An ice cream shop had to close one day after reopening because customers ignored social distancing rules and even caused an employee to quit

• The Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee, Massachusetts shut after just one day of reopening because customers ignored social distancing rules.
• The ice cream shop reopened on Friday, May 8 with instructions for customers to place orders an hour in advance. However, some ignored that and wanted their orders to be fulfilled immediately.
• Posting on the store's Facebook page, owner Mark Lawrence said impatient customers taking their frustrations out on staff had cost him an employee.
• "People have forgotten how to treat other human beings in the six or seven weeks that they've been confined to their homes," Lawrence told Boston 25 News.
• Encouraged by support, the Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour tried again on Sunday, and Lawrence said it was a success as people were now following the rules.
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An ice cream store in Mashpee, Massachusetts had to close a day after reopening because customers did not follow social distancing rules, and treated staff so badly that one employee quit after her shift.

The Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour shut its doors to patrons on Saturday, one day after welcoming customers back following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions. Owner Mark Lawrence posted on the store's Facebook page about his dismay over the public's behavior.

He wrote: "As I turn the key in the lock tonight. My thought is that we shall simply not open to the general public until something resembling normal returns.

"In 19 years of operation this is the lowest feeling I have ever felt, I will read all the posts and reply to them, but I lived it and can only imagine what awaits. We were overwhelmed, plain and simply.

"Regardless of people's frustrations to take it out on a teenage girl is simply WRONG — it cost one of my best employees due to the rudeness directed at her tonight. So wrong in so many ways to treat a teenager with such disrespect no matter the circumstances."

To keep employees and customers safe, Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour had set up a system where all orders had to be placed an hour in advance for customers to collect.

However, as reported by Boston 25 News, Lawrence said customers didn't listen to the instructions and took their frustrations out on the teenage staff when the store got busy and orders could not be fulfilled on the spot.

"One of my best workers quit yesterday at the end of her shift, she stuck it through her shift," he explained to the TV station.

"But the words she was called and the language, you wouldn't even say in a men's locker room. And to say it to a 17-year-old kid, they should be ashamed of themselves."

The ice cream store was trialing a new way of serving people during the pandemic. While it was allowed to open under restaurant guidelines, Lawrence wanted to make sure it was safe for everyone.

Lawrence said: "Now I open the doors to a whole new world, with gloves and masks and we're running around like chickens, and people are like 'where's my ice cream?' I'm not a trauma center, it's ice cream!

"People have forgotten how to treat other human beings in the six or seven weeks that they've been confined to their homes. They have no clue how to respect other human beings."

Lawrence's posts about customers causing chaos gathered local support for the small business, and he was encouraged to reopen on Sunday, which was a sweet success.

Posting an update on the ice cream store's Facebook page, he wrote: "People placed their orders an hour or more (some, a day before) prior to their pick up time. They followed the rules and it worked. There were minimal people just pulling up and expecting to be served immediately, they chose to place an order and return or sit and wait."

He said they will continue to revise their efforts and thanked everyone for the incredible outpouring of love.