I would have stopped by Customer Service before walking out.

You're much nicer than me. I think I would've had to find the store manager. Not that I would want to cost an employee their job, but an employee not masking when it's mandated has pretty much cost herself her job. What a crummy and entitled attitude she must have.

In fact, I think I would even call the store after the fact and speak to the manager. This isn't a joke; this pandemic is life and death for entirely too many.

I agree with both gray wings and Ida. If I couldn’t speak immediately to a manager I would call and make sure I spoke to the manager

Definitely call the store and complain. You don't need to identify the worker if you don't want to--it'll still have an effect. I'd call or email corporate too and let them know that your store isn't following the policy.

I almost stopped by Customer Service, but I didn't want to get myself more worked up.

I thought about calling, but have you ever tried to call your local Costco? I tried to call before I went because our Costco had to be evacuated on Wednesday because of a nearby fire, and I wanted to make sure that they would be open before I went over there in our current hazardous air quality. Got a long recording which urged me to go to Costco.com with my questions.

That maskless mother who brought 3 young children out of the house when our air quality is in the hazardous zone was also making me mad.

I probably shouldn't have gone at all, but we were out of a lot of things since we had cleaned out our perishables before we visited our daughter in LA last week.

Grrr...makes me so mad that happened to you! Glad you're home now. Our air quality up in Seattle is very bad today & I read online that Portland OR's is the worst for cities today!!

Portland OR's is the worst for cities today!!

According to AirNow.gov, Portland is "merely" very unhealthy today at 279 AQI.

Post on social media, really. Go to the Costco page, like them, then post your experience.

I posted on the Costco FB page, and tried to message them on Twitter, but their account doesn't accept direct messages.

Masks are mandatory in our state and yet, every “medical” clinic I have to go to for work has staff who are not wearing masks, including the management. They insist that patients have them, and will have them atleast to their face when patients walk by (but mostly under their noses) yet the minute the coast is clear, they all come off. I find it to be pretty disheartening.

I was driving on the freeway today and the electronic traffic sign that is controlled by the road commission had this message posted. I thought it was pretty bold coming from a government agency.

HAVE SOME R E S P E C T!

WEAR A MASK!

Given the mess with the fires, I would expect much response at the local level. Post all over social media and write an old-fashioned paper letter to the corporate office.

COSTCO Corporate Mailing Address

PO Box 34331
Seattle, WA 98124

It's mandatory here too in NJ and I have yet to see anyone in a store without a mask. Actually the compliance has been pleasantly surprising.

It's mandatory in Oregon and I haven't seen one person without a mask. I am really surprised so many in your area are defying the mandate, terri.

Our air quality is 278. I am about 15 minutes outside of Portland and my entire County is under evacuation watch. I am at the lowest level alert but we have been advised to be prepared to evacuate. So I am very cranky and I think if I encountered that employee I would have told her I was about to get her fired. My tolerance level for jerks is zero so maybe it's a good thing I decided to use Instacart today :-)

Mtn, I won’t hire anyone who spouts off like that to me. Number one, they’re stupid because they dont know what I think (we can’t put signs out here until 9/18/20) and second, if they are too dumb to recognize a public health emergency as big as this one chances are they can’t do a decent job of anything.

The air quality got up to 300, 400 levels when I was in Beijing a few years ago. You definitely want to be wearing a mask when it's that high.

It's mandatory in Oregon and I haven't seen one person without a mask. I am really surprised so many in your area are defying the mandate, terri.

You haven't spend much time in down here in Southern Oregon have you, lol?

It's a whole different state down here. Very Red. Lots of Recall Governor Brown people down here.

One reason that I didn't persist while I was in the store was because another customer verbally attacked me, and pulled her mask down because I asked the employee to mask up.

I noticed while we were in Los Angeles last week that almost everyone wore masks, many kept them on when walking in their own neighborhoods far away from other people. I don't see that here. Northern California/Southern Oregon is very different than the large population centers of California and Oregon.

