALE! FLOOR MODEL!”
Then I pulled the phone and showed her a 30 minute old screen capture of the dishwasher’s web page with the notation that they were in stock. Rather than shutting the hell up and checking again, she said “But that is a white one, you asked for the black one!”
Mistake.
With the most oozingly demeaning voice I had, the one you use to address complete idiots who just brushed their genitals with paint stripper and are trying to figure out why it burns so much, I replied to the imbecile:
“I asked for the dishwasher on sale for $XXX. I never specified color. And by the way, Is the expensive one you offered in stainless steel also black or just regular stainless steel color?”
She gave me a “I wanna kill you with daggers” look but that pretty much ended the exchange. I got my sales ticket from her and headed to the cashier where I found the opposite treatment: A delightful lady greeted me and treated me like an old friend. She made me smile and I actually managed to exchange a few pleasantries with her and her floor manager.
Back in the truck, I got to think that although justified in my acid treatment to the idiotic salesperson, I actually felt disappointed at my reaction. It may have been that I am at that age I am done suffering fools, but her attitude, lack of honesty and failure at customer service was uncalled for and probably she is not that type of person (witch) if things were being lived in a pre-COVID world. And we are talking Florida where the lockdowns and restrictions have been the less severe in the nation, I can imagine shit going south fast in other places.
Corporations that still have mask mandates need to either end it completely or simply make it optional. If the do business in a Health Stalinist State, they should start telling their lobbyists to pressure the legislature and the Executive to stop the mask mandates or we will continue to see stupid events like the shooting above.
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