In the strangest move ever, a couple was kicked out of a Texas restaurant because they had on face masks. Yes, you read that right.
Natalie Wester and her husband, Jose Lopez-Guerrero, were out to dinner at Hang Time Bar & Grill in Rowlett, Texas, with some friends. The couple has a 4-month-old baby at home and were on a very rare date. But that date was soon cut short by a bizarre and reckless policy.
Natalie and her husband were wearing their face masks, something they make sure to do in public settings. It's especially important to them because their son has cystic fibrosis. But they were actually told they couldn't stay in the restaurant if they kept their masks on while waiting for their food. Even when they explained their baby's condition, they were told to remove their masks or get out.
Natalie was so rattled by the incident that she went home and wrote a lengthy post on Facebook about what had happened. She wrote, "Tonight my husband and I had a very unpleasant experience at Hang Time in Rowlett. We entered the bar wearing our mask, and at the front a girl informed us to take it off as she checked our IDs."
But Natalie and her husband soon figured out that the request didn't have to do with checking IDs. It was the owner's policy that people not wear masks. "About half an hour passes and our waitress comes, sits down next to me, and says 'Our manager sent me over because I’m nicer than he is. And yes, this is political.' She then told me that masks are not allowed in their building, and they can make the rules because they are private business. She said that the mask 'doesn’t work, is like using a chain-link fence to keep out mosquitoes, and doesn’t give people enough oxygen.'”
Natalie shared the reason that wearing masks is so important to her and her husband with her Facebook followers, writing, "My son, Austin, is four months old. When he was born, we found out that he had cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a very life-threatening genetic disorder, and if my son were to contract Covid he would need to be hospitalized."
The restaurant's policy is absolutely dangerous and stunningly ignorant in the first place. But when Natalie told the waitress that she and her husband were wearing masks in order to be extra careful because they have an immunocompromised infant, the waitress didn't change her stance. She told them that if they didn't remove their masks, they would have to close their check and leave. WOW.
Natalie talked to Today about the entire ordeal. "I in no way intended to slander his business or be rude and aggressive … But I wanted to explain my frustrations, because I do feel like this kind of mentality that the owner has has contributed to the really high numbers of COVID in Texas," she said. "I was just very frustrated, so I made a post."
Of course, since Natalie's post hit the internet, there has been backlash. But the restaurant owner isn't backing down. He's defending his stance saying that it's his business and he doesn't have to allow masks if he doesn't want to. Even if it will protect the most vulnerable, it doesn't matter. He's not going to allow it.
"I feel the overall reaction with masks is ridiculous in the United States right now," owner Tom Blackmer told KTVT. "So when they put their masks on the other night, they were reminded that they were asked at the front to take it off. They didn’t want to, so we asked them to leave."