One other thing at my local Costco, and I don't know if this is widespread - they are now giving out food samples again. There is a sign that the samples are not to be consumed in the store, but come on, you know that people are going to take off their masks and eat the right there. It's not like they are giving them doggie bags to take all their samples home in.

I really miss samples. But not that much.

I got reprimanded the other day at the salon. They have little envelopes and a drop box for tips. I licked the envelope (under my mask). Oops.

Costco/Sams/Walmart would be too many people for me; I don't shop there in good times much less now LOL. Actually I will not shop at Walmart period, but I won't go there. I shop at a local store and if I happen to get to the parking lot and it's too many people for my liking, I leave. I went today also and I really wasn't looking at masks (for once). I guess that means I'm more used to the situation??? Although it is mandated here, it all comes down to who/if it will be enforced. usually I will see 2 or 3 without masks. Children under 12 don't have to wear masks. I have yet to see an EMPLOYEE at my store or drugstore without a mask. There is one young man at the grocery that has a hard time remembering to pull his mask up over his nose, but I will say that it appears he is trying. Now our local post office is another story. They will send you right back out if you try coming in without a mask.

Can I jump on your rant terriks and add my own?

Decided to take advantage of an empty parking lot at a furniture store the other day since we need sofas. Big sign on the door, masks required, employee comes to greet me pulling up his mask but stops short of his nose. In the walk through the store he explains the lead time on special orders is supposed to be 8-10 weeks but is really 16-20 so I'm better off buying off the floor - whatever. Making conversation I asked why the long lead time for products made here in the US (and a lot right here in NC). I understand for things coming from overseas but that's not what I'm after. He said 'the manufacturers can only staff at 50% levels and even then not all employees bother to show up because, you know, they are getting unemployment and that added $600/week so they'd just rather stay home.' I just stopped in my tracks and he had to turn around to see me when I said 'nobody is getting rich off this pandemic and especially not the people who are collecting unemployment and no longer get that $600/wk.' Then I walked out.

Good for you, DLM! Thank you.

I'd be willing to bet that Costco's store policy throughout the company is mandatory masks. I know that Walmart's is and that included Sam's Club.

Good for you DLM.

Costco was one of the retailers who I believe has handled this pandemic very well, from requiring masks and sanitizing carts, to limiting purchases to prevent stockpiling. My local one also has a big whiteboard at the entry outlining what popular items are in stock/out of stock (tp, paper towels, sanitizing wipes, etc.). If an employee is in violation, the local management should be informed, and I'd be willing to bet you aren't the only one who noticed, Terriks.

^^^Yes that is their national policy, and I believe that they were the first nationwide chain to institute a mask policy.

Good for you DLM. I can't believe the lack of support that people have towards their fellow citizens.

Those collecting that extra $600 definitely weren't getting rich, and I've read that some have said that extra money helped them feel like they could breathe again and not be stressed all the time.

But you know who is getting richer during the pandemic? Billionaires. 😡

....and Amazon (and where does a lot of their stuff come from...)

Of course we know the rich are getting richer terriks but I wasn't interested in further conversation with anyone so ignorant and callous. And their furniture was cr@p, too!

Mtr, not 100percent compliance in ct. I had to ask the woman at the hospital admitting desk as I checked my dh in for surgery weds. to please put on a mask. A coworker sitting next to her thanked me for speaking up. The woman I ask was polite after my request and had it on every other time I saw her. I think she may have pulled down to sip coffee and forgot to pull it back on. It was 5:30am.

I also have a list of can no longer get takeout because employee masks not covering noses.

Wow, at the hospital!? Good for you Roarah. Best to your DH, hope all went well.

Back in May I got a Covid anitbody test. I had a really unusual cough, lower respiratory, fatigue illness, and though I didn't think that it was Covid, I thought that I would get the test done anyway.

The test was done at a new Urgent Care place in town, and when I went in the receptionist had a mask on, but they didn't have a glass partition in front of her. There was another woman ahead of me, and when the receptionist started to talk to her she pulled her mask down! So there she is without a partition spewing spit as she talks! (not literally spitting, but of course droplets travel farther when you are speaking) 🤦

Mask wearing is generally good in metro MN with some exceptions. I was appalled to see a couple desk clerks at the clinic I went to for my Shingles vaccine pull theirs down and chit chat with each other albeit at a distance but with lots of patients still in the clinic. I still see a few below the nose and I did yesterday see a woman with a hijab and related full body covering but mask held in her hand at Walgreens when I picked up a prescription. So far I've not confronted anyone. I'm about ready to start and/or report it to management of the establishment when it's an employee.

My neighbor was telling me that he couldn't stand to wear a mask at work so he was pulling it under his nose because he would get a splitting headache if he had on a mask. He had a doctor customer that reported him to the health department and he was reprimanded. He finally found a mask he could wear that didn't give him a headache. But yeah, I'd report them to the health department and let them deal. It's one thing to accidentally forget to pull it back up but the refuse to put it on when someone points it out isn't OK. As long as it is a mandate we don't have any choice!

I've seen very little noncompliance.

I have seen people not wearing masks correctly and I just look at them deliberately and adjust my mask, or make a deliberate motion to indicate cover the nose...so far they've gotten the idea and have complied. I've also said, "Mask please" to workers if I see them without.

Of course, once the noncompliance was me...as I was heading into the post office and forgot to put it on...a woman in the parking lot stared at me....I was thinking why is she staring? Then I realized. Walked back to the car, got my mask and then proceeded. Thank you!

Almost zero noncompliance in New York. Almost everyone I see is wearing a mask over their nose and mouth. Even most small children are wearing one correctly.

I'm still not very comfortable in public and limit my time inside public spaces to as little as possible. I'm not really worried about outside in parks and whatnot. However I haven't set foot inside a retail store since March, except for brief weekly trips to a grocery store.

I went to Costco Wednesday for the first time since pre-Covid days. Felt like a kid in a candy store. But everyone was wearing a mask, including every single customer I saw. They also had the tasting stations open, but I didn‘t take anything as I usually don’t anyway.

The worst we have seen is in restaurants. Yes, we have started going out some and we‘ve been at the lake for a few days, so decided to try one of our favorite places. Thankfully we asked to be seated in a small room with few tables. Most of the wait staff wore masks but we did see one (not serving us) who had hers dangling from one ear. And when we left we saw more customers leaving without masks than with them. Disheartening to say the least.

Publix has removed the one-way aisles in the grocery store, thankfully. Half the old men and young women shopping there never paid attention to them anyway.

Ah yes, the one way aisles. LOL. Great idea in theory but obviously too complicated for the average person. :) I'm glad to see those die out.

We went to midstate hospital in Meridian to the orthopedic center, mtr. We usually use Yale/smilow but my husband's knee surgeon left because he hated the facility and parking fees yale charges patients. It was one employee out of many we met with thankfully. Meridian is actually an issue spot right now though :(

Dh is doing ok. He had double knee replacements the day my daughter and i both started back at school and extra curriculum activities started again so I am exhausted he really needs round the clock help hopefully by modal he will be more stable on the stairs.

Wow, I don't know anything about knee replacements but it seems amazing you can do that and walk stairs a few days later.

Publix has removed the one-way aisles in the grocery store, thankfully. Half the old men and young women shopping there never paid attention to them anyway.

I will go the wrong way if the store is not busy and that particular aisle is empty. Then quick switch if I'm caught. Scofflaw.

Hah! Well, I figure if I'm going the wrong way in, I'll be going the right way when I walk out!

Or I'll leave the cart at the end of the aisle and just sneak in to get what I want. But mostly the aisles are empty so I pay little attention if they are.

On my soapbox to say that if we had reasonable leadership at the national level down, it wouldn't be up to Costco (or Walmart or wherever) staff to enforce public health standards.

This is what infuriates and saddens me most. We have a president who deliberately downplayed the danger then went further and mocked/belittled scientists, his own medical experts, governors and indeed all in authority who were trying to react safely and logically. So now here we are with a ridiculous patchwork of state/local laws, standards and mandates. It's also obvious our national strategy has become 'open up and too bad that those who get sick and die won't make it'. Unbelievable.

