I’m just so tired. We’re all so tired.

Kayleigh (my fiancée) and I went out to breakfast this morning after we got off shift. We’ve been slammed. The ER is over ran. The ICU is seeing an increase in the severe Covid cases. We are tired.

And as we’re sitting there, waiting for our food, decompressing from a long stretch of shifts in a row, a man walks into the restaurant. A man WITHOUT a mask on. And he walks through the restaurant WITHOUT a mask on. And when he sits down and the hostess politely reminds him that when he gets up from the table he needs to wear a mask, he looks at her, smugly, to say “I’m NOT going to wear a mask.”

And his words are like a slap in the face. To me. To my fiancée. To the wait staff and servers at the restaurant. To healthcare workers and ancillary staff at the hospital. To first responders. To my patients who are fighting, and some who are losing, their fight with Covid 19. To the thousands and thousands of people who died. To their families that have had to mourn them. To everyone he risks exposing to Covid, for his own personal comfort and ego.

And I’m so emotionally exhausted at this point, that I started crying. I’m crying because even if I wanted to tell this man how his actions affect those around him, he will not listen. And he will not care.

As I run around on a 12 hour shift, in my mask, trying to do my small part in a patient’s battle with Covid 19, he can’t even be bothered enough to wear one for 10 seconds to get to his table. The lack of empathy astounded me. And it made me cry as I realized how many more patients will have to fight for their lives, because of people like him.

So please, for crying out loud, wear your mask for others. Not because you’re a snowflake, or a sheep, or some other bullshite excuse. But because you have enough basic human decency to realize that this isn’t about YOU.

Sincerely, a very tired nurse.