We here in Minnesota are on the firing line on these matters of religion. The latest controversy arises over the refusal of some cashiers to ring up sales of pork products:
Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon. So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier -- who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women -- refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.
"She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag," said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. "It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier."
In the latest example of religious beliefs creating tension in the workplace, some Muslims in the Twin Cities are adhering to a strict interpretation of the Qur'an that prohibits the handling of pork products. Instead of swiping the items themselves, they are asking non-Muslim employees or shoppers to do it for them.
Once again, there doesn't seem to be any consensus among the Muslims themselves on whether their religion bans scanning the bar code on a package of bacon and putting it in a bag. Somehow, I doubt that the Koran contains anything directly on point.
While most customers have been offended or worse by cashiers' refusal to ring up some of their purchases, others have urged accommodation of the Somalis' customs--or alleged customs, since the Somalis themselves are divided:
Dr. Shah Khan, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Minnesota in Fridley... urged people to remember the extraordinary adjustments many Somalis have made in coming to the Twin Cities. "Many of these people are refugees. They may have been tortured. And they came here having never held a book in English," he said. "They're already adapting to our society. We need to adapt to them, too."
Sorry, no. Refugees who come to America need to learn that if you want to be a cashier in a store that sells food, it isn't up to you to critique the customers' purchases. Likewise if you're a cab driver; you don't get to choose your fares based on your approval or disapproval of the contents of their packages. That isn't how it works here, and the sooner that immigrants learn that they can't erect a little zone of sharia law around themselves, the better off they will be.
PAUL ADDS: I agree, but don't be surprised if the Bush administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gets involved on behalf of "sharia law."
Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 4)
46. How about a little human decency? Both targets I go to (Lake Street and Downtown Mpls) have a lot of East African cashiers, many of whom are probably Muslim - I assume some of them don't want to handle pork.
So, you come to work on-time, you work hard, you're courteous, and you have problems with handling pork products. O.k - lots of co-workers and even the customers can scan it and/or bag it. Solved.
It's called human decency. Neighborliness. Consideration. Seriously, some of this "go back where you came from" talk is just so vile.
Take Care,
Tom
tom at 4:28PM on Mar 15th 2007
47.
John,
What about the very American, very Christian doctor who will not treat patients with tattoos? He won't even treat the children of people with tattoos. Tell me what's worse, having to bag your own bacon or wait for another cab, or having your doctor either not treat you or not inform you about treatments they have a religious objection to?
I do agree with you, but this is not an immigration issue. If you want to drive a taxi you should pick up any fare, if you want to work in a mini-mart you should be willing to bag everything in your store, and if you want to be a doctor you should live up to your hippocratic oath and treat your patients in any way you can. If you have religious objections to how you might carry out your job you should find another profession.
Peter2 at 8:37PM on Mar 15th 2007
48. "Poor babies cant touch bacon... boo hoo! Well guess what buddy boy? Scan my bacon or I guarantee you will wear it! Oops! I am so, so sorry! I am such a klutz!"
No, more like poor babies can't get their bacon scanned!! Oh, the horror! You can't eat more bacon. This is straight out of a Simpsons episode.
You are so oppressed that you can't get your bacon RIGHT NOW! You might have to scan it yourself???!!! Where are the smelling salts?
What a sad, modern trouble this is.
But behold the manly American supermarket warrior, who threatens to attack the cashier that he outranks with...a package of bacon. How utterly pathetic.
By the way, I think that the cashier should be willing to scan the bacon; that's part of the deal when working there. But the utterly lame, hateful, backwards, mouth-frothing, knuckle-dragging b.s. reactions to this are rather more disturbing to me than the Cashier Who Dared Not Scan the Bacon!
You want bacon? Raise a pig, slaughter it, and make your own.
Dave at 5:50PM on Mar 15th 2007
49. I seldom agree with the viewpoints expressed by the writers of this blog, but I admit some sympathy with them this time.
I also live in the Twin Cities. What strikes me about both the current flap over scanning pork products and the alcohol in taxicabs controversy is the timing. Somalis have been working as cashiers in grocery stores for at least ten years and Somali cabbies have been working at the airport for that long or longer. There were never any complaints about carrying alcohol until last year, and the new refusal to scan pork surfaced only this week. Why now?
Some Muslims would say that only recently have they come to appreciate that they have rights under the American legal system to "reasonable accommodation" and are merely exercising those rights. I'm a bit skeptical of this. I strongly suspect an orchestrated effort, led by an organized group or groups both within and outside the Twin Cities, to test the boundaries and see how far they can push the dominant culture to accommodate Muslim religious practice. Minnesota would seem to be a well-chosen arena for this effort, as it tends to extremes of political correctness---an over-compensation, in my view, for the discomfort with "outsiders" and those "not from here" that is such an ingrained part of Minnesota culture.
Anyone who has spent any time in this country should be aware that pork products are a staple in the diet of most Americans. Therefore, it is reasonable to anticipate that working as a grocery store cashier will bring a person into contact with pork products on a regular basis. If the individual can't in good conscience touch a significant portion of the product his/her employer sells, I would say that he/she should take a different job.
The Muslim cabbies' and cashiers' situation differs from cases in which an employee cannot work on a certain day of the week. This can be solved with scheduling. When the employee is at work, he or she performs all functions of the job. Here, the Muslim employees want to pick and choose among customers or among functions that are integral to their jobs. Who suffers? The customers. Such an "accomodation" is not reasonable; employers should not be required to sacrifice customer service and convenience to employees' religious practices.
AMS at 11:18PM on Mar 15th 2007
50. You said it all, AMS! I don't ordinarily side with the "monied" interests, but I smell something fishy about these so-called religious objections to performing reasonably expected job tasks. It's not a matter of "America -- love it or leave it;" it's about not scamming a system that does reasonably accommodate individuals' disabilities and sincerely held religious beliefs. The watchword is reasonable.
Refusing to scan the bacon is just not reasonable, no matter how you try to spin it.
cj at 9:24AM on Mar 16th 2007
51. It seems to me muslims want society to accomodate their every predjudice under the guise of religious tolerance while simultaneously rejecting even the smallest modicum of tolerance for any other religion or culture. As far as muslims are concerned, tolerance and respect are one way streets. As far as Im concerned, if tolerance isnt a two way street, then the road is closed.
scotty at 1:40PM on Mar 16th 2007
52. Weren't the Republicans fired in November for selling us too much pork? Now the Republicans want to fire someone for not selling us any pork? I am totally confused? Calgon Take me away!!!!
Tony Nunzio at 5:39PM on Mar 16th 2007
53.
You think that's bad, ICW?
My mother is a kindergarten teacher. Every single year around October she has to put up with at least one Christian nutjob who doesn't want Halloween celebrations in class because it's a "celebration of Satan or Pagan beliefs". Normally she just tells when the Halloween party is going to be and offers to set up daycare for their children while it's going on. But a few years ago these same wacko parents went to the school board: They didn't want -anyone- to be having a halloween party. And guess what? The school board is so spineless they banned halloween parties in our school district. This happened in the U.S. by the way.
You all seem to be picking on Muslims quite a bit, they aren't the only ones screwing us with political correctness.
Peter2 at 6:14PM on Mar 18th 2007
54. More of the jewish and repuk twist ... just like bush say it enough people will believe me.. People are not as stupid as you.. Joseph
joseph at 12:43PM on Mar 23rd 2007
55. I agree with this blog completely and think refusal to serve is grounds for immediate termination.
Phil at 4:44PM on Mar 23rd 2007