Another anti-masker is vying for the internet’s title of ultimate “Costco Karen” after demanding a refund on her entire membership over being asked to wear a mask in the store.
A video shared to the r/PublicFreakout subreddit on Monday shows a maskless man and woman standing at the customer service counter of Costco. The woman, dubbed a “Karen,” is already mid-confrontation with employees and tells the worker behind the counter that the store is violating the American Disabilities Act by requiring customers to wear a mask.
When that doesn’t work, the woman informs him that Costco is violating the terms of the membership agreement and demands a full refund of her membership.
“If everybody canceled their memberships with Costco, they would stop this nonsense,” the woman tells a nearby customer.
Another employee, who looks to be a manager, hands the woman a printed copy of the mask mandate from their governor. But the woman, who is wearing a red Trump hat, insists the mandate is irrelevant because “the governor is not a dictator.”
“Costco follows the rules, is what it is,” another manager says.
The woman tries to argue that this particular Costco is not following the rules because its corporate website allows for people with medical exemptions to not wear a mask.
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But eight months into the pandemic, it’s obvious this manager knows the policies and knows how to handle anti-masker complaints. She tells the customer that a letter from her doctor exempting her from wearing a mask would be sufficient enough to allow her to shop in the store without a mask, but the woman hasn’t provided that.
“Where in my membership agreement does it say I have to wear a mask in order to shop?” the woman fires back. She is told that the membership agreement requires her to follow store policies.
After a seemingly endless back and forth, the customer makes it clear that the core of her refusal to wear a mask is that she doesn’t believe the coronavirus is real.
“There isn’t any corona now! There isn’t! It’s a lie!” the woman insists before calling hospital workers “the most ignorant of all.”
“There are doctors all over the internet talking about how masks do nothing. You people are all a bunch of sheeple,” the woman says. “You guys are just bowing down to communism.”
Though she continues to try to argue with the managers after her refund is finished processing, the second she is no longer a Costco member, they shoo her right out of the store.
The mention of Santa Fe and reference to a female governor suggests that the altercation may have taken place in New Mexico, which saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rise over the last six weeks before peaking at nearly 1,100 in a single day on Oct. 29.
The state has seen over 1,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus so far this year, while the death toll in the U.S. has risen to around 231,000 people.
