Covid-19: Masks not being worn by customers, abuse hurled at retail staff

Friday, 3 September 2021

Dimitris Merentitis, of Dimitris Greek Food, says his wife and daughter were verbally abused for asking customers to wear a mask. (File photo taken prior to lockdown).

Wear a mask and be kind is the message from a popular South Island food outlet owner.

Refusal to abide by social distancing rules and abusing staff for attempting to enforce those rules has been a common occurrence in lockdown, some workers say.

In alert level three and four, customers at all retail stores, including supermarkets, petrol stations, dairies and takeways, are legally required to wear a face mask to gain entry.

Dimitris Merentitis, owner of Christchurch's Dimitris Greek Food, said his wife and daughter were verbally abused in two separate incidents in two days when they asked a customer to wear a mask while waiting in line.

Merentitis says the Covid-19 situation could be much worse if we are reluctant to follow social distancing rules. (File photo taken prior to lockdown).

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The women were “yelled at” in both cases by men.

One anonymous Z petrol station worker says a quarter of his customers in lockdown have verbally abused him. (File photo)

“My staff are just following the rules … I’m not sure why this is happening,” he said.

Taking care and being cautious was the best approach to eradicate Covid-19, a lesson being learned the hard way in his home country Greece, he said.

“It’s better for everyone if we all follow the rules and be kind.”

The abuse prompted a social media post from Dimitris Greek Food on Wednesday, the first day re-opening since alert level four, reminding people to be kind and wear a mask.

Unfortunately, it is not just food outlet workers experiencing such abuse.

A quarter of all customers at a Christchurch Z petrol station were refusing to wear masks and abusing staff when prompted, one worker said.

A spokesman for Z says it is sad to see and hear that abuse is occurring towards its employees.

The worker, who did not wish to be named and worked during both of New Zealand’s alert level 4 lockdowns, said the abuse had become worse since last year.

He kept an incident log each time he was abused, and it averaged out at one in four customers.

Z Energy had not responded to his incident logs, he said.

His petrol station has no security staff, and he had not seen the police once during the most recent lockdown.

A Z spokesman acknowledged the “unwarranted abuse” of many essential workers across the country.

A man with Covid-19 who allegedly absconded from a quarantine facility posed no risk to the public, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson says.

“It is simply unacceptable and this behaviour must stop,” he said.

While most customers were friendly, the abuse directed at Z staff often related to them being asked to enforce Government guidelines, the spokesman said.

Z had zero tolerance for abuse and backed its staff to deal with these situations.

“New Zealand should really be better than this.”

According to The Spinoff, the petrol company’s ‘Mutual Kindness’ campaign launched last month to combat such abuse, but the worker said none of this had come to fruition at his store.

Supermarket staff have been another target of abuse in lockdown.

Last week, a 58-year-old man was charged with assault, resisting arrest, threatening to kill, and had been given an infringement notice for a Covid-19 related breach following an incident at a Christchurch supermarket.

The man denied allegations he spat at a security guard at the supermarket after refusing to wear a facemask.

In other flouting news, a man with Covid-19 who allegedly fled a quarantine facility walked almost 10km to his south Auckland home.

But, the escape posed no risk to public health, the Deputy Prime Minister said on Friday.

On Thursday, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said 163 people had been charged with 174 offences nationwide since alert level 4 began.

Of those, 113 were for failing to comply with an order (Covid-19) and 18 were for health act breaches.

Police had received a total of 15,269 105-online breach notifications so far.