February 2021 by Gabriel Hobson
I recently visited Holiday Market in Chester, a North State Grocery Inc store. This is the only store I have been in over the past year that has demanded that I remove my mask in order to buy alcohol to check my ID. Due to work I have lived in 3 states and shopped in 5 over the past year and this is the only place that has done this. Keep in mind I have a large beard that hangs 5 inches below my mask. In a call with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control they confirmed that they do not require anyone to verify IDs by asking them to remove their mask and their undercover agents do not penalize anyone who does not ask masks to be removed.Multiple employees have done this on several occasions. After two complaints a representative called me back. During our conversation the the representative (I was told the president of the company would call back but he didn't identify himself as such if he was) said that it is the responsibilities of the cashiers to verify the ID matches therefore it is okay for them to require customers to pull down their mask. He dismissed that there was any risk involved in such an action because there is a plexiglass partition. This has been shown to be ineffective. There are also plenty of maskless people in the store including employees who where very small, and ineffective, plastic mouth guards. He also mentioned that "the TSA makes you pull down your mask." That wasn't passive aggressive or condescending... This representative didn't once apologize for an inconvenient or express sympathy. He simply called me to explain why I am wrong. I am not. Truly deplorable customer service.It is my opinion that Holiday Market is more worried about accidentally selling a 20 year old beer than exposing their customers to a deadly disease (if that's what this lotacracy is really about). It feels to me like they have a total disregard for the health and well being of their community, based on their terribly misguided policies. I recommend you shop elsewhere and keep yourself safe from being infected by COVID at Holiday Market or other North State Grocery Inc locations.
