Man threatens to pepper spray two mask-less Costco employees in viral video

A customer at Costco was filmed holding up pepper spray in two employees’ faces and pushing one of them before walking away.

It is unclear how the dispute started, as the video begins while the incident is already underway. Several posters of the video have stated that the masked customer is threatening the employee for not wearing a mask, although it is not made clear during the video that this is definitely the case.

Costco does not require masks for members and guests unless they are required by local jurisdictions.

As the video begins, a Costco employee thanks the customer who is filming.  The Costco employee then says something inaudible to the person with the pepper spray. At this point, the customer shoves the employee.

Some posters say that the customer says “You’re threatening my life” at this moment, however the audio is unclear. The employee then threatens to call the police.

Following this, another employee steps in. The customer holds the pepper spray up in the second employee’s face as well, while the employee attempts to calm down the man and get him to leave.

“You can’t be threatening people here with pepper spray,” the employee calmly explains. “Do you understand that? You cannot threaten people in here with pepper spray.” After a few more moments, the customer leaves.

Viewers expressed anger in the comments section that the man was able to walk away. “Call the cops,” one user urged. “Why would they just let him walk away? He assaulted an employee,” another added.

Others noted that this incident illustrates what service workers have to go through on a daily basis. “We should normalize employees being able to defend themselves no matter what,” a commenter stated. “Every Retail employee should legally get to fight one customer a year,” another top comment reads.