California, United States

A cafe-owner is charging $5 extra from customers who show up to the cafe wearing masks as he believes these customers should pay for the "damage they have collectively caused".

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Chris Castleman, the owner of Fiddlehead Cafe in Mendocino in California feels an extra charge of $5 should not hurt the people wearing masks as they care for the betterment of the society and the collected money from this charge of $5 will be donated to a charity.

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Castleman feels the compulsory mask-wearing is a part of the government's "ineffective" measures and has contributed to the "collateral damage".

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"I don't think $5 to charity is too much to ask from mask-wearing customers who claim to care so much about the community they live in," Castleman said.

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His frustration comes after his business was shut down last year due to repeated lockdowns imposed to control the spread of the deadly virus in the state.

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Personally, Castleman is not in favour of wearing face masks and he revealed that the majority of his customer base is also aligned with his thoughts.

However, he also clarified that has not been forcing the extra money on his mask-wearing customers, but he still feels it should not be problematic for people who want to do better for their society.

"I give them the freedom of choice, which seems to be a foreign concept in these parts of the country," he said.