WS Chronicle

Dine out safely

To The Editor:

“No shoes, no shirt, no service.” Most of us have probably seen that sign at restaurants at the beach.

My heart goes out to our local restaurants who have suffered the past year due to the pandemic and I applaud them for changing business models to continue to safely serve their customers. I know they were particularly affected Valentine’s weekend due to the bad weather. They are trying their best to survive.

I have occasionally ordered from a restaurant’s drive-thru, but have only been inside a restaurant once since March … until recently. I decided to take a chance again and go inside a new restaurant, mostly to purchase a gift card, but also to get a take-out order, a simple hotdog and fries. While waiting for my number to be called, I noticed all the staff were wearing masks and following protocols, which gave me a sense of security.

The customers, however, were a different story. 

Some had taken off their masks to eat, then went to refill their drinks at the beverage station without wearing a mask. Some were wearing masks under their nose, or even under their mouth! The tipping point was when three people came in without masks and began talking about what to order. I approached the manager and asked if he were going to ask them to leave. He replied that corporate didn’t allow them to do that since they would risk losing business. They had free masks to offer, but unfortunately, they were out.

I left and will not be back. 

Restaurants must come together as a group and agree to enforce the mask protocol for customers as well as staff if they expect customers to feel safe enough to come back and dine inside until this pandemic is over.

“No shoes, no shirt, no MASK, no service.” It’s more than a sign, it’s common sense for the protection of our friends, neighbors, and community. 

Please support your local restaurants. And restaurant owners, please support your customers. Let’s all do our part to stay safe.

Judie Holcomb-Pack

Winston-Salem