General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Muslim staff can discriminate based on their religious beliefs. [View all]OwnedByCats
(805 posts)Yeah you're quite right. I guess what I was trying to say was that in Britain, queues do appear to be an obsession for them. I just think that while they believe in orderly queues, they have their limits. They seemed to hate it when they lasted too long, I often heard "That bloody queue took an eternity!", and most really don't appreciate getting cut and you might hear "Oi! Get back to the end of the queue, fuckin wanker!" from the occasional impatient customer. Most of them won't cut in front of you, but there is that subset of the population who will try it on whenever they can. I'm not a big person, only 4ft 11in, and I would get the feeling that they would pretend they didn't see me standing there lol. It happened just on occasion. It was just strange to me that in a country where obeying the rules of queueing was deemed so important, there would be some who just thought it perfectly acceptable to cut. But I swear, in the 10 years I lived there, I can only recall one time where the person in front of me offered to let me go before them because I had just a handful of items (no express lane open) and they had a trolley load. Here in the US it happens all the time, with many people being considerate. I will certainly offer to let someone go ahead of me. In the US, I get a warm thank you - in the UK, they would look at me like I had two heads if I offered to let them go first! Then as soon as they realized they'd be like "oh wow, ta very much! Cheerio!" lol
I just think if you told one of them to go to another queue after having waited for a "bloody eternity" in their original queue, I'm sure that would go down like a lead balloon! Like I said down farther in this thread, I saw Muslim run corner shops that sold pork and alcohol. They didn't seem to have a problem earning their living by catering to what the larger segment of the population wanted. Not sure why M&S is now doing this. Is this really an issue in Britain now? I knew some Muslims when I lived there but they actually assimilated somewhat to their surroundings. For example, my husband's hematologist was a Muslim originally from Iraq (excellent doctor btw!), but when it was Christmas time, him and his family had no problem receiving Christmas cards. My husband would always bring the nurses and doctors at the hospital chocolates and Christmas cards every year, because they treated him so well when he received cancer treatment from them (still in remission almost 14 years now). The first year he started doing this I told him his doctor was Muslim, so we weren't sure that was appropriate but he didn't want to leave him out. Upon explaining this quandary to his doctor, he said he would not be offended in the slightest to receive cards and chocolates at Christmas. I'm sure not all of them would feel the same, but the Muslims I knew seemed pretty laid back about their adopted country's different culture.
Still I think if you are not willing to do your whole job description because some elements offend you, how can you justify drawing a paycheck from them? It's not like they are being forced to eat or drink the stuff. I'm really not bigoted against other people's religious beliefs that are not in line with mine, I just think as long as it's not being forced upon you, it's not an issue. Those in the free world have a choice on where they can work. The government isn't forcing that upon them, thus forcing the job description. They can either choose to work in a different department where they won't be required to handle those items, or they can work some where that does not sell them at all.