well well…M&S bowing down to pressure from fundamentalist Islamists?
this is a dangerous trend … i actually think this is horrendous…jews, hindus, sikhs, Buddhists everyone’s got some religious implications…where will it stop? tomorrow hindus and Buddhists will say they cannot sell meat products…
If you object to serving alchol, pork or any other retail item you should change your job.
Marks & Spencer has told Muslim staff they can refuse to serve customers buying alcohol or pork.
The policy was revealed after customers who were trying to buy alcohol from a Muslim shop assistant in London were told they’d have to use another till.
The company’s decision has highlighted a split in the supermarket giants over religious staff and whether they should be excused from certain jobs and shifts.
At M&S, Muslim staff can politely ask customers buying alcohol or pork to choose another till.
The move is in stark contrast to that at Sainsbury’s where guidelines state that there is no religious reasons why they can’t handle the goods.
Meanwhile Tesco said it would treat each case on its merits and Asda claimed it wouldn’t ask Muslims to work the tills if they objected to handling alcohol.
The customer who was refused to be sold alcohol told the Telegraph: “I had one bottle of champagne, and the lady, who was wearing a headscarf, was very apologetic but said she could not serve me.
"She told me to wait until another member of staff was available.
“I was taken aback. I was a bit surprised. I’ve never come across that before.”
A spokesman for M&S said: “We recognise that some of our employees practise religions that restrict the food or drink they can handle, or that mean they cannot work at certain times.
“M&S promotes an environment free from discrimination and so, where specific requests are made, we will always make reasonable adjustments to accommodate them, whilst ensuring high levels of customer service.”
The spokesman said that their policy would be applied to other religions, including Christians who did not want to work Sunday’s and Jews who choose not to work Saturdays.
Re: Muslim Marks & Spencer staff told they can refuse to sell alcohol and pork...
I agree with phoenix a slippery slope indeed. The plus side though is that this highlights the tolerance levels of British people and companies. I wonder how a Hindu in Saudi Arabia would have been treated if he refused to serve beef products.
Re: Muslim Marks & Spencer staff told they can refuse to sell alcohol and pork...
Ridiculous
Why do you think that? To be fair the article is taken from a not so reputable newspaper ;however they probably didn't mention that M&S allows jews not to work on Saturday and christians not to work on Sundays. Lets not forget jews also don't find pork clean. M&S in a statement said they would accustom each religion as required so i think if the issue was bought up by hindu's they would allow it. But thats just my opinion.
Re: Muslim Marks & Spencer staff told they can refuse to sell alcohol and pork...
Marks & Spencer told Muslim staff they can do that? I am not sure what to make of. If M&S thinks they can retain customer and stay in business with this practice then kudos to them.
It would've been a bad news if some extremist group had threatened M&S to do that, IMO.
Re: Muslim Marks & Spencer staff told they can refuse to sell alcohol and pork…
i know many muslims living in Germany not working at places where they’ve to deal with Alcohol and Pork or women have to remove the head scarf … although some of them opt to work at such places but it’s up to them individually
Re: Muslim Marks & Spencer staff told they can refuse to sell alcohol and pork...
Idiotic! I would personally be pretty pi$$ed off If I queued up for purchase an item only to be told I will have to wait some more because he/she can not server due to whatever reasons