West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: Low Key on March 17, 2007, 12:27:45 AM
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In the wake of community criticism, Target Corp. is reassigning its Muslim cashiers who refuse to ring up pork products for religious reasons to other jobs at the stores.
Target received a wave of criticism earlier this week after the Star Tribune reported in a front-page article that some Muslim cashiers at Target declined to scan bacon and other pork products. They would call over another cashier to ring up the products, or in some cases, ask customers to do it themselves.
Some customers called and wrote Target to complain about the practice; a few called for a general boycott of Target on the Star Tribune's community blog, buzz.mn.
After the story appeared, Target asked Muslim cashiers who refuse to handle pork to wear gloves or transfer to other areas of the stores. In some cases, Muslim cashiers will be given the option of transferring to other stores. "We are confident that this is a reasonable solution for our guests and team members," Target spokeswoman Paula Thornton-Greear said in a statement. It remains unclear whether wages would be affected by any job transfers; cashiers are generally entry-level positions at Target.
"Blown way out of proportion"
The move is an effort by Target to balance the religious rights of its employees with customer demands for prompt service. However, some Somali Muslims in the Twin Cities said that the retailer is overreacting to public pressure and that stores should be able to accommodate Muslim cashiers without disrupting service.
"This is being blown way out of proportion," said Abdi Sheikhosman, a professor of Islamic law at the University of Minnesota Law School. "Pork products represent a very small percentage of Target's overall products. ... Accommodations could have been made."
Target's new policy is similar to ones at other grocery stores in the area. Spokespeople for the chains that operate Cub and Rainbow food stores said Muslims who share concerns about pork during the interview process are told of opportunities in departments such as dairy, floral or customer service that don't involve handling pork.
"There are many jobs in the grocery store that do not involve handling pork," said Vivian King, a spokeswoman for Roundy's, which owns Rainbow stores.
Each Target store appears to have some leeway in implementing the new policy. At the downtown Minneapolis Target, employees were called into one-on-one meetings Thursday and asked whether they were opposed to handling pork for religious reasons. Those who said yes were told they could no longer work as cashiers during the store's busiest hours, 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., according to an employee at the store who requested anonymity.
At the SuperTarget off Hwy. 7 in St. Louis Park, which has a full grocery section, Muslim cashiers who said they refuse to handle pork were transferred Thursday to the sales floor to stock shelves or fold clothes. It remained unclear whether that change is permanent. The store manager declined to be interviewed, and Thornton-Greear said the company wouldn't discuss the situation at specific stores.
Suhara Robla, a 20-year-old employee at the store, said more than a dozen Muslim cashiers were asked Thursday to do other jobs. "They told all of us who don't touch pork to go to the sales floor," she said. "They really didn't say why. They just said it was a new policy."
Sinful to sell pork?
Many Muslims believe the pig is an unclean animal and consider it a sin to eat pork. The Qur'an has multiple passages in which Allah instructs believers to avoid eating pig flesh. It is so core to their beliefs that some consider it sinful to sell the meat, because that encourages others to participate in a sinful act.
In the Muslim world, there is even a stronger taboo against pork than alcohol, said Owais Bayunus, an imam at the Abu Khudra Mosque in Columbia Heights. Wearing gloves will not solve the issue, he said. "There is a school of thought within the Muslim community that if you sell pork or alcohol to someone, then you are contributing to the propagation of a sinful activity," he said. "Many Muslims do not want to see non-Muslims involved in a sinful product."
At Target stores, some Muslim cashiers opposed to selling pork had grown accustomed to waving over other employees whenever they came across bacon, ham or other pork products, even pepperoni pizza. In many cases, they simply switched on a little light above their registers and another cashier would rush to their side and swipe the product for them.
The practice seemed to work well for Robla. She said she needed help scanning pork products only "about two or three times a day." In other cases, customers would volunteer to swipe the items themselves.
Occasionally, however, Robla said, people would get annoyed when she told them it was because of her religion. "Some people would say, 'If you won't scan it, then I don't want this thing,' " she said. "I don't understand it. Some people don't even want to wait a few seconds."
Mohamed Muse, who also works at the St. Louis Park store but not as a cashier, has no problems with the new policy. "If someone is trying to buy pork, you can't just say, 'Wait here,' " he said. "You can't put a hold on the work system."
Muse, speaking to a reporter Friday afternoon at the Somali mall just off Lake Street, said when he applied for his job six months ago, a human-resources worker asked him whether he could handle pork. Muse, who arrived in the country eight months ago after immigrating with his family from Nairobi, Kenya, said no. "They said OK. So I work mostly with fruits and vegetables overnight," he said. "It was really no problem."
