Yes, you read that right - charging $5 for wearing a mask
With COVID-19 still running rampant around the world, most establishments require customers to wear masks when indoors. After all, masks have been proven to help minimize the spread of the virus.
However, this cafe in Mendocino is asking customers to pay for wearing a mask as well as an additional $5 if you 'brag about your vaccine'. He shut down his cafe last June after being fined $10 000 for breaking COVID-19 safety violations.
Chris Castleman, the owner of Fiddleheads cafe, posted this new sign on his front door which says:
“$5 fee added to orders placed while wearing a face mask" - “Additional $5 fee added if you are caught bragging about your vaccine.”
If you're vaccinated, you may abandon your mask in most indoor and outdoor areas after June 15
In a new ruling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance around COVID-19, people who are fully vaccinated may start to abandon their masks after June 15 in California.
For Chris Castleman, he opposes the mask rules because "people should be able to decide for themselves". He doesn't personally know anyone who has contracted COVID-19, and his decision made for some backlash which got him kicked out of the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department.
He denies that it is a marketing ploy to grab new customers and will continue to enforce his $5 fees. So far, 20 customers have paid the fee while 20 others haven't.
In all good spirit, he will also be donating the $5 fees to a local domestic violence shelter. He has also stated that even though it hasn't affected him personally, he acknowledges that COVID-19 isn't 'fake'.