So unnecessary and so terribly morally wrong. No store clerk or greeter should be put into the position of acting as a public health-law enforcement agent. That job should have gone to the government officers who have that responsibility and authority. Or at least SHOULD have had both.

Speaking of one way aisles, I recently went to a Michaels. I was the first and only customer in the store. I had never been there before and was a bit confused where the checkout entrance was and when I did, I realized I was at the exit and not the entrance to the cashiers. However, being the only customer in the store and there being only one cashier behind a register, i entered the "wrong" way. I told the clerk I was there to pick up a package. She told me I would just have to wait. She then started to lecture me about entering the exit instead of the entrance (which was at least 20 feet away.) I told her I realized that and I was sorry. She then continued to lecture me. I then asked her if she wanted me to go all the way around and enter the correct way (which would bring me right back to her register.) She said not this time. I asked her if she saw I had a broken foot? (It is just a broken pinky toe, but what the heck.) She said it didn't matter. I needed to follow the rules. Wow this rant makes me feel so much better. (btw...Michaels sent me a customer satisfaction survey with a space to type 1000 words about my experience with the store :-).

Terri, I did not know that about Southern Oregon! Wanna move here? :-).

I have to pick up my mail inside a General Store where the owner/Post Mistress rarely puts on her mask (it’s the Law here to wear one inside a business or other public place). Every time I go in I have to “tell her” to put on her mask. It used to drive me crazy...but I’m getting better at not letting it bother me so much. For me I think COVID has resulted in more intolerance and has made me dislike people

It's hit or miss here. I put off having my vehicles serviced during the lockdown, so I've had both in to a new repair shop (recommended by my mechanic cousin who doesn't have the computer diagnostic equipment needed). I wore a mask both times, but saw no one else in the shop with one, and the first time I was there the only other customer didn't have a mask on.

The day I dropped off the second vehicle and picked up the first, I stopped at a local orchard. There was a sign outside stating mandatory mask use, and asking customers to sanitize their hands before entering. One man was removing his mask as he came out the door, and all other customers were wearing masks. The employee at the cash register had on a mask, but the sorters in the back did not. While I was there, sorters twice brought bags of apples to the front of the store, without wearing masks.

The guy who came to my house to wallpaper wore a mask as did we when we were talking with him. He remarked on it and thanked us for it. Apparently he's in the market for a new kidney and covid could easily kill him.

Terriks, I camped in Eastern Oregon at the end of July (Bend area and further east near the John Day Fossil Beds). I was expecting low compliance (because politics) and ended up pleasantly surprised. The staff at businesses we went to were almost uniformly masked. There were definitely some customers who weren't, but we didn't feel like freaks or objects of ridicule for wearing our masks, which I was a little bit concerned about heading out. I stayed overnight in Weed in Northern California, and compliance was much worse there than in Bend or Mt. Vernon or John Day.

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, and compliance is good here, probably due to a combination of politics, policies, and infection rates.

I guess I should have added that I live in Ontario, Canada a bit north of Toronto. I am so thankful there was no Politics with Covid here. I would be totally stressed out if I lived in the U.S. I feel so sorry for you guys, because it didn’t have to be that way

Terri, I did not know that about Southern Oregon! Wanna move here? :-).

Yes! Even though your weather isn't as good as ours. The Rogue Valley is beautiful, but it's such a d r i v e to get anywhere else from here.

My husband is no longer working (though he might be tempted by the perfect job), and I'm just dying to move out of the area. Our kids live in LA, Denver and NYC, and they are never coming back here, so there is really nothing holding us here. But he is such a homebody and introvert that he doesn't see the point of moving.

I don't really know where I'd like to live though. It needs to be a place with good weather, highly walkable, and not a higher cost of living place than where we are now. Oh, and close to a major metropolitan area/international airport. Basically, what most everyone else is looking for. The big stumbling block is the cost of living part.

In a perfect world my husband would be offered his dream job in my dream location. 😄