No smoke without flamewar

[j4]

You may recall a bit of a debate recently about whether Christians should be forced to let gay people stay in their bed-and-breakfasts, in which people invented various analogous situations (as people are wont to do) as aids to debate. Here's one we didn't need to invent, from The Times' News in Brief on Monday:

Smoker put out

A smoker was denied cigarettes at a store because the assistant, a Muslim, said it was against her religion to sell tobacco. The woman smoker, 31, had tried to buy cigarettes at W. H. Smith in Cambridge. The company said that the customer should have realised the assistant was Muslim and would not sell tobacco.

How did the Times know that the woman was a smoker? She might have just been buying cigarettes for a friend. ... No, wait. Should smokers be allowed to refuse to be served by a Muslim? ... No, that's not it either. Hang on, I've got it: How can you tell if the checkout assistant is a Muslim? There isn't a punchline, but there probably would be if you started making assumptions like that based on, ooh, I don't know, the c*l**r of someone's sk*n, or their h**dg**r.

I would say "it's not just me, is it?" but a friend recently said (in an entirely other context) "I too spend a lot of time in culture shock at what's supposed to be my own culture." I think that sums it up, really.

Comments

[naranek.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure this is culture shock so much as WH Smith having a wierd corporate policy and then giving a kack-handed explanation of it. There's nothing to stop shopkeepers being wierd.

I must admit I find all this anti-discrimination legislation a bit disquieting; there's a clear case for it where the market is obviously failing - disabled access being the obvious example - but elsewhere it sounds much like legislation for legislation's sake.

Interesting question: if the customer had taken WH Smith's advice and not attempted to buy cigarettes, presuming the assistant to be Muslim, would the store have a case for racial discrimination? I think they probably would (corollary: should the police now investigate WH Smith for promoting racial discrimination against themselves?)

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

There's a related, more serious, issue in the Southern US of 'Christian' pharmacy staff refusing to sell the morning-after pill (and in some cases other sorts of contraception).

In both cases the issue is whether the store owner can sack the uncooperative staff.

And surely the culture shock issue arises because it's not just your own culture involved?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether, if I worked for WH Smith, they would allow me not to sell tobacco on the grounds that my conscience didn't allow me to aid people in the pursuit of lung cancer? Or is it only neolithic goat herder superstitions that are protected?

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

I am rather surprised at the WHsmith response to that one. If I was running a company, I wouldn't hire anyone who would refuse to do meet the requirements of the job.

-x-

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Possible logical consequences of this:

1) You attempt to buy forbidden fruit, one particular shopkeeper refuses, you ask the shopkeeper if another shopkeeper will serve you said forbidden fruit, if the original shopkeeper acquiesces then even though they have not served you the item in question they have certainly aided and abetted in delivery of the item, which is surely still a little bit bad even if not as bad;

2) The shop has an item on sale, but it's pot luck whether the shopkeeper you select will sell it to you or not and if you hit one that will not then you should make your other purchases, if any, from that shopkeeper and use another shopkeeper (if any are available!) for the forbidden fruit in question.

3) It's a genuine one-off case on the part of the shopkeeper.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Way back in the day when I worked in a supermarket, every single applicant was asked if they minded handling meat, pork, and alcohol - and they asked with particular care when hiring Hindus and Moslems. I have no doubt whatsoever that all who answered 'yes' or equivocated were rejected.

This is probably illegal today.

In the case of Tesco, that line of questioning has been dropped for sound commercial reasons - if you want low-cost teenage labour that works passably well, washes regularly, can read labels and count the boxes off a lorry, then you absolutely have to employ the descendants of the Raj - because the natives are not only illiterate but untrainable. So Tesco have learned to adapt, and stand above all too many employers who did not; these others to refuse to adapt to a multiracial society, and if it sounds reasonable to discriminate on the grounds of willingness to work at any task, it should be remembered that the implementation at shop-floor level will inevitably involve prejudice and malice, rather than sound business principles and colour-blind commercial judgement.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? Muslims don't approve of tobacco? Is this a particular sect of Islam? I've met far more Muslim smokers than Muslim non-smokers. I have one particularly fond memory of the Ramadan sunset siren going off during a holiday in Morocco and dozens of people lighting up with huge sighs of relief.