A woman in Los Angeles has been caught on camera yelling at staff in a Trader Joe’s after she was asked to wear a face mask.
The unnamed woman had stood in line around 5.30pm Friday with other shoppers on the opening day of the new store in North Hollywood.
She was said by another shopper, John Conroy, to be wearing a mask in the line. When she entered the store, however, Conroy said she took it off.
‘I watched her take the mask off after she entered the store; I was on line for the register so was looking around, and she was very ostentatious about it,’ Conroy told DailyMail.com.
‘I presume she had it on the whole time outside because of all the signs.’
He said she was acting ‘unhinged’.
The unnamed woman was caught on camera on Friday afternoon ranting about face masks
Actor D. Giles caught the incident on camera and posted it to social media
Face masks were made mandatory in California in public spaces on June 18. People with breathing conditions are exempt, however.
The store had a sign outside informing all customers they must wear a mask.
The woman was confronted by another shopper and exploded with rage, drawing the attention of managers who asked her to leave.
‘You f****** Democrat pigs,’ she yelled at the staff and other customers, calling them ‘sheep’.
She continued: ‘That man harassed me for not wearing a face mask. I have a breathing problem. My doctor would not let me wear a mask.
‘So anyone harassing me to wear a mask, you guys are violating federal law.
‘Do you get that?’
The incident was caught on camera by actor D. Giles.
Trader Joe’s told all customers that they had to wear a mask to enter the store
The incident began when the woman was asked by employees to wear a mask or leave
She screamed at the employees who explained that she needed to get out of the store
The woman is then asked to leave the store, and had to be asked multiple times.
Conroy, a film producer and director, told DailyMail.com he was sure it was a deliberate provocation.
‘I was on line to check out in the middle of the store and noticed when she came in because she took her mask off and held her phone up to start recording video of everyone in the store,’ he told DailyMail.com.
‘Then I saw her grab the basket and start “shopping” but was really just moving around to get close to people.
‘A few minutes later the screaming started in the frozen aisle behind me, at least two employees were already with her and she was yelling “this man harassed me and you’re telling me to leave?”
‘She was wildly indicating an older man who was shaking his head.
‘The employees were kind of circled around her at that point, remaining calm and asking her to leave and she kept screaming about “this man harassed me about masks!”
‘And then just started shouting profanity, her rights are being violated and so on.’
John Conroy, an LA-based producer, writer and director, witnessed the whole incident
Trader Joe’s has not responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
‘I believe 100 per cent that she went there solely to start a confrontation,’ he said.
‘Her basket remained empty, she was super obvious about the way she was trying to instigate someone to say something.
‘Which didn’t take long, especially since Trader Joe’s is known for being super buttoned on their safety policies – like masks, distancing, limits on customers – they preceded the local government on all that stuff.
‘As soon as someone told her to put a mask on she flipped out because she was there for it.’
He added: ‘Because she took her camera out and recorded the crowd right after taking off her mask, I got the impression afterward that it was set up and meant to be for the QAnon/conspiracy crowd, as a way of saying: “Check this out I’ll show you how oppressed we are.”’