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So upset
I have never felt sorry for myself but at the moment I am so upset.
Went out to the bank and then the supermarket earlier than usual today because the bank closed at lunch time. Was in the super market when a women told me **I should not be out contaminating the public**, I am fairly obvious wearing an oxygen back pack and yes I cough, but try and do it hygienically !!, tried to say I have a lung condition (coronavirus panic taking hold) but she went straight to the security office, to do what? have me thrown out!! I left. I now bitterly regret this decision, should have stayed, I am known to security, as only a month or so ago had reason to be in there after my car, parked in handicapped bay as I have a card, was crashed into. Do other people see me like that?, never crossed my mind before. Should I go to security ? am I being paranoid?
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21 Replies
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I am so sorry this has happened to you. I don’t know where you live, but here in the UK, an Asian man was set on yesterday and beaten in the street while people shouted “We don’t want your coronavirus here.” This ridiculous anger and fear is completely unwarranted. I would definitely contact the shop where it happened and speak to the manager. It’s bad enough that we are in the high risk group without being verbally abused like that.
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Thank you Wendy. Poor man, people can be so horrid, ignorant and racist, if they were truly concerned they wouldn’t have touched him for fear of contamination would they? Just an excuse for violence. Don’t think it was racism with me as I had never seen the woman before and you can’t cough with a foreign accent can you lol. I am English but have lived in France for over 30 years. No cases in this area yet I suppose I have to toughen up as surely more people will think like her, already feel like a leper as friends drift away or just don’t contact any more, suppose that is very common with us as we cannot do things we used to and also as widow so that caused a loss of invites, single women just do not get invited by couples.
I will pluck up the courage, when I feel more in control, don’t want to break down again, and see the security or manager.
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Hello Susan, I am sorry to hear you had to endure this woman’s ignorance. I am probably not the most politically correct person so I will not offer any advice. My sorrow is with you. I hope this never happens to you or any of our members. Take care, Mark.
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What I have is 100% fatal and 0% contagious. Thank you for your concern. Next!
If they continue to be obnoxious, “I really wish I could give it to you”.
Sorry, like Mark, I’m not very politically correct either. 🙂
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Wish I had thought of a quick reply like that. Will keep it in mind as it is true Thanks So what if it is not politically correct. I like it
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Oh, all of those wonderful responses we think of just a little too late! I have had people shy away from me and my oxygen tank as if I were somehow contagious long before the coronavirus arrived on the scene. Here is something I think of when things like that happen. Sort of a twist on the old “beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes clear to the bone.” What I have cannot be cured or “shared,” but I would rather have this than your ignorance. Again, not very PC, but if I don’t say it out loud, what difference would it make? Stay strong. You are important. Karen
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I think the suggestion @charlene-marshall made a while back might be a good plan for all of us – wear a mask with a sign “it’s not me, it’s you”.
I’m absolutely stunned by the stories I’m reading online about the racist outbursts and absolute ignorance being shown by moronic people. I fear for all society with such idiocy becoming the more common. It makes me believe the studies about loss of IQ and shrinking brains. <sigh>
Definitely see the security in the complex and let them know what happened. It’s unconscionable.
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Forget PC. I think we should print up Tshirts with these slogans. With an added sentence of Donate to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.
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Oh Karen so sorry you have had this too, it hurts doesn’t it. I’m used to the stares, funnily enough more from the middle aged than the young. !! Had to laugh at one little boy (about 5) he asked his mother why Pappy couldn’t have had a *pipe* in his nose rather than is his *bits* as it would have been more comfortable, bless him.
Love your saying Karen so true too, though rather hard to translate on the spur of the moment. Will think of that if this ever happens again, I will be more prepared for it.
I will see either manager or security though I doubt if I would recognise madame again.
Thanks every one, I do feel better now the hurt has worn off.
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Hello Terry, nice idea!
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I’m afraid we’re going to see a lot of ignorance on public display in the coming weeks; even more than we’ve been witnessing over the past three years. I think you should go to the security office the next time you visit that establishment and explain what happened so their chief-of-security can tell his security team members how they should respond to a similar situation in the future. I’m really sorry you had to deal with such hurtful stupidity. There are so many ignorant people in this world I’m convinced there is more than one species of human, and the determining factors have nothing to do with external physical features, it’s all internal having everything to do with capacity and wiring in the soft nervous tissue in the cranium. Jerry
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Hello Jerry, great use of words!
