Some observations on the restrictions being lifted around my area. As you all know I picked up a 2nd job at Whole Foods, and it's been a trip not only to watch what has been happening there, but also what happens inside my head, my perception of people and how I have to force changes in how I think of them. I'd say in the three days we've been open, the percentage of customers and employees dropping the mask is slowly increasing. I definitely know of some employees who are full of shit about their vax status, and are just saying fuck it besides. I know of some people who are being toally cautious, are totally vaxxed, and are still wearing their mask, and every bit in between. I personally have dropped it whenever allowable.
So in my head, I'm slowly dropping that instant judgement I've been having about people based on their mask status. Earlier we'd see someone maskless and we'd immediately jump to all sorts of conclusions about them, mostly negative. We wait for the aggression, the defensiveness, and brace for it. Now I go to those same conclusions, and remind myself that they can fit into any of the above categories, the current situation is completely taking away that aspect of the last year, and I love it. Being in that state of defensiveness is fucking exhausting man. Mask or no mask, I could give fuck all about how customers wanna do it, and it feels great.
Also, it's really, really nice to finally smile at a stranger, and get a smile back. I missed that more than I could imagine.