Oakey teen abused by anti-mask bully

A 15-year-old employee at an Oakey business was verbally attacked by a man after asking him to wear a mask in a local service station.

A junior employee at an Oakey service station was verbally abused on Monday afternoon after asking a customer to put on a mask.

BP Oakey owner Adam Butlin said his staff were compliant with the current Covid-19 mandates and restrictions, and had asked those not wearing a mask to put one on, or leave the store.

“We had a gentleman come into the store, and he was very upset that we had asked another member of his family to wear a mask,” Mr Butlin said.

“He came in without one and just went totally off to our junior who took the brunt of it.

“The poor junior was in total shock. He had no idea.

“He knew the law, and he knew what we had to do, but he wasn’t expecting a grown adult, at top of his voice, to yell and abuse our establishment and our staff.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful, and he should be absolutely ashamed of himself.”

Mr Butlin said older staff stepped in and tried to intervene, but were also met with abuse.

“Everyone was in shock when he went off,” he said.

“They were so intimidated by him, they gave him what he wanted and he left.”

Mr Butlin said his business and staff were stuck between a rock and hard place due to the recent vaccine mandates and mask requirements.

“On one hand, we have the law, and we are complying, but we must make our customers do the same thing,” he said.

“We can’t force them to wear one, but we can ask them to leave if they don’t, which is what we do.

“On the other hand, we have the anti-vax movement who can reel off all these so-called facts and statistics to why it’s against the law, and they’re happy to abuse people who are simply doing their job.

“It was very frustrating … it wasn’t the only incident and I’m sure other shops have suffered the same way.”

Mr Butlin said while 99 per cent of customers had been fantastic, it was the one per cent “who make it very awkward and difficult for everybody else”.

Queensland Police Link was contacted about the incident, however Mr Butlin said they were “basically palmed off”.

“They said to take it to the local police station, and if I want to make a complaint I can, but the young boy has to make the (official) complaint, which I think is wrong,” he said.

“I’m the owner of the business, and I employ him. I have a duty of care for him. I should be able to make the complaint.

“I’ve seen that there are heavier fines for people who abuse staff … but I don’t know how to get it dealt with.

“We have to do something, otherwise it will keep happening.

“(The offender is) a bully who wants to intimidate people, and he’ll do it from store to store whenever he gets a bit of push back.”

Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Rohl said the abuse was “completely unacceptable”.

“Staff are not making these rules – these are government rules,” he said.

Mr Butlin said the community needed to keep an eye out for each other. “Be patient and be kind. We’re just doing our job,” he said.