Targeted for wearing a mask on the bus - what should I do?

[Marner and Me]

Yes but there's a reason most peope aren't recommended to keep getting boosters ad infinitum.

I'm just going to leave this because reheating arguments from Covid twitter circa 18 months ago will just wind me up.

EDIT: Editing because it will annoy me otherwise, my "yes but" up there is probably being a bit generous.

What reasons are they?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

[vanilla.coffee]

Stop wearing a mask on the bus. You'll be just fine, fine like everyone else who isn't wearing a mask on the bus.
Or the train, plane etc

[centristmelt]

The WHO are meeting next month - I'd be very surprised if they don't formally announce the end of Covid as a pandemic then.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I won't get fooled again

[Armin Meiwes]

I do find it weird how some people seem almost offended by people wearing masks now. I reserve wearing one for only when I'm in very busy places (eg rush hour tube) and it's not even got much to do with covid any more for me (though the "you're not going to die of it" brigade seem to forget about long covid) it's the fact that in the 3 and a bit years since covid began I haven't got sick once from a cold, covid or flu. If I can reduce the regularity with which I get ill by something as tiny an adjustment to my life as that then that seems well worth it.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Exactly. I just had someone else have a go at me for wearing a mask (and it felt a bit like a threat). We were stopping at a place where quite a lot of people were getting off and there was someone sitting across the aisle from me. I was going to move down the bus to spread out, having looked behind and saw it was pretty empty, but then I saw they were getting off anyway so stayed seated. They gestured for me to get up and I told them I wasnt getting off, they then got annoyed and told me "You should take a taxi, you shouldnt be on this bus. You're paranoid."

I thought about getting off the bus and asking them why they felt they could talk to me like that, but Oxford is quite a small city and I'll probably encounter them again on the bus.

I am thinking about stopping wearing masks on the bus but when people have a go at me for wearing a mask I feel like I'm giving them what they want by no longer wearing a mask.

In literally doing nothing to offend these people whatsoever, all I did was look down the bus and consider moving but decide against it.

Well, that's my day spoilt. I'm sure they feel a lot happier now theyve taken their anger out on me. We were sitting silently across the aisle for 15 minitues until he seemed to think I was getting up for some reason and got annoyed when I didnt and had a go at me (my stop wasnt for another 15 mins).

I think it would be good for my anxiety, given Im not high risk for covid, if I stopped wearinf a mask. But I dont like feeling like I'm doing it in response to people like the bloke on the bus. I dont know if I should have stood up for myself by following him off the bus and confronting him.

For all he knows I could be CEV or be worried that I have covid symptoms. I see other people on the bus sometimes wearing masks, not many though, and ive never seen anyone else have a go at them.

Or maybe he thought I was a racist by not wanting to get off the bus before him? Although if I was a racist surely I wouldnt have sat across the aisle from him?

I just dont like the feeling of "I need to stop wearing a mask so I dont get abuse". It just feels like these people are trying to dictate how I live my life.

I don't know what to think, but I'm upset and angry, and am a bit nervous the next time I get on a bus now.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Maybe I should have got up when he gestured and pretended I was getting off, then got on the next bus (my ticket allows me to do that). But Im sure he would have found a reason to have a go at me for something else.

I find situations like that very difficult to handle. I hope he didn't think I was a racist, his ethnicity had nothing to do with it. I hope i dont encouter him on the bus again. He's spoilt my long weekend (I don't work Fridays).

I just said nothing and let him rant away, felt angry with myself for doing so. He seemed so angry with me, no idea why. As I say he has said nothing until he was about to get off and seemed really triggered by me when he did so.

[selectivememory]

I wouldn't overthink it mate. Either ignore them or tell them to mind their own business. I still wear a mask a lot and get comments occasionally, and I just don't let myself give a fuck. Remember it's their ignorance. You're not the problem. Who cares what they think of you?

Not so easy to do when you have anxiety issues, I know. But there's really no point letting these people get to you unless you actually feel under threat in some way.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Just do loads of crazy laughing and twitching and stuff when you're on the bus, then nobody will want to sit near you.

[Brundle-Fly]

Just do loads of crazy laughing and twitching and stuff when you're on the bus, then nobody will want to sit near you.

Always carry a empty can of Tennants Super on your person and pretend to drink from it. Hey presto! A double seat to yourself.

[hermitical]

Or have a full can, double the fun

[canadagoose]

You could always try heavily soiling yourself on the bus and smearing dogshit under your arms. I'm pretty sure some people around here do that.

[Paul Calf]

Bus wankers.

[Paul Calf]

Oops. Sorry.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

No probs. Great minds...