Ohio ice cream shop begs customers to stop berating teenage workers for wearing masks

A northern Ohio ice cream shop is begging its customers to stop berating teenage workers for wearing masks.

Workers at Mootown Creamery in Berea are wearing masks to slow the spread of coronavirus, but the shop's owner asked customers to stop mistreating the mostly teenage girls who serve up ice cream, milkshakes and other treats, reported WJW-TV.

“Do you know how hard it is to work a summer rush in a face mask?" the shop's owner posted on Facebook. "With a line of customers to the door, some waiting outside, online orders dinging on a tablet, the phone ringing off the hook — and then have a customer throw a temper tantrum in the store calling the girls ‘paranoid’ or ‘anti-American’ or even worse – CUSS AT THEM!"

"Does it feel good to make a 16 year old girl cry in the bathroom?" the owner added. "Or sob on her way home from work? Does that make you feel better about Covid? How would you feel if someone did this to your child?"

Ohio's Department of Health required restaurant workers to wear masks after allowing for outdoor service on May 15 and then indoor service on May 21, with some limited exceptions, so the girls and their employer are following state guidelines.

“Covid is one of the most awful things many of us have experienced in our lifetime," the shop owner posted. "Our lives are flipped upside down. Businesses are closing. Some of us are still out of work. We are stressed out, worried, and frustrated. However that is no excuse to take out your frustrations on teenage kids serving ice cream! (Most of which this is their first job!) Are you serious?! What control do they possibly have over the situation?”