You don’t have to go shopping there, but the rest of us voted and you should calm your angry keyboard hands.

I spent an entire week in Bar Harbor recently and we had some overcast weather.

This sent my family and friends into the stores to do some shopping. I was nervous initially because Bar Harbor is a a tourist hot spot and I didn’t want anyone breathing their hot New York breath on me (kidding!). It wasn’t long before I noticed that all the patrons were wearing masks and abiding by social distancing recommendations. This made it easier for me to blow my pay check and harness all of the kids that were shopping with us.

This got me to thinking about local spots that I frequent and some of the backlash they have faced in keeping up with the Rona mandates.

One such establishment recently posted their mask policy to facebook and they were instantly hit with a plethora of angry keyboard hands about how this family would not be supporting this local business anymore. This was super confusing to me, because I love a good online shakedown, but if I was anti-mask, I think I would just think to MYSELf in my own BRAIN, that oh that place is requiring masks, I guess I won’t shop there anymore. I’m perplexed as to why people feel the need to berate small business owners who are simply trying to make a go of it, for a policy that they did not create, to keep people safe in an environment that sucks the big one.

For example, my husband dragged me to Foxwoods one time and I sat at the bar people watching, while he spent our car payment at the poker table.

People chain smoked next to me, while I continuously took my inhaler out of my fanny pack and took hit after hit. After sucking on the ol’ albuterol ten plus times, and feeling like my heart was beating out of my chest, I made a mental note, that maybe this environment wasn’t the best for myself or my health. Not once did I go on social media and say suck it Foxwoods, nor did I go around to the happy gamboling ladies and gents and say lung cancer much? No, I made the decision not to return to this particular spot, right inside my own head, without bothering anyone else. Who would have thunk?

Additionally, owning a small business is not easy these days.

Restaurants have had to rearrange their furniture, limit customers, wear masks, be more vigilant about social distancing etc. Then when they post their new protocols on social media to make their customers feel safer, they get ridiculed for being safe. I don’t get it. In my mind, this is not really a political issue, this is a human issue. If you don’t like something, don’t do it, but just shut on up about it. If you have a medical reason for not wearing a mask, bring your documentation or go somewhere else. Small businesses are not discriminating against you personally, they are discriminating against an unrelenting virus. Choose your anger accordingly.

For every small business that I can think of that I support, one has closed down over this pandemic.

I frequent Lisa’s Legit, but my beloved Pastaaz is closed. I go to Lakeside Orchard, but Frosty’s is shut down. I like the Old Goat, but my son can’t go to Scrummy’s Candy Shop anymore. I just don’t get where all the haterade comes from. Be nice and wear a mask, or be nice and go where masks aren’t required, or be an a-hole and sit on your back porch and have a Bud light by yourself. But please, leave your angry keyboard fingers at home and let the businesses do what they have to do to survive.