Tired of dealing with anxiety and anger, salon owner bans COVID-19 talk

Sudbury -

As the world struggles to cope with another surge in COVID-19 cases, a salon owner in Saskatchewan has banned pandemic talk in her business.

Tessa Dupuis told CTV News anchor Sarah Freemark that discussions around COVID are depressing and often led to hostility and bad feelings between customers.

"It just got to the point where people were very angry and hostile towards each other and very argumentative," Dupuis said.

"Always just in a very foul mood and it really (took a) toll on my mental health. And I was too stressed and ridden with anxiety to continue the way it was going."

Owner of Tessa's Beauty and Wellness, a salon in Weyburn, Sask., she decided to ban all COVID-19 talk inside her business.

She put up signs informing her clients that pandemic talk was now taboo. While some people were confused at first, Dupuis said she quickly received a lot of support when she explained her reasoning.

"The first people that were in that day just kind of asked if (I) really thought that they were being bad, and then I asked them to think about the energy of the shop and how it was going," Dupuis said.

She soon began receiving supportive texts – even gifts – supporting her decision and encouraging her to enforce it. Her original post on Facebook has now been shared 15,000 times.

"The positive (responses have) been great and overwhelming," Dupuis said. "People from out in your area have sent cards and letters and tons of messages and phone calls."

But in the social media age, there are always negative reactions, she added.

"Some of it was pretty harsh," Dupuis said. "Name calling and just downright rudeness, angry people saying that I clearly was a one-way thinker and that I didn't deserve to have a business anymore ... It was pretty harsh there for awhile."

Despite some negative reaction online, she said her policy has accomplished what she hoped it would: making her business a place where people leave pandemic talk at the door.

"It has made a huge difference," Dupuis said. "Our customers have felt the increase in energy and positivity, and they feel better about things. This is a place for them to come and relax and to unwind and enjoy."

Her salon is now a safe place for people to talk about everything they used to before COVID-19 hit and upended the globe.

"It's a safe place for us to just be ourselves and talk about everything else," Dupuis said. "I would do it a hundred times again. Absolutely."

-- With contributions from Darren MacDonald