Fight Over No Face Mask Gets Heated at Rome Restaurant

A fight over face masks, or lack thereof, got heated at one restaurant in Rome.

Lindsay Hoffmeister picked up a pizza from The Boyz from Italy on West Dominick Street in Rome. But she wasn't wearing a face mask when she entered the restaurant. "I have a legitimate medical reason for not wearing a mask," Hoffmeister wrote on Facebook. She also shared a video of the confrontation that followed with an employee. "What you see in the video is exactly what happened," said Hoffmeister. "It's pretty clear. I don't particularly want to get into it any further."

Restaurant owner Carol Muratore says the video, that has gone viral, isn't showing the whole story. "Hoffmeister was asked nicely by an employee twice to either put a mask on or leave. She instead started talking about laws for being exempt."

Muratore says another employee told her she needed to leave but she still didn't. "He got angry, a yelling match ensued."

The yelling match was recorded and posted on Facebook. "She felt the need to post a video to social media to show his mask was down," Muratore said. "She failed to mention it came down while they were in a yelling match."

Muratore recognizes the situation could have been handled better. "It was wrong for an employee to lose his temper. But we are tasked with enforcing rules. If they aren’t enforced we are shut down. If we are shut down my family, and employees lose their income. No income means no place to live. No money to eat. We are all trying to survive the same pandemic. We want to follow the rules to support our hospitals and keep our community and our families safe."

The Boyz from Italy employees are no stranger to COVID. "I lost my brother in law to COVID early May," Muratore said. "All of my employees have immune compromised or elderly family members in their homes. We all want to see the rest of our families make it out of this pandemic safely."

There are signs on the doors of the restaurant stating everyone who enters is required to wear a mask. But not everyone follows the rules. "People not complying with the rules puts everything at risk for us," said Muratore. "We are more than happy to deliver. We are more than happy to curbside drop if asked. There are other ways than walking past 4 signs that say a mask is required because you feel entitled."

Muratore has store video of the entire confrontation, not just the yelling match. "Yes I have video but I feel I shouldn’t have to prove my innocence."

You can watch the NSFW video on Facebook that contains profanity.