Sebastian Morales
Miami, Florida
5 p.m. Saturday, May 2

Standards vary when paying for fast food during a pandemic

The stay-at-home recommendations in the state of Florida have been lifted as of the end of April, but even when they were in effect, they were not strictly enforced, and worse, guidelines in public places seem to be left to individual interpretation or preference.

Two fast-food drive-through restaurants on the same intersection have different sanitary protocols.

When I drove my family through the Taco Bell and Wendy’s on 137th Avenue and 152nd Street about two weeks ago, I was treated differently by the cashiers.

The Taco Bell employee extended the payment terminal toward me. When I grabbed with my left hand to adjust the angle and slide the credit card in, the cashier requested I refrain from doing so and solely insert the card. I wondered how, if needed, I would enter a pin code into the terminal without touching it.

The Wendy’s employee, on the other hand, asked me to hand him my credit card. The cashier wore gloves and a mask. My passengers advised I disinfect the card with hand sanitizer upon getting it back, and I did.

My father, who turns 70 this month, also told me about a different problem related to his face covering.

He said he has had difficulty breathing with the standard mask. Thus he has been using the plastic translucent mask that looks somewhat more like a shield and covers the whole face, with an opening at the bottom.

My father has visited body paint shops, his job and grocery stores while wearing the translucent mask. But the other day he said he was denied entry to the local Aldi unless he carried the standard “medical” mask. He said the guard told him it was “the law.”

To read more blogs from our correspondents, click an area on the map below: