Woman asked to leave Lush in Kelowna after refusing to wear mask (VIDEO)
A video circulating social media captures a woman being asked to leave a Lush retailer after refusing to wear a mask.
The exchange took place at a Lush Cosmetics at Orchard Park Mall in Kelowna and involves the customer, a security guard, and several employees. The two-minute clip was originally filmed by the customer but was tweeted and reshared by Jill Cowie, who says that her daughter was one of the employees in the video.
A mandatory mask policy was implemented at Lush in mid-July and the customer states that she has a medical condition and is being harassed.
“Explain to me how my human rights, with my medical condition, cannot walk through a store when it’s totally fine for me to walk through a store,” the customer says to the security guard.
The guard asks for a medical note and the woman replies that she doesn’t have one, noting that she has a puffer which is “none of the security guard’s business.”
“It’s their store policy,” the security guard tells her. “If they’re asking you to leave the store, they have the right to refuse you service.”
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The customer argues that “she’s just browsing” and says that the employees and guard are harassing her. The guard continues to ask the woman to leave, saying that he would call the police if she didn’t.
The employees also chime in during the video, stressing that wearing masks is store policy and offering online shopping as an alternative.
She ultimately asks for the number of Lush’s head office, while commenting on the “intimidation” posed by the employees.
“There’s like three of them — talk about Commie intimidation, hey?” she asks. “I know the law and I know my constitutional rights.”
The video ends with an employee passing her the number to Lush’s Customer Care and the woman saying that it would be posted online.
My daughter got #Karen’d yesterday! A wild Trump-loving-anti-masker came into @lushcosmetics at #OrchardPark mall in #Kelowna , #BritishColumbia #Canada. Let’s make her go viral!! Twitter do your thing! #KarensGoneWild #antimasker pic.twitter.com/YZt2kFAme7
— Jill Cowie (@JillCowie2) September 19, 2020
A spokesperson from Lush tells Daily Hive that masks have been mandatory in stores since July 18 and that they support how the employees maintained their composure during the conversation.
“We support how our staff handled the situation calmly and compassionately and we remain committed to ensuring the policy is followed,” says the spokesperson in the email. “The health and safety of our staff and community remains top priority as we continue to navigate these challenging times together.”
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