There’s nothing spookier than someone else’s germs.
TikTok creator Giselle (@dankmemeroyalty) tells a true horror story in a recent viral video about her time as an employee at seasonal retail chain Spirit Halloween. The video has more than 71,000 views and 8,300 likes.
In the video, Giselle says, “The masks? I was not getting paid to disinfect masks.” She says that she was always running the cash register. “You know what’s crazy? A mask would be worn by like minimum five people a day before it was bought,” she says.
Kids would often put on a mask and wander around the store for an extended period of time. “They get their snot in there. They sneeze. They cough. They laugh. They talk,” Giselle says. People would take the masks off and their heads would be dripping in sweat, Giselle added in a text overlay.
@dankmemeroyalty it feels like common sense but please make sure to disinfect the things you buy bc you never know if someone wore it and put it back or if they purchased it, wore it, then returned it 😭😭 #foryoupage #spirithalloween #foryou #halloween ♬ original sound – giselle
And then, Giselle concluded, the cycle would repeat itself once the mask was back on the shelf, with no cleaning in between.
In the caption, the creator wrote, “It feels like common sense but please make sure to disinfect the things you buy bc you never know if someone wore it and put it back or if they purchased it, wore it, then returned it.”
“I believe it there’s so much vids of people wearing em,” one person commented.
Another person wrote, “It wasn’t even task to clean them but it should’ve been!” Giselle commented, “Right like why were we not being asked to disinfect (at the very least) returned merchandise.”
“Do you guys not clean things you buy? anything that isn’t boxed you should be cleaning ur things,” a viewer chimed in.
“The most my location would do is put returns on hold for two days and then put them back on the shelf. No disinfecting, nothing. This was in 2021 too,” a comment read.
“Yeaaa the amount of ppl who just nonchalantly put on Halloween masks always ruined the appeal for me. Even as a kid,” another person commented.
“My mom always told me not to put sunglasses, masks or any of that on my face from the store as a little girl,” someone wrote.
“I never buy mask anymore because that’s all I could think about … they should’ve been behind a counter or a glass case,” a commenter offered.
Lifestyle publication Self earlier in the year tackled whether or not you need to wash new clothing. In scenarios where you know other people have tried on an item before you, “it automatically has the potential to carry all kinds of pathogens, like staph, norovirus, and even bits of feces,” according to the article, which says you should probably wash such items before wear.
Halloween product manufacturing company Distortions Unlimited recommends cleaning latex masks with gentle dish soap and a towel or soft sponge
The Daily Dot reached out to Giselle via TikTok and Spirit Halloween via email.
