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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Woman Without a Mask at the Emergency Dentist
Over the weekend my DH began experiencing pain in a tooth. Our regular dentist is an older man who has essentially shut down his one-man practice for the duration. So we called the "Emergency Dental Services" number in the phone book.
This number is shared by several practices who offer emergency services on a rotation basis. The first available appointment was at a large chain with an office quite close to home early this morning.
My DH has an issue with high gag reflex that makes almost any dental work painfully difficult, and he's learned to take a low dose muscle relaxant to minimize that. Which means he can't drive himself, so I provided the ride.
As I'm sitting in the waiting area, one or two other patients arrive, properly masked, and the (masked) receptionist screens them with a short series of questions, takes their temperature, and directs them to widely-separated areas of the waiting room.
Then The Woman Without a Mask arrives, and marches up to the receptionist, who immediately offers her a disposable mask. This all transpires without a word.
The Woman Without a Mask (TWWM) ignores the mask being held out to her, fumbles in her satchel, takes out a card, and holds it out to the receptionist, who reads it, and says "May I show this to my Office Manager?" TWWM hands it to her and the receptionist leaves with it.
A moment or two later the receptionist is back with (I presumed) her (masked) office manager in tow. The office manager hands the card back to TWWM and explains that this is a health care establishment required by law to have all staff and patients wearing masks in non-treatment areas and whatever manifesto is on TWWM's card does not overrule that law, and would TWWM please wear the mask if she is here for an appointment.
I'm sure y'all can write the dialog from there. "Freedumb". "This is a DENTIST and I'll have to open my mouth ANYWAY". And of course the "I can't HEAR you behind that mask, you're all breathless and indistinct and THAT'S the real risk".
And the office manager patiently reiterating that they cannot permit her to remain in the establishment if she won't wear a mask. Reminding her there's a pandemic raging in our town. ("Pandemic! More like PLANdemic!" ) Finally she leaves, muttering.
I said to the Office Manager "Why didn't you just explain to her this is a dental office, not a psychiatric facility?"
I think I gave them the best laugh of their morning.
wearily,
Bright
Joinfortmill
(14,417 posts)Skittles
(153,156 posts)yes indeed
Beringia
(4,316 posts)All those nasty people you encounter along the way in life. You can really see them in stark contrast during this pandemic. But they go through life like this. The people who don't give a fig about any of your requests or problems. Also I think they can be from any walk of life, but cause real damage given power.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,607 posts)So perfect.
And they sure needed that laugh.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)Can You Be Medically Exempt from Wearing a Face Mask? Health Experts Weigh
https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/can-you-be-medically-exempt-from-wearing-a-face-mask?amp=true
The bottom line: Neither Dr. Kaufman nor Dr. Keany has received any specific, official guidelines on who would be exempt from wearing a face maskand that it's more important to worry about how to wear a face mask, rather than who may or may not have to. I believe that most people need education on proper use rather than exemption from such a simple and effective device to keep them and others safe, Dr. Keany says.
In Dr. Keanys opinion, if your respiratory status is truly that tenuous that youre not able to breathe through a cloth face covering, you should stay home and not expose yourself to any risk. If you are truly that fragile, a COVID-19 infection could be a death sentence, he says.
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)If your respiratory health is compromised while wearing a thin piece of cloth, your respiratory health is going to be SUPER compromised without that thin piece of cloth.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)... during some very cold and windy days in my area.
"I can't because of my anxiety! Frostbite is better!"
LiberalArkie
(15,715 posts)while drinking alcohol, exempt from the rules about testing while driving or talking while driving. You know Morons.
BGBD
(3,282 posts)someone who isn't able to remove the mask themselves if they need to.
Again though, that suggests a very serious condition. I don't see how there exists a situation where a mask is dangerous for you to wear AND you are healthy enough to be out and about running errands during a pandemic.
While I'm at it, I don't think waiting rooms are a good idea at all. Instead of waiting in the building it would be best to call into the office to check in and let the receptionist either call or text you when you are ready. You could then enter the building and go directly into the patient area.
Nay
(12,051 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)prevent me from wearing a mas and if you make me I'll sue you" cards that are turning up among the Trump intelligentsia. Glad to hear that the Office Mgr. wasn't having any of it.
Beartracks
(12,809 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,284 posts)The ADA says nothing about wearing masks.
The website for the "FTBA" (which doesn't exist as a government agency) website ends in .com. If it was a government agency it would end in .gov.
LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,753 posts)dmr
(28,347 posts)I had to Google FTBA. Came across this NYTimes article explaining it's a fraud.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/well/live/coronavirus-face-masks-guides-protection-personal-protective-equipment.html
KS Toronado
(17,219 posts)japple
(9,823 posts)possess or posies instead of poses? I would have pointed it out to the non-mask wearing lady. These people are seriously delusional.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)AdamGG
(1,289 posts)When people present these cards, offices should say they're sorry they can't serve them without a mask, but as a consolation, give them a certificate saying that they own the Brooklyn bridge, or an IOU for $50,000 from a Nigerian prince or something.
lastlib
(23,222 posts)eom
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)central scrutinizer
(11,648 posts)Thanks!
Beartracks
(12,809 posts)PCIntern
(25,541 posts)I have not yet had to face that in my dental office. Thank you for the line, its much appreciated!
LiberalArkie
(15,715 posts)Jeebo
(2,023 posts)Divorced Husband? Designated Housemate? I honestly have no idea. I hate abbreviations. This is why. They interfere with effective communication by forcing the individuals on the receiving end of the communication to scratch their heads wondering what the abbreviations mean. I wish people would just spell everything out. Sorry to complain, but that's the way I feel.
-- Ron
TygrBright
(20,759 posts)I still say "groovy", too.
sheepishly,
Bright
In Internet slang, DH is an abbreviation for dear husband; it is commonly used by women on certain forums to refer to their husbands. Similarly, DD means dear daughter and DS means dear son. According to one forum participant interviewed in an ethnographic study, DH first appeared on America Online.[1]
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)until I saw this.
forgotmylogin
(7,528 posts)Fritz Walter
(4,291 posts)I was thinking "Designated Hitter," it being baseball season, and all.
Grokenstein
(5,722 posts)Every day these morons sound more and more like the "radical commie" stereotype they came up with to smear the left, just wrapped up in a Freedum Flag.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)that someone else, possibly in pain, and at the least someone who needed their services could have had 🤬 and walked
ProfessorGAC
(65,010 posts)The manager probably knew those "no mask" cards were fake and found a diplomatic way to say no.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)from the film Gettysburg.
aggiesal
(8,914 posts)"You wear clothes, right?"
They answer "Yes"
I reply, "That's government mandated too! Otherwise, you'd be arrested for indecent exposure."
They pretty much walk away.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)That would be a good documentary title.
The indecent exposure counter is a good one.
mnhtnbb
(31,384 posts)When the dentist or hygienist is ready for them, they text from the office and then you come up and are escorted back to the treatment room. No one is waiting in any part of the waiting area.
But, it is a one dentist office.
progree
(10,904 posts)Last edited Mon Jul 6, 2020, 10:26 PM - Edit history (1)
and it wasn't an issue at all. It's a fairly liberal suburb and usually the few fuckheads that are around (there are always some) behave.
Anyway, if we are to solve the climate change problem ... a lot more of us will have to go carless. That's just the reality of the situation.
27% of black families in the U.S. don't have cars ...
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/racial-wealth-gap/
mgardener
(1,816 posts)Hair salon.
Local barber ( for DH!)
Physical therapy.
Dr visit.
progree
(10,904 posts)Just wondering. (Do black lives matter? Do poor people's lives matter?)
Public transportation isn't really an option because the bus isn't just going to sit at the stop while you wait to be called in. And public transit has been greatly reduced and has become unreliable, e.g. if there's more than 10 people on the bus, they won't pick anymore people up, so its a crap shoot.
Taxi/Uber - not a practical solution to sit in the car, I don't think the driver would go for that, and of course even if they did, they charge per minute for idle/wait time.
Friend or extended family member -- as I said, 27% of black families don't have cars, so would have to be another household -- and that's a huge imposition, I'd be desperate before asking someone who I don't live with and therefore hasn't been in contact with my germs to drive me and then have me sit in the car waiting.
Just pace around outside? Fucking neighbors would call 911 on us.
27% of black families in the U.S. don't have cars ...
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/racial-wealth-gap/
MLAA
(17,288 posts)demgrrrll
(3,590 posts)improperly. This will never go away if people refuse to follow the rules. Wearing your mask over your mouth and not covering your nose is a pet peeve of mine. I am guessing a vent will be more restrictive than a mask. I am sick of the stupidity and willful ignorance.
Just sick of it. I am going to get my arse kicked one of these days.
C Moon
(12,212 posts)Newsflash: Trump is doing a great job of destroying himselfhe doesn't need the planet's help.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)disseminating New World Order conspiracy theories for decades to idiots who will listen .
C Moon
(12,212 posts)She used to be left-wing, vegan, animal rights person.
