Dear Etiquetteer:
I go to my office outside of [Insert Major American City Here] once or twice a week since COVID hit. It's a small two-story building with eight small office suites per floor along a narrow corridor and is extremely quiet: pre-COVID, one might encounter a fellow renter in the hallways once or twice a week. There's very low foot traffic in the hallways.
That said, during COVID, I have encountered a fellow renter four times going to/from the restroom, sometimes inside the restroom, and she never wears a mask. Even though I'm now fully vaccinated, it’s very uncomfortable crossing paths with her (or anyone) sans mask and I just want to yell at her to put on her damn mask when she’s in shared office areas. Am I being too nitpicky or, if not, do you have a reasonable yet unmistakably clear message I might offer?
Dear Masked:
Before delving into how to talk to this Maskless Person, let’s look at today’s Masking Environment. Aside from the politicization of masking efforts and general weariness after a year, the increase in vaccinations in the United States has led more people to feel hopeful about the End of the Pandemic, and therefore the End of Masking. But we are not there yet. The end is in sight, but it’s not that close yet. Even with more people getting vaccinated, masking and social distancing need to continue. As Dr. Abdul El-Sayed recently said, we need to continue to “Wash up, mask up, back up, vax up.”
So that’s one factor that might be impacting this Maskless Person’s decision to Mask Off at the office. The other is that it’s a ghost town. As you yourself note, you see maybe one person in the hall per visit. With nearly no one there, that’s a very seductive environment to let the mask fall completely.
Maskless Person’s behavior isn’t going to change on its own. That means communication, which can feel uncomfortable; no one likes to be called out. Start by acknowledging how rare it is to see other people in the building, but then note that there are other people using the common areas, and ask her to mask up when not in her office. Particles stay after people depart, or as Irving Berlin once put it, “The Song Is Ended, But the Melody Lingers On.” It’s possible she’ll respond in anger. Don’t respond in kind, but don’t back down either.
If your building manager hasn’t posted signage about mask requirements on the property, make that request. If they have already, ask them to send a memo to all tenants making clear that masks are required in common areas no matter how empty the building may seem.
Best wishes for a successful outcome! In the meantime, it’s probably a good idea for you to remain masked even in your office.