From the article. Couldn’t have said it better myself:
“If we’re only allowed to be at 25 percent capacity, I want them to be 25 percent of people that aren’t p-——, that aren’t sheep,” Smith told The Washington Post. “Being scared all the time isn’t good for your health. It suppresses your immune system.”
Unfortunately he thinks being an idiot is good for business, I respect his right to run his business as he wants, but calling people names because they are trying to be responsible is selfish and quite frankly rude and hateful. This coming from the same person who most likely has over served several customers irresponsiblity.
If I own a business, my job is profit optimization. If that is achieved by letting all my customers carry firearms, requiring the wearing of masks, and forced listening to 80s techno music, that's my prerogative. It's my property.
I was perfectly ok with grocery stores mandating the wearing of a mask - I still am, not because I think it'll stop infection but because that is the business's right. Further, if they're doing so because they believe it'll relieve some customer's stress then that's also their prerogative- just like shoppers who think only a wuss wears a mask and are vocal about it are free to go elsewhere. Indeed, the business probably thinks these Karens of a different variety are worth being lost.
The pendulum is swinging back to "normal" and businesses are free to adjust their practices. Any business owner who calls a bigly chunk of their possible customer base a vulgar term is free to do so...at his own peril. He's as stupid as was the owner of the Red Hen.