M&S Open Letter

[Stillhomewardbound]

Dear M&S,

If you choose to stock a product and I elect to buy it, I am not interested in negotiating to find a member of your staff to sell it to me, and I'm certainly not inclined to wait, no matter how briefly, for another member of staff to become available whose sensibilities I do not apparently offend. That situation I find genuinely discriminatory and I will not venture towards a M&S store (with whom I've spent some £300 this year) until this situation has been put right.

Yours etc.

SHB

[Ferretfancy]

Dear M&S,

If you choose to stock a product and I elect to buy it, I am not interested in negotiating to find a member of your staff to sell it to me, and I'm certainly not inclined to wait, no matter how briefly, for another member of staff to become available whose sensibilities I do not apparently offend. That situation I find genuinely discriminatory and I will not venture towards a M&S store (with whom I've spent some £300 this year) until this situation has been put right.

Yours etc.

SHB

I'm sure you're right, but what about ?

[ahinton]

I'm sure you're right, but what about ?

Not bread and circuses but pork and booze;
To find out more, just check the latest nooze.

[MrGongGong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_prv-muf8hk

[amateur51]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_prv-muf8hk

Good fun ... but he's not Dudley Moore, is he?!

[amateur51]

In this area it is simply not possible to buy alcohol from other than a supermarket unless it is from a muslim business.

This shop assistant must have known that in serving the public in that store she would have been required to handle alcohol in a bottle and pork products in a packet.

In the good old days, all my contractual job descriptions finished with the delightful catch-all phrase " .. and any other task that your manager may ask you to do".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25488259

[ahinton]

They interviewed a bigwig from Asda about this on Today this a.m., although he was so evasive in his answers that it was well-nigh impossible to distinguish him from a professional politician. The stupidest part of this is that, if accepting any items for purchase at checkouts offends the religious sensibilities of the checkout operator, the member of staff should let his/her employer know about this at the outset and then he/she would have to be put on other duties.

[amateur51]

They interviewed a bigwig from Asda about this on Today this a.m., although he was so evasive in his answers that it was well-nigh impossible to distinguish him from a professional politician. The stupidest part of this is that, if accepting any items for purchase at checkouts offends the religious sensibilities of the checkout operator, the member of staff should let his/her employer know about this at the outset and then he/she would have to be put on other duties.

I'd put the onus on the staff member - after all the employer wants to sell goods rather than employ people with particular sensibilities. At all interviews/applications these issues should be raised and thereafter the employer will reasonably assume that all staff are happy with the situation.

[Beef Oven!]

I regularly enjoy a fried pig sandwich. I wonder whether people will be able to say the same in 100 years' time? :-(

[amateur51]

I regularly enjoy a fried pig sandwich. I wonder whether people will be able to say the same in 100 years' time? :-(

The way human longevity is going, and if their dentures still fit, yes!

[french frank]

I'd put the onus on the staff member - after all the employer wants to sell goods rather than employ people with particular sensibilities. At all interviews/applications these issues should be raised and thereafter the employer will reasonably assume that all staff are happy with the situation.

Do supermarkets not have vegetarians/vegans on check-outs? Rather fun if they harangued the customers, or tried to convert them ...

[amateur51]

Do supermarkets not have vegetarians/vegans on check-outs? Rather fun if they harangued the customers, or tried to convert them ...

I was told by a check-out operator recently that they have seven seconds/item swipe so no time for converting people.

At least they don't shout "Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area" at you ;D

[ahinton]

At least they don't shout "Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area" at you ;D

"Unexpected Muslim in the synagoguing area" was one rather sour gag that I heard around this ridiculous state of affairs - which reminds me that a Jewish friend of mine, now sadly deceased, used to say to me of his love of a good toasted bacon sandwich "I said I was Jewish - I didn't say that I was consistent"; he also once wryly observed that nothing ever cemented amicable relations between a Jew and a Muslim better than them getting together and "pigging out" on traditionally "forbidden" fare...

The vegan / vegetarian thing is perhaps a little different, though; many peopl who have put themselves in each category have not espoused their dietary choices as a direct consequence of religious beliefs or sensibilities and quite a few of them are therefore rather more tolerant of others who do not happen to share those self-imposed rather than religiously-imposed choices than are those whose eating habits are more dictated by what they understand to be the requirements of their respective religious faiths...

[MrGongGong]

Good fun ... but he's not Dudley Moore, is he?!

He is a better pianist IMV

But I wonder what the REAL story is ?
These things usually turn out to be 'straight bananas'

[Serial_Apologist]

"Unexpected item, in the de-bagging area"

"That's my wife".