IRL

TikToker shows cafe offering 50% discount for customers who refuse to wear masks

‘Who needs creamer with their coffee when you can have COVID for no charge?’

Photo of Samantha Shaps

Samantha Shaps

A man dropping his face mask onto the ground.

A TikTok video shows a California cafe’s sign that told customers to “throw your mask(s) in our trash bin to receive 50% off your order.” The clip went viral on Tuesday, nine months after the owners were fined for non-compliance.

Featured Video

The owners of Fiddleheads Cafe in Mendocino, California, posted the signs on their windows in June and received a $10,000 fine from the County of Mendocino for failure “to file a ‘self-certification’ with the health department” during the same month, according to a GoFundMe posted by Chris Castleman.

The TikTok, which has accumulated over 723,000 views, shows the 50% off sign and another sign asking customers to be “tolerant.” The sign includes a list of agreements customers “consent” to when they enter, including respecting non-masked people’s “freedom to breathe.”

https://www.tiktok.com/@j.boudreau/video/6945317144494181638?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v2
Advertisement

“People may be within 6ft of one another,” the sign states. “Please respect their freedom to socialize.” It also says, “People might not be ‘local.’ Please respect their freedom to travel.”

An individual in the background is heard asking, “That’s crazy, you taking a picture of that?” The person recording says, “Yeah.” The caption of the video says, “The disappointment in her voice…”

The TikTok has received over 35,000 likes and over 1,600 comments. One commenter wrote, “As a Californian I don’t claim them.”


Advertisement

From our friends at Nautilus

As the new school year begins, pediatric hospitals are filled up with COVID patient
Within a 10-day span, 6 people from this Florida church died from COVID—the majority were under 35
What is the doomsday COVID-19 variant, and why are scientists concerned?
Another new variant, this one from Colombia, is spreading inside the U.S.
Does the COVID vaccine make your breasts bigger?


Advertisement

Others commented that the cafe closed and referenced the GoFundMe, which attempted to raise $2,000 to “hire a lawyer.” Castleman, who did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment, wrote that the cafe “sustained 3 months of attacks” from activists and politicians.

“The time has come to fight back,” the GoFundMe page says. “We will never give in to an angry crowd of self-righteous and over-opinionated people. Help us hire a lawyer to defend our right to stay open and serve our customers.”

Castleman also accused a county supervisor, who did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment, of spearheading a campaign “to shut down our small town operation.”

Nine months later, individuals are still criticizing the cafe for its reaction to COVID-19 regulations.

Advertisement

One individual tweeted, “At Fiddleheads Café, COVID is on the house..” Another said, “Who needs creamer with their coffee when you can have COVID for no charge?”

One TikTok commenter said “it’s literally not that hard to be respectful and wear a mask.” Another wrote, “natural selection.”


Advertisement

Must-reads on the Daily Dot

An autistic TikToker reported an ableist sound that trivializes sexual assault 4 times. It’s still wildly popular
Police say ‘computer-generated voice’ behind swatting attempt of Marjorie Taylor Greene
‘AI cannot be an excuse’: What happens when Meta’s chatbot brands a college professor a terrorist?
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

 
The Daily Dot