I stopped in at my local Fox Coffee House on Tuesday morning during my walk. When I turned to use the card reader to pay my bill I saw there was a guy standing right behind my shoulder. A white man a little taller than me, probably around 60. His face, unmasked, was no more than 18" from mine. “Please back up,” I said. He said “what?” I again asked him to please move away from me. He asked what the problem was and I said “you don’t have a mask on,” to which he replied “I don’t wear masks.”

By this time I have asked him twice to move away, he hasn’t moved, and I am getting pissed. I may have said something on the order of “get the fuck away from me.” He got a bit huffy and said he was going to go someplace else where he won’t get a hard time. Said that he has been to a lot of places in Orange County, Signal Hill, and Belmont Shore and no one else has ever given him trouble over not wearing a mask. He left, but the next day I heard he had come back and given the owner, Mary, a hard time and made her cry.

I know that some of you out there may be thinking that I over-reacted, but there are some things you need to consider. First, this guy must have been in a coma for the last three months as he has no clue about social distancing. Second, his roving around unmasked and violating all social distancing guidelines makes him a prime target to get infected. Third, the current research indicates that infected people are most contagious two or three days BEFORE the onset of any symptoms, and in many cases symptoms never appear but the infections go on. Fourth, this virus spreads through aerosols emitted in your breath. Put that all together and there is no way I want anyone else breathing into my face, and especially not this turd.

I am thinking that we may find ourselves in situations like this on a regular basis. I am thinking about carrying some pepper spray. I did have an atavistic urge to just punch him right in the face, but was afraid that if he indeed was infected that just might spread it a bit more. I’m afraid that he had already slipped inside what my social distance noodle perimeter would have been!