It isn't so much about power when it comes to the lowest employee on the totem pole. It's about keeping their jobs or being able to get another one when the only places to get a job now are with the big corporations that are all in on the agenda. They have to obey what upper management dictates. I went into Canadian Tire yesterday to buy a fan. For the first time in a year and a half, I was stopped by one of their employees and told I should be wearing a mask. I told him I had health issues and he didn't say another word. He knows that it isn't worth pushing the issue and he knows that he can just pretend he didn't notice. He may have even been told by upper management not to push it if I responded that way. Upper management knows that tensions are getting high among the public and I could make a scene that would lead to the police coming and charges being laid and then a court hearing where I could use the discovery process to beat the case by revealing that we have been lied to and it's all a scam. Those who know what's going on who run these big companies don't want that because it will set a precedent. They want the little guy on the bottom, their store employee, to deal with the mask issue but not to the point that it causes a court case. So they're told to try to encourage customers to wear masks but not to go overboard. If a store refuses to serve you, that's their right. Just don't go there any more. Give your business to those who will. Preferably a small independent company that needs your business to survive.