Intolerance?

[theflyinggerco]

We are coming up to the end of November, and towards Christmas, when the world becomes a little bit nicer, even if its only for a few days, and people seem to be nicer... usually

I work for the man aka Safeway, and as the weekend duty manager, I am in charge of listening to peoples half arse complaints, which usually range from there not being a certain line of stock being unavailable and how bad for business that is to people complaining about the staff being rude, lazy or stupid, of which I am all 3 . I usually slowly nod my head, and use my years of experience, and answer with some statement saying how sorry i am without actually admitting any fault.

On Sunday I had a lady demand to speak to the manager on duty, which from 3pm till closing at midnight is me. She wished to make a complaint becuase, and i quote her "I am not religious and the mentoining of Jesus Christ, Mary, God and Joseph in the Christmas carols you have playing in the store offends me"

Now i consider myself to be a fairly tolerant fellow. I grew up with Mormon parents (thats why i love Shawn Bradley!) and was taught to respect other peoples decisions in life, including their own personal beliefs, among others.

My question to you guys is: This lady, is she right to demand the chrissy carols to be stopped because she is offended by Jesus? Or is she being intolerant of others choices...

(not to mentoin how can you be offended, if your not Christian, by people worshipping a mythical figure?)

 

[JZA]

.....its times like these im glad i dont work in a supermarket.

 

[theflyinggerco]

i honestly couldnt believe it... the strangest complain ive had, and ive had a customer complain that we dont sell Ox tongues... and another complain that she couldnt find the tampons, and before i could answer she burst out crying and i had to ring her husband to come and get her... crazy world supermarkets...

 

[bargey]

I would have said "don't worry, I hate religion too, just substitute Satan for Jesus in your mind and you'll be having a ball"

 

[mattyj]

how can the names Mary or Joseph be offensive? Just because they happen to be the same names as some people in the bible?

but to be serious, no she shouldnt have complained, its idiotic, we live in a predominantly Christian country, deal with christmas for the few weeks of the year and get over it

Is she offended by the santa display in shopping centres? is she offended safeway sells christmas decorations?

Man im glad im not a supermarket manager coz i probably would end up hitting someone, it was bad enough when i worked at K Mart and told a customer to F*ck off...my manager told me to get him to do that for me

 

[chadjaja]

Im not religious but I'm more offended by that actions of Woolworths and Coles in the ripping off of farmers and intentially pushing small buisiness out of the market place. Its the Vic market for me :-D

Geez what do people expect around a religous holiday. Sure some of us only celebrate it as a time for family and friends but.....

If you had it YOUR way all the time it wouldn't be Australia, we are a diverse bunch and therefore have to be tolerant. Pretty simple.

 

[Matt26]

I know a friend who works for company that prints Christmas cards.

The amount of cards they are being requested to print this year without the words "Merry Christmas" on them is growing by the day. Seems "Happy Holidays" is the safest bet these days and the most unlikely to offend.

I wonder how long it will take before someone will find the term "Happy Holidays" offensive?

I am all for tolerance, however tolerance is a 2 way street. I will tolerate your beliefs, as long as you tolerate mine.

In the end its a simple thing called respect.

End rant!

Regards
Matt

 

[Ja$e]

People have issues they need to deal with plain and simple! She probablly had some either crisis going on in her mind and found something to tak ei tout on!

By the way I spent 6 years of my life working at Woolworths our version of safeway and the amount of complaints and stupid questions are ridiculous! People just can't seem to find the light globes all by themselves!

 

[Funkadelic]

..people complaining about the staff being rude, lazy or stupid..

Well it is Woolworths


You see this all the time now. The world has become too PC. A fine example of how our lovely mayor of Sydney doesn't like sprucing up the city for Christmas because the decorations may offend some minorities and religious beliefs. People have to be careful as they may commit a 'hate crime' :roll: simply for expressing their's and millions of other peoples idea of Christmas. It's fukt.

 

[bigsarg7]

The world is really a crazy place now. Everyone used to be tolerant and now you can't celebrate christmas at school or kinder because people get offended. I am religous, however I would never judge anyone who isn't and I wouldn't expect to be judged and the political correctness is getting out of hand. Some will dissagree but Australia is a prodominately Christian country and we shouldn't change that for minority groups. I understand Australia is very multicultural and I respect that but surely we can still celebrate things like Christmas.
Many things we do without thought are related to the Christian bible. I hope I haven't offended anybody!

 

[theflyinggerco]

My parents, in particular my mother, are Mormons and i was taught to be tolerant of other peoples beliefs, whether they be Christian, Muslims or non-religious. Im not religious myself anymore, but hey, if thats your personal belief, go for it, im not going to stop you, and in fact im probably going to be curious as to why your relgious, rather than try and stop you celebrating your beliefs... Christians celebrating Christmas for the religious reasons is great for them, just as those who worship captialism get to buy presents for everyone they know

One of the reasons this lady really bugged me was because my mother, who also works at store i work at, had to write up the complaint, and she is deeply religious, but she couldnt complain about this person's lack of tolerance, and in fact was rather upset by the whole incident, but had to bite her tongue.

 

[WoobieZarz]

Damn...... Some people really have too much to complain about.

Seriously, to be THAT picky, and DEMAND to speak with the Manager, just to bitch about a f-cking song.....

Tell her to shop somewhere else...

I see 2 sides sometimes... you can accept people into a store and let them spend money, but regardless as to what they spend (if at all spend), compare to the time, and money you and your staff are WASTING to deal with idiotic complaints like that, then I'd be suggesting the next shopping centre along.

Pfft, all that over a f-cking Christmas Carol.....

I personally can't stand em, but sometimes, you just get in the toe-tappin spirit, and jig along.

 

[clarkescards]

The world is really a crazy place now. Everyone used to be tolerant and now you can't celebrate christmas at school or kinder because people get offended. I am religous, however I would never judge anyone who isn't and I wouldn't expect to be judged and the political correctness is getting out of hand. Some will dissagree but Australia is a prodominately Christian country and we shouldn't change that for minority groups. I understand Australia is very multicultural and I respect that but surely we can still celebrate things like Christmas.
Many things we do without thought are related to the Christian bible. I hope I haven't offended anybody!

2 words - Vocal Minority

& Silent (or apathetic) Majority

 

[bigsarg7]

2 words - Vocal Minority

& Silent (or apathetic) Majority

Totally agree and most people are too afraid to speak up which is very dissapointing.

 

[jimboiitmac]

this lady is wacko, people like this have no idea.. what the hell!

 

[Trey]

mate, I put up with morons every day, but Ive never had them complain when Ive put decorations around in the office.

I say if you want to bitch and moan and make people change their religiously backed holiday, then they can go to work on christmas day, and get paid normal rates.

actually chances are she doesnt work, because only unemployed loonies seem to bitch and moan coz they have too much time on their hands!

 

[cliffy21]

Oh jeez.. that is just too much! What did she expect her complain to achieve? That 20 million people would suddenly stop celebrating Christmas? Tolerance and respect is a two way street!