(Newser)
– Sarah Bingham says her frustration with anti-masks entering her Arizona store was on the rise, in fact, she had almost peaked. “It was a conversation I had to have every day and I got a little tired,” she tells 12 News. So last month she created a sign and posted it on Facebook, asking if it was “too dark” to post outside of Antique Sugar, her vintage clothing store in Phoenix. “If you choose not to wear a mask, we respectfully ask that you postpone your visit,” the poster said. “We will be delighted to discuss the effectiveness of the masks when this is all over and you come to sell your dead grandmother’s clothes.” The response was mostly positive, so she expressed it, generating enough interest for social networks and journalists to reach it quickly.
By Friday, she was speaking to CNN about critics who claimed she was making fun of older people amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I am a little disappointed that people think that we are being insensitive when I feel that it is exactly the opposite,” she said. “As if he felt that we are doing our best to protect the vulnerable, we are not benefiting from anyone’s dead grandmother.” USA Today, he Republic of Arizona, and ABC15 are among the media now reporting on their sign, which has gone viral on Twitter. Bingham says she has had to hire security after receiving online threats, or encountering “trolls,” as she says, but the business has grown with all attention. “We were fine until the signal went viral this week and then it exploded,” said Bingham. (Read more mask stories).
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