But since the lockdown, every time my wife talked to her (over the phone only), this person would begin a brainwashed-sounding lecture about some guy (who YouTube has since removed) who made claims about the virus being some sort of New World orderand I think he says it's even related to aliens from another world.
My wife finally told her she that they should agree to disagree and not talk about politics or the virus. But she continued lecturing her about this with each phone call.
They have since stopped talking. Her friend claims my wife is hiding from the truth.
The last email she got from her she said, "When this is all over, we will all be enlightened."
LiberalArkie
(15,715 posts)It was a black man last time and this time the planet is against an orange man
IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,787 posts)Sometimes the MAGAts are willing to compromise.
What they're willing to compromise is your health.
Link to tweet
/photo/1
Dukkha
(7,341 posts)Americans have way too much so-called "freedoms" and they need curtailed back in a big way. When the bottom percentage uneducated class are given freedom of choice, they will always make the wrong choice. Always. This has to end if humanity is going to survive.
Woodwizard
(842 posts)Giving voting literacy tests? The south already did that disenfranchising most of the black population for decades. Maybe start at the root, education.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)Kudos to you
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)Our facility is about ready to start having those that refuse masks forcibly removed by the police.
I guess it would be too much for her to understand that those working on her While she is maskless will be wearing N95s and full PPE while those at the front desk will not.
tavernier
(12,383 posts)go insane? Perhaps thats the case since it seems to react differently on different people Some get fevers, others dont, some get sore throats, others dont, some turn bat shit crazy, others dont
Fritz Walter
(4,291 posts)That TWWM was there to get her last remaining tooth fixed.
That, or she was tired of being told that her bad breath could knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)diva77
(7,640 posts)them from the airwaves.
(wishful thinking, I know)
Lord Ludd
(585 posts)or does Murka stand alone as the world's Idiocracy?
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)Trump could have helped, but he keeps stoking the problem.
In France, there's a group of people who are STILL upset that their royalty was overthrown by democratic principles during the French Revolution! They were interviewed on "Lucy Worsley's Royal Myths and Secrets" (PBS), lamenting how only royal bloodlines are connected to God and other such tripe.
Lord Ludd
(585 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(11,599 posts)lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)To see who next can act so utterly free of decorum, consideration or sense of self restraint. The contest has no prizes, just some vague sense of vengeance upon perceived authority. The crazed Trumpers act like the worst of the defiance syndrome pre-teenagers who eventually got sent to special schools.
I haven't discovered yet any updates on the upstart couple who began sloppily painting the BLM street mural in Martinez, Ca, only stopped and hastily abandoned their vandalism after several people camming the incident asked if they had permits to do this. Up until then they were screaming defiant overblown Fox Noise talking points.
We won't get this epidemic under control until police authorities are cracking down NOT on black and brown people minding their own damn beeswax but privileged Karen's like this who are a danger to the health, safety and peace of others. At least my money says this fits the Karen profile... M.I. right?
augyboston
(193 posts)Spot on and you're totally right when it comes to these idiots out to endanger everyone around them.
Throw them in jail, fine them heavily and publicize their arrests. That will put an end to this insanity once and for all!
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)(copy and paste of my original post)
Coronavirus: Face mask exemption cards and other US claims fact-checked
By Jack Goodman
BBC Reality Check
Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/53266431?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world&link_location=live-reporting-story
Excerpts:
One version includes a Justice Department seal and a link to the "Freedom to Breathe Agency". The cards warn that businesses could be reported to this so-called agency. But the cards are not genuine. An official government statement said: "These cards do not carry the force of law. The 'Freedom to Breathe Agency,' or FTBA,' is not a government agency."
According to fact-checkers Snopes, the Freedom to Breathe Agency is a Facebook group calling itself a "movement of proud American citizens who are dedicated to protecting their freedom and liberty".
One graphic shared thousands of times includes several misleading claims. It's called, What happens when you wear a face mask, and has been marked as containing false information on Instagram.
The article goes on to debunk some other examples of right-wing conspiracy nuttery.
More from BBC Reality Check: https://www.bbc.com/news/reality_check
KY.......
augyboston
(193 posts)The first few words of the Declaration of Independence "The Right to Life" and that trumps (I've grown to hate that word) your right to be a selfish idiot whose on some illogical crusade to endanger others while attempting to make some distorted illogical political statement!
We've got to throw a few of these morons in jail and publicize it. Then these instances will decline.
Of course having the day glow chowder head at the top making it a point to never wear a mask is where these blind sycophants get their marching orders to be openly and defiantly STUPID!
Sunriser13
(612 posts)I love this!!
BTW, Welcome to DU!!
augyboston
(193 posts)Thank you!
It's good to be among good people who believe in facts and democracy.