Notes from a pandemic….

“On my way to Charlotte, I had to stop at a convenience store for the restroom. I walked far around one employee on a smoke break outside the store. I was the only person of perhaps 20 inside who was masked and was clearly being given the stink eye.

“I brought a drink to the counter to pay and the employee behind the plexiglass screen asked me if that was all. I said yes, and he said, ‘Take it.’ I was like, ‘Oh thanks, happy Mother’s Day?’ And he said, ‘No, your mask is scaring us.’ ”

— Facebook commenter Kay West of Asheville, cited in “What It’s Like to Wear a Mask in the South” by Margaret Renkl in the New York Times (June 1)