A video of a man bragging about serving in the military after being asked to wear a mask by a fellow customer at a Smith's Food and Drug store is being circulated on social media.
The clip shared originally on Reddit, starts off with the man speaking to the store's employees, something about being a drug addict for 10 years before the customer filming confronts the man over his refusal to wear a face mask, as required by the store's policy.
'It's the Civil Rights'
"Hey man, it's the store policy. I don't know why you can't just follow it," the woman tells him, to which he responds, "It's the civil rights." The woman then points out to him that the store they're in is privately-owned and has nothing to do with the government. The man replies by saying the store cannot refuse service based on race and religion, neither of which applied to him.
The woman tries to explain to him that the "no-mask no-service" policy is no different than the "no-shirt no-shoes no service" policy. "That's not a civil right. That's different," the man says. "You're talking apples and oranges, ma'am."
'Death Rate is Lower Than Influenza'
"So you're okay with being selfish and possibly getting other people infected?" the woman asks him. "It's not about selfish. It's about control. The numbers have been fudged and even then there's a 0.4 percent death rate," he responds. "That's lower than influenza, ma'am."
"Somebody I work with just got it," the woman tells the man, who says his friend also got infected but "he's fine." He then goes on to claim that people are dying due to underlying health issues. "Yeah and how many of these people in here have to get groceries that might have underlying issues," she asks him.
'I Fought For Your Freedom'
"You're protected, aren't you?" the man questions the woman. "Do you believe that mask is protecting you?". "It doesn't matter if you think it works or not. It's about community respect," the woman says. "If it works you should not be worried," he snaps back. The man then compares it to wearing a chemical mask when he served in the military before bragging on about how he fought for her freedom.
"When I was in the military and I had to wear my chemical mask, by the way, that I fought for your freedom, okay," he says. "For your freedom, I went to war."
"You're welcome," he said to her before adding that he did a tour in Afghanistan as the woman told him that her brother served in the military too. He then tried to make the point that when he wore the gas mask, he wasn't worried about chemicals around him because he knew it worked. The video ends with the man telling the woman to "freedoms that he fought for." Watch the full clip below:
