I'm still not wearing masks in stores. But most wear masks even here in the sticks. And of course store employees must be masked. It's difficult to understand the words from a checkout person thru the mask. Maybe because I just have a non-compliant nature I have begun *nicely* telling every checker I can't understand them, can't see to read lips, etc. Some checkers will just speak up or enunciate better. But I've noticed the ones who pull their mask down always smile real big.
Yep, I hear most of them fine the first time. But gosh darn it, I've got to make sensible points somehow. When I play on my "older lady with white hairs," smile, call them honey, and explain how "hard it is to hear," I seem to make more headway than when this mess began and I was explaining that masks don't block virii.
I wear a name tag with a sign in it that says “ I am severely hearing disabled, I don’t know sign language, I must read lips, please speak slowly and clearly”.
The reactions from people that I interact with are very interesting... some want to pull down their masks but don’t, because they don’t want to risk censure; others just go ahead and pull them down.