[Withano]

Originally Posted by The baby Zeesus

I appreciate the point you're making, but I whole heartedly disagree. This policy is just encouraging people to avoid going to the till of anyone they think might be Muslim if they're trying to buy pork or alcohol. Not only is that racial profiling, but it's encouraging anti-Muslim attitudes that exist in the UK because of PC pandering policies that most Muslim people would never have dreamed of asking for because they aren't sensitive or precious about their religion and culture. It's up there with renaming Christmas to avoid offending anyone who isn't Christian. I'm not a Christian but I call it Christmas, celebrate it and enjoy it because I live in the UK and it's one of our staple holidays. Plenty of other people do the same. This is just one of those poorly thought out ideas that's supposed to benefit a minority group but actually just makes things worse for them. Most Muslims wouldn't have a problem with selling a product that M&S sells - because it's in their job description.

My only point was that it wouldn't make the buyer any less of an inconsiderate douche regardless of the policy or shop. Hence this whole story is only a problem for inconsiderate arseholes.

[RichardG]

Once you've done your shopping you just want to get it paid for and go home. The idea that you have to hang around for a couple of minutes first scanning all of the tills and trying to figure out which worker is Muslim and which isn't just because you want to buy a pork or alcohol product is totally beyond ridiculous. If handling the packaging of these products goes so strongly against your beliefs and you really cannot bring yourself to do it then don't work in a supermarket where you'll be expected to regularly do so.

Thankfully most Muslim workers would not have a problem with this and it's a shame that this has gone so public because, like I said in a previous post, it's only further encouraging the anti-Muslim attitudes that some people in this country have.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Withasnow

My only point was that it wouldn't make the buyer any less of an inconsiderate douche regardless of the policy or shop. Hence this whole story is only a problem for inconsiderate arseholes.

Why would you be an inconsiderate douche for going to a supermarket and queuing to pay for your chosen groceries? That's... what you do in supermarkets. Your posts don't make any sense - how are you supposed to know if someone won't serve you because of their religious beliefs? Unless M&S puts signs above the tills saying that someone won't serve you if you have pork or alcohol on you (which to me isn't all that different from making people wear coloured triangles but whatever) - you're having to queue and wait and see if you'll have to queue again somewhere else just in case your cashier has some issue with what you're buying. What happened to the customer is always right? Why does somebody else get to dictate what I want to buy from a shop? You don't have to be of a certain age to buy pork. The law states you have to be 18 to buy alcohol and you have to do it before 10pm, and you can be IDed if you look under 25. Nothing in there about being able to refuse to serve it to someone because you don't personally drink alcohol.