Still, he understands some of the controversy, which has included discussions on area talk-radio stations. "People are sensitive," he said. "They say, 'You are trying to force me to [your] religion! You are losing my time!' All that stuff."
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1061103.html
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I have mixed feelings over this. If I don't want a particular job, I don't apply for it. Selling pork is part of working at a grocery store in America. If muslims don't want to contribute to others sinful nature by selling them pork, why are they even cashiers? Wouldn't taking money for the product technically be selling it? I don't get it. Just because they don't touch it, it's all of a sudden okay? It really seems like strange logic.
So now after Target moved the employees to other areas of the store, they get all pissed about it like they are being descriminated against. I figure muslims not selling pork is descriminating against people who don't believe eating pork is a sin. Shouldn't that work out both ways? Especially since they are in America.
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
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I'd fire their ass
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
I didn't even know it was legal to drink in a taxi, but it still doesn't make sense why someone would apply for a job they can't fully accomplish. Selling pork is one of the requirements of being a cashier at a Super Target and that's that. The christian community doesn't get sunday off to go worship to their god. It's the same principles.
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
Minneapolis has cabs in which people aren't allowed to bring alcohol? What kind of discriminatory bullshit is that?
THIS IS AMERICA NOT FUCKING SAUDI ARABIA.
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
Minneapolis has cabs in which people aren't allowed to bring alcohol? What kind of discriminatory bullshit is that?
THIS IS AMERICA NOT FUCKING SAUDI ARABIA.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/uBijJcw7ixQ&autoplay=0
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
why should muslims get preferential treatment? A job is a job, the requirements are the same for everyone. if you don't like the job or disagree with it morally you get a different job which you are comfortable with. its like a KKK guy saying he won't serve black people because its against his beliefs, no one would stand for that..........
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I'd slap some bloody pork up their faces as the supervisor. Everybody who refuses to sell pork is a moron, and everybody who doesn't feel that way is a moron, too. BTW the one who added this trash music can suck a dick. Makes reading that thread unbearable.
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I'd fire their ass
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Us christians should refuse to sell meat on fridays during lent, b/c sinners may buy and eat that meat on a friday, we cant be having that.
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I'd fire their ass
lol
hell yea
nigga if u dont wanna do yo job then get the fuck out
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As a former Target employee who worked with Muslims, the answer is simple, just move them to the floor. Though our Muslim girls never refused to sell pork, same Somali women, but we never had a problem. This must be just a group trying to make a point. I'd move them to the floor, electronic or cloths. If they are worried about pork there, then that's an issue.
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i'd fire their ass word to mother b, they can go work the floor at best buy or some muslim shithole place of business if they wanna act stuck up, they obviously aren't "taking over" if they have to stage bullshit shenanigans like that at their low level place of work just to remind America they still exist. muaha, on a side note i was watching that show "halfway house" in comedy central with the wealthy black dude who tried acting like a militant muslim, he reminded me of bryan, except for black, and bryan manicures his eyebrows
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jml is looking at this right now wishing he could diss a man twice in one hour
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Nice article.. it's good to see these Muslims making effort to change the business structure so that it better accomodates Muslims. If they just "go along to get along" then nothing will get changed. But it sounds like they are are really making some sacrifices, the same thing happened with Somali taxing drivers in Minnesota in regards to customers having alcoholic beverages. So the taxi companies started putting signs on the cab to indicate it was a dry cab.
Also, it would be unfair for me to not also give credit to any businesses that have helped accomodate Muslims. They deserve alot of credit for this, and I truly appreciate them for that.
what you forget is America is not a muslim nation.
i would have fired the lil bitches strait up.
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jml is looking at this right now wishing he could diss a man twice in one hour
jml is actually looking at this right now wondering why you can't get him off your mind.. and why you're such a little punk rock beezie obsessed with some internet karma bullshit... square bear
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This pisses me off. Im so tired of smelly foreigners coming into Amercia and trying to change what we do to suit them. Im getting realy realy tired of it.
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I guess it's just how extreme are the workers. Talking to two Muslims today, they wanted to work at Subway. I mentioned the whole Pork thing, and touching ham sandwiches. One basically changed their mind, the other was like, fuck it, I got gloves...lol. So it's like anything else, how deep are you in the religion.
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fuck it, I got gloves
I e-admire this man