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I’m so sorry you had this awful experience. I personally will wear a mask in crowded places because I don’t want to get something and bring it home to Toby – he’s the one with IPF. I even “nicely” comment to adults who cough and sneeze without covering their mouth or using their elbow. I asked one 40 ish year old woman if she would please cover her mouth when coughing because so many germs are spread that way and there are so many people with weakened immune systems like chemo, lung disease or even tiny babies. Her reply “OH I FORGOT”…………….I cover my mouth in my own home.
The panic is awful. The ignorance is worse. I know you feel hurt and pissed too but don’t let that one bad person get to you another minute. BIG BIG HUGS from Virginia……………
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I have to say,it’s happened to me 3 times. Once at the pulmonologists office. My husband jumped on the guy (verbally ) 🙂 The second time was at church….they moved way down the pew. And today it was at the movie theater! A man yelled, ” If you’re SICK GO HOME!” My husband and the other couple yelled simultaneously,” SHE’S NOT SICK!!” People are so freaked out because of this virus!!! I don’t know. Sometimes you feel like you should just stay home. It makes my husband so angry I’m afraid he will punch someone out the next time! The fear is outrageous. God help us if some [lague like leprosy comes some day. They will be killing people!! Frightening.
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Thanks for your sympathy for me, Susan. Along with so many others here I mourn the stupidity, fear and anger of so many people these days. Reading Mary’s reply about her experiences in such places as the pulmonologist’s office and in church(!), I feel very disheartened. Mostly I try to just keep going and smile and greet people when I am out. Sometimes it deflects the morons, sometimes it doesn’t. Keep smiling. There is still a lot of good out there, we just have to watch for it. Karen
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I completely agree with you @jill-tanner!
I just flew home from California yesterday and felt it necessary to “justify” my mask and cough to IPF, not coronavirus, simply based on the way others were looking at me. I think I might add a vinyl quote to it (I have a vinyl machine) that says: “it’s not me, its you”. Or I thought about wearing a t-shirt that on the back it says, “I am protecting my immune-compromised lungs, I’m not contagious”. Crazy to me that I’m even thinking about this but alas, as this thread has already attributed to, there are some really cruel people in this world. Hang in there friends, we’re all here for you.
Charlene. -
You’re absolutely right Karen! I believe more good in exists in this world as opposed to evil, its just somehow the latter seems to be in our faces all the time. Glad so much of the good exists on our forums…. much love and respect to you all.
Charlene. -
Hi Susan,
I am a bit late to the thread about this topic as I’ve been away, but I am so sorry to hear of this experience! It breaks my heart to think of the way some people treat others. I agree with what some have said on this thread, education is power and had the individual actually complained to security, you had every right to explain your situation. Hopefully this never happens again, but I appreciate you telling us this story (as horrendous as it was!) because I am going to share it with the biotech company I was with in California last weekend – they are developing a drug to suppress the IPF cough to highlight how much this is needed due to instances like this one. I won’t keep any identifying information in my sharing Susan, not to worry – it is just to highlight how much we need this damn cough addressed. Feel free to vent to us any time – I’m so sorry to endured that! Hang in there, we’re thinking of you.
Charlene. -
That is awful Mary, makes you feel like a leper doesn’t it? Glad you have your husband to stand up for you.
I shall definitely have a retort ready if it happens to me again, Richard’s is the easiest to translate and easily springs to mind, thank you Richard, was caught so unawares this first time in my blissful ignorance that people couldn’t possibly think that an oxygen tank is linked the coronavirus or any other virus for that matter and even that a lung condition could be contagious, people really are more ignorant than I gave them credit for.
Just got back from town. Been in to security just now and YES madame did ask for me to be removed from the premises would you believe (so wish now I had stayed and fought) Nice security man remembered our chat of a few weeks ago and put madame in her place and told her she was free to leave if she was concerned. xxx.
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Hi Charlene
No worries re identification. Yes the exhausting, persistent and for me very loud cough does attract stares and people moving away, that doesn’t really bother me, think if the boot was on the other foot and I was being honest, I might be the one moving away a bit too, no one want to risk catching something do they. My back pack isn’t really that obvious but the noise is, that is what makes people look I think, then they notice the nose hose.
I have found that *prednisolone* does help with the cough, without it I cough non stop, on the lowest possible dose for me but rising.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts Susan, though I am still so sorry this happened to you! The hype/fear/anxiety surrounding COVID-19 is no reason for people to behave poorly towards others. I can (like you) appreciate if the situation was reversed, I wouldn’t want to get sick either, if I assumed someone was, however, I don’t think I’d go so far as to complain. Glad security encouraged her to leave if she felt uncomfortable!
Thanks for sharing about prednisolone as well – hopefully others looking for a solution to their cough will find this effective. Best wishes, as always!
Charlene.
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