Compassion and Understanding for Locally Owned Small Businesses

Please have compassion and understanding for locally-owned small businesses emerging from the COVID-19 crisis.

I feel for today’s small business owners, who have to protect their customers, their employees’ health during this pandemic, and deal with massive loss of business. I believe we should all understand the pressure they are experiencing and give them our compassion, as many of them are really suffering or, even if they got the assistance I can assure you it was often not enough, and some were shut out of the assistance altogether.  

Please treat small business owners and staff with respect -- if you don’t agree with how they’re following guidelines, express yourself like an adult, instead of causing a scene or slamming them online. Remember that others may feel completely safe there. If you are one of those who are posting pictures like “look at this stupid person not doing X,” stop! You are only adding to the hate in the world. Either talk to a manager as a responsible citizen or just vote with your feet and stop going there. After such a loss in business, now they have a new set of problems and expenses with opening up again. Some will spend thousands of dollars to re-fit their business only to have possibly ? or fewer customers. 

One of the many difficult obstacles facing small business owners now is getting their employees and customers to wear face masks. I’m wondering how we get people to comply with the rule when we are receiving so much mixed messaging on the subject? And on a practical level, when wearing a mask feels so uncomfortable & makes communication so difficult?   

Here are two examples of why the confusion can occur:

• Maria Cohut Ph.D. from Medical NewsToday, on April 13 reminded us that there is no consensus from researchers or public health officials regarding the effectiveness of face masks, and pointed out “new findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest that neither surgical nor cloth masks are at all effective in stopping the spread of [COVID-19].”
• Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS’ 60 Minutes Overtime on May 6 that unless people are infected or in an area with a high rate of active infection, they should not be wearing masks so that the available supply of masks can be reserved for health care and other essential workers. 

While researchers and government officials make up their minds, small business owners find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Without an all-encompassing mandate, they must navigate what has become essentially a culture war, protect the health of their staff and clientele and conduct business in an atmosphere of anxiety & anger, which is a tall order given they’re also facing losing their shirts.

And the guidelines out now depend greatly upon where you live. According to The Washington Post, the consequences of non-compliance vary wildly depending on where you live -- some Americans are too concerned to wear a mask because face masks are illegal in 15 states, while citizens who don’t wear masks in one Texas border town face a $1,000 fine (Marc Fisher, Clarence Williams, and Lori Rozsa, April 18, 2020).   

In Asia, where they’ve been more successful at containing the virus, people are stigmatized for not wearing face masks, while in Western countries, people, especially men fear being seen as weak for wearing one, (Uri Friedman, April 2, 2020, The Atlantic), even though medical evidence has proven that even homemade masks can reduce the rate of spread by 75% (Fox News, May 20). When I visited Japan in the 80s anyone that had cold or flu symptoms wore a facemask, but the general public did not. It is easier for their culture to implement because they have a saying “the nail that stands out always must be hammered back down.” 

Now that we know asymptomatic people can spread the disease unknowingly (William Petri, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia, in ScienceAlert.com, May 1), we must begin making a cultural “sea change” if we are to survive, and the onus is on small business owners to initiate the movement, but how do they enforce the rule when to do so risks bodily harm? In The New York Times on May 15, 2020, Neil MacFarquhar reported that retail employees have suffered broken arms, punched faces, and been shot, one fatally.  

The NY Times article pointed out that “[m]ask opponents generally overlook the fact that [mask] regulations are meant to protect other people, not the person wearing the mask,” said Wendy E. Parmet, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University.

MacFarquhar’s article went on to say that “[S]maller retailers feel especially vulnerable to balancing the need for safety and the need to revive their bottom line,” which becomes even more significant as more areas begin the reopening process. Click here to read the full NY Times article https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-masks-violence.html

How do we make it easier for folks to follow the rules? I’ve seen some small businesses have mask-making parties, encouraging people to decorate their masks; some reward employees for wearing masks and for frequent handwashing, others keep track of local statistics & celebrate when numbers go down...there are any number of ways we can use this pandemic as an opportunity to promote creativity and solidarity.  

Please cut small-local business owners and employees some slack and give them the business you can! They are trying their best to stay afloat, burdened by heavy expenses with just a fraction of their regular income. Like it or not, we are all in this together -- and we are stronger when we show each other respect and compassion. The way we treat each other now will ensure that we come out better on the other side.