July 14, 2020

An all too common occurrence in Trump's America. I guess the MAGA creep thought he could intimidate the teenager behind the counter. When the owner came out (a former marine) he was having none of the man's bullshit and told him to get the hell out.

Source: Kansas.com

Arlo Kinsey was working behind the carryout counter at RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack in Mission last week when a middle-aged man dressed in a red Make America Great Again hat — and no mask — walked through the door.

“I asked him if he could wear a mask, since it’s what Gov. Kelly told us to do,” said Kinsey, 18, who was working shifts at the barbecue joint this summer before heading off to college. He had dealt with a handful of customers who refused to wear masks inside the restaurant despite the statewide mandate — but none like this, he said.

The man said he had an exemption to the mask order: He then lifted up his shirt, revealing a gun in a holster on his hip.

“It was definitely a threat,” Kinsey said. “I was looking at the gun thinking he was going to shoot me.”

“My first thought was, I work in customer service and this is really what’s going to happen? All we’re asking is that you wear a mask for a couple of minutes. We could have taken your order outside if you didn’t want to. But you go into an air-conditioned area without a mask on, and if I tell you to wear one, you’re going to shoot me? Wow. I make $8.50 an hour, plus tips — for this?”

Kinsey called for his boss, Bob Palmgren, owner of the 17-year-old restaurant in suburban Kansas City, off Lamar Avenue and Johnson Drive in Mission. Palmgren was in the back, working in the kitchen.

“(Kinsey) comes around and says this guy won’t put a mask on and has a gun, and I’m like holy sh*t. I run over there, and I’m like hey, what’s going on? And he shows me his Trump hat,” Palmgren said. “And I like Trump. Everybody’s got problems. But it doesn’t make a difference. You don’t have a mask on. And I’m like, your gun’s not going to kill coronavirus, now get the hell out of here.”

Palmgren said he’s been strictly enforcing the mask mandate, which took effect on July 3, as COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Johnson County and across the metro region.

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