So, I was checking-in a patient today who had his mask down under his chin.

[Laffy Kat]

I'm sure the greeter/nurses didn't let him in that way which means he pulled it down as he was walking up to me. While I was checking him in, I asked him, nicely, to please pull the mask up over his nose. His reply, "I see you're still drinking the Kool-aid." I acted like I didn't hear him, but what I WANTED to say: "I see you're still watching Fox News." What is it with middle-aged white men? It's always middle-aged white men!

[ret5hd]

1. Reply: "Better than drinking your spittle."

[Laffy Kat]

3. Thank heavens for the plexiglass barrier in front of my station.

It truly does get covered with spittle throughout the day. We have a team of environmental service workers, god love 'em, who wipe them down and sanitize them almost hourly.

[In_The_Wind]

2. They are trying to act macho.

[Claire Oh Nette]

24. they fool no one

They are terrified it's true, so they posture and act tough. How masks affect a man's perceived masculinity escapes me. They are afraid, and accuse others of being afraid. They're all immunologists and virologists and infectious disease experts, these middle aged white men you see. Selfish, insecure cowards.

I see them, too. Two dudes, peaked in high school on the JV, and the grocery store manager politely offered them masks, and they both said they had medical conditions that prevented them. Um, yeah. If you have a medical condition precluding you from wearing a mask, you ought take advantage of curbside...

[magicarpet]

4. Real alpha males don't wear masks,... only pinko commies do.

[Deb]

5. They are afraid of death. Wearing a mask is an outward sign of their own mortality.

[enough]

28. Yes. NT

[brush]

6. They take their cue from stupid trump, the dumbest president ever...

and who looks like them. Well, that's not quite rignt. Nobody looks as ridiculous as trump.

[Laffy Kat]

8. They must.

Although, we have had some belligerent women, too. One woman told my co-worker that she had "permission from her doctor" to wear her mask under her nose. Right.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

7. Yeah

I noticed it's white men approaching middle age and middle aged consistently showing thier ass in these situations.

I'm repulsed by them,they look like each other to some degree too.

[Laffy Kat]

9. They DO look like each other! So true. nt

[I_UndergroundPanther]

14. It's like they share a uniform of sorts

That right-wing shithead look. When I see middle age white men that look a certain way ,wearing that unofficial uniform, I get away from them. Doesn't matter if it's one or a dozen I feel a mixture of rage and utter disgust that's visceral.

[Laffy Kat]

23. Oh, I've gotten to wear I can see them coming.

My co-workers can, too. They do have "a look."

[I_UndergroundPanther]

30. True that

[Iris]

10. Yep. And not just middle-aged - their college aged sons and daughters

also feel entitled to endanger the lives of others.

[Laffy Kat]

13. I'm sure that's true, although most of the younger people I check-in have been compliant.

Frankly, the younger patients are more polite, too.

[Iris]

15. That's good to hear. I work on a college campus

Compliance breaks down along racial lines with our Black students being the most conscientious about masks.

[torius]

11. Say "you're now eating what

came out of your nose that got onto the inside of the mask.”

[I_UndergroundPanther]

12. Lol

[Meowmee]

16. Can you report it him and

Have him removed and or prevented from doing it again for endangering you and everyone there? They need to have consequences for doing this.

[Laffy Kat]

17. Well, he pulled it up when I asked him to and if he pulled it down again...

He would be continually asked to pull it back up. However, we have had to get security involved before and security has also had to call the police on a few occasions. There's a pretty good protocol for that.

[Meowmee]

18. Well at least the security will take care if needed

They should really just tell idiots like this they can’t be a patient there anymore, one strike and you're out. I am so relieved I am teaching online so I don’t have to deal with students and masks etc. they told people who are teaching in person, very few this semester that they should call security immediately with any mask issues.

[3catwoman3]

19. I did a little mask experiment at home a few days ago.

I have my own pulse oximeter ($39.99 on sale at Walgreens). I put on a paper mask for 15 minutes. Pulse ox varied minimally between 96-97%, which is exactly what it was without the mask.

Next, I put on one of my husband’s n-95 masks which he uses while spray painting his model airplanes. Same thing - 96-97%.

[Laffy Kat]

21. It's homeostasis, biology 101.

When our O2 is reduced our heart beats a little faster and our respiration increases a bit and we return to our normal state. The only time I notice it now is when I climb stairs and it only lasts a minute or two before I'm back to normal. People who get quickly winded when they wear a mask may actually be hyperventilating. Think about surgeons who wear masks all day while they perform brain surgery!

[3catwoman3]

25. I'll have to try it again and monitor pulse as well - this little...

...device does both. Didn’t think to monitor HR.

I wear a mask all day at the pediatric office. It makes my nose run, my mouth dry from mouth-breathing, my glasses fog up, and the backs of my ears hurt, but it doesn’t make my short of breath.

I was going to retire next summer. I think I’m ready now.

[Laffy Kat]

26. It's wonderful you have the option to retire. Good for you.

And I wouldn't blame you in the least. I turn 64 next March. I was going to try to hang on until 67, but I don't think I could take it that much longer. I feel more ready every day.

[3catwoman3]

27. I'm 69 now, and have been a nurse practitioner since...

...1976 - 44 years. It feels like long enough.

If I could do just well baby, I’d probably stay forever, but we see patients until they graduate college, and I don’t enjoy the complexity and drama of all the teenage and emerging adult years. Add on electronic medical records, which I find very time consuming and make me feel more like a data entry clerk than a clinician, and now COVID - it’s no fun anymore.

[RobinA]

35. Mine

does most of that plus makes me cough AND makes me short of breath.

[diane in sf]

20. I call that dick nose.

[Laffy Kat]

22. That's what it looks like.

[NurseJackie]

29. You have much more patience that I do. I'd have thrown his records in the trash and shouted: NEXT!

Did you hear about the Karen on American Airlines who was argumentative about wearing her mask properly and then wrote a nasty-gram to her flight attendant? She's banned for life from American Airlines.

[Harker]

31. Not always. n/t

[Aristus]

32. Whatever he was actually there for, tell him it's a hoax and go home.

If he refuses, just say "Oh, so it's not a hoax if it's happening to you?"

[Laffy Kat]

33. So many things I WANTED to say.

We have to be so careful.

[gratuitous]

34. "I see you're still drinking the Kool-Aid"

Which would prompt me to stop all motion entirely, slo-o-o-o-o-wly raise my head with the deadest of dead-pan expressions and look him square in the eye, silent and immobile, until he fixed his mask properly.