Over Mother’s Day weekend, as usual, families gathered together. But this time, they crowded close in defiance of state orders. For example, in Colorado, a restaurant drew large crowds; despite a public health order that limits businesses in the state to delivery and takeout only.
April Arellano, owner of Castle Rock’s C&C Coffee and Kitchen, said she had to open her restaurant. Otherwise, she said, she would go out of business.
Crowds packed into her restaurant on Sunday for Mother’s Day.
Videos from the restaurant show that no one enforced social distancing. Many customers were not wearing masks. The lines were long and crowded.
“It was unbelievable,” said one resident who arrived to pick up food from the restaurant. According to the Denver Post, he decided to leave without paying after seeing the crowds.
“I wasn’t even going to eat the food even if I had gotten it,” he said. “I walked in, took the picture, and turned right around.”
Happy Mother’s Day from C& C in Castle Rock, where the owner said this is almost double a normal Mother’s Day. pic.twitter.com/cPSzjmAfAg
— Nick Puckett (@nick__puckett) May 10, 2020
The state is currently under a safer-at-home order that doesn’t require residents to stay at home, but it does limit non-critical businesses from opening and has restrictions in place to limit the spread of the virus.
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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s office released a statement on Sunday that denounced the restaurant’s actions.
“These restaurants are not only breaking the law, they are endangering the lives of their staff, customers and community,” said Shelby Wieman, the deputy press secretary.
A state health official told the Denver Post that businesses who violate the order can have their licenses revoked. They also said that violating the state’s public health order could result in up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
Currently, dine-in services can’t open until at least May 26. Delivery and takeout options are only available if a restaurant follows social distancing guidelines. Many families used video conferencing instead to help keep safe on Mother’s Day.
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While some restaurants aren’t enforcing guidelines, other restaurants are having the opposite problem. Their customers are refusing to follow social-distancing guidelines that the restaurants have tried to put in place.
On Saturday a Massachusetts ice cream shop had to close its doors just one day after reopening. The owners of the Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee said that customers refused to follow orders and were even rude to their employees.
One of those employees quit that same day because of how the customers treated her.
“One of my best workers quit yesterday at the end of her shift. She stuck it through her shift,” said Mark Lawrence, the owner. “But the words she was called and the language, you wouldn’t even say it in a men’s locker room. And to say it to a 17-year-old kid, they should be ashamed of themselves.
“Now I open the doors to a whole new world, with gloves and masks and we’re running around like chickens, and people are like where’s my ice cream? I’m not a trauma center, it’s ice cream!” said Lawrence to WTFXT.
“People have forgotten how to treat other human beings in the six or seven weeks that they’ve been confined to their homes. They have no clue how to respect other human beings,” he continued.
After working on Friday, Lawrence posted on Facebook, saying: “In 19 years of operation this is the lowest feeling I have ever felt.”
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