You hear your morning alarm and you begin getting ready for work, but everything has changed. Not a month ago this restaurant was booming, tables packed together in the dining room, but now every table is six-feet apart, masks are required for all.. 

One of the ways that workplaces changed was by adding more safety features and procedures to protect their staff and customers.

 “We all had to wear masks at all times, of course, and I had to constantly wear and change gloves. All the tables had to be sanitized before and after customer use. I think that they put good measures in place,” Senior Dylan Barnett said. 

Some workplaces had much more strict rules for staff safety. 

“We have to check our temps every day we work and (the manager) always project the importance that we take care of ourselves,” said Senior Alexis Garcia, who works at a local Dennys.

“I deal with the customers more closely than a cook or dishwasher, but I always remember to do little things like keeping my distance and washing my hands after handling money,” Garcia said. 

Even after these precautions and changes were made by employers, some employees still feel some sort of risk. 

“There’s always a risk, especially when customers act ‘holier than thou’ and argue why they don’t want to follow the mask policy,” said Junior Katherine Mesarch, who works at an area Panera. 

At first employers weren’t ready for “masked resistance” and general opposition to the new safety policies.

 “One time a woman came in and we repeatedly told her to put on a mask, but she continually refused until we had to kick her out and made sure she left the parking lot,” Mesarch said. 

Examples of people refusing to listen to the new rules aren’t rare.

 “I often deal with customers who don’t always agree with the guidelines we have such as wearing a mask or not being able to seat large parties, but I have really no choice but to enforce it and I always have my manager to back me up,” Garcia said.