Here we go again:
Customer service and faith clash at registers
Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon.
So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier -- who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women -- refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.
"She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag," said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. "It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier."
Note to Twin Cities retailers:
Nope, not gonna happen with this customer, I'm not your employee. If you want to accommodate your employees and allow them to refuse to handle certain products that you sell, that's fine. Just have another employee handy to deal with it and leave me out of it. If it's too much of a burden to accommodate such employees, then as far as I'm concerned feel free not to hire them.
Note to my "strict" Muslim neighbors:
Tolerance between society and an individual's personal beliefs is generally a good thing, but tolerance can go both ways. If you believe that handling pork is forbidden then you shouldn't take a job as a cashier at a place that sells pork. This isn't rocket science.
There are other options out there. Take them and leave me the fuck alone.
Jeez louise. I don't know how polite I would have been.
Posted by: tree hugging sister | March 15, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Polite but firm is my take. No need to get rude, but please: I'm not doing your job for you.
Posted by: Dave E. | March 15, 2007 at 02:06 PM
In light of this, I'm bringing boudin up to Minneapolis next year for us to chow down on, Dave. If that customer was a Cajun and that Target was in Bellerose or Thibodaux or Lafourche instead of polite Minneapolis, the headline would have been totally different.
Posted by: Rob | March 15, 2007 at 04:38 PM
I'm having a bacon cheeseburger for dinner. F#$%tards.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley | March 15, 2007 at 05:10 PM
Rob-Pretty sure they don't sell that at Target, so no worry. In fact, I may check around and see if there's anywhere around here that sells it. I can only imagine that headline, but patience is also growing thin here.
Bingley-Since I saw it was "Eat an Animal for PETA Day" from Ken, I had pork sausage at breakfast, tuna at lunch, and a burger at dinner also. I got 3, I only see 2 from you. :)
Posted by: Dave E. | March 15, 2007 at 10:27 PM
No, you definitely win, as I generally eat neither breakfast nor lunch. Last night I had some nice fresh pasta with italian sausage on it instead of the burger.
And a couple of beers, of course.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley | March 16, 2007 at 06:53 AM