Walmart has apologized to a Muslim woman who said she was mocked by a Walmart employee as she paid for her items, says the Associated Press.
“Please don’t stick me up,” a cashier told the shopper on Feb. 2, according to the Nevada chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Wal-Mart apologized in a letter signed by Rolando Rodriquez, a vice president and regional general manager.
“I can assure you that the associate in question was disciplined in accordance with our employment policies as a result of the situation,” Rodriguez said without disclosing details.
The apology has apparently been accepted.
Wal-Mart apologizes to Muslim woman mocked for wearing face veil [InFocus]
(Photo:chasingfun)
More From Consumerist
-
Shoplifter Apologizes For Beating Up Walmart Greeter
-
Man Mad At Walmart Because He Doesn’t Actually Want A $480 Fake iPad
-
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Uncover Star Wars Sandtroopers, Free Games, Windows Vista
-
Some Walmarts Still Short-Changing Customers On Gift Receipt Returns
-
Walmart Sold Us A High Chair Covered With Food And Mold As New
what the story failed to mention was that the veiled woman was also buying a 12 pack of dale earnhardt tumblers.
href=”#c4653345″>econobiker: Some idot has already done it in Philadelphia some years ago.
@jakkyl: You mean dress like an Italian.
Who came up with this whole thing that Muslim women wear veils? Growing up people would as do you ever wear a veil? I used to think the veil was for brides and widows so heck no I don’t wear a veil. After a couple of times being asked that question I figured out that what they were talking about.
As far as this story goes, I say some people have thick skin and others don’t. I’ve had worse said to me by people as young as six, but I either keep it moving or engage in some sort of dialogue to make sure I can educate as many misinformed people as possible.
I don’t understand all the folks claiming that this is a First Amendment issue. I refuse to believe that Consumerist readers are so ignorant of how their rights work.
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide … or at least tried to starve myself … wait … what?
~Mahatma Gandhi
I didn’t see anyone else put this out there but what if the cashier actually felt they were wearing a hood and really thought they might get held up…
So all people who insult muslims are Christians, per your graphic?
@Canoehead: They use that photo a lot and, as this article was about Wal-mart and religion, it made sense to use it here. I doubt they’re trying to imply that the employee in question was Christian. This happened in Utah. The photo was taken in Louisiana.
Oh, I thought you said ‘muslin;’ they have rolls of that back in the craft section. By the way, any radical wouldn’t ‘stick you up,’ they just lop off your head with a ginzu from aisle 34.
Yeah this isn’t really on Wal-Mart… but the picture is perfect, too.
@XopherMV: If you’re joking, it was a stupid joke. If not, you’re a complete & total fucking moron.
So many of the comments here need to be flagged. Can we not have a post with the word Muslim or Islam in it without getting the bigoted remarks?
This is ridiculous. If she had a mole on her face and the cashier made an insult about that no one would be defending the cashier. But since the insult was directed at Islam suddenly it’s First Amendment this and crybaby that.
…the cashier had the RIGHT to say what she did.
Wal-mart also has the right to discipline the cashier for saying it. Just because you can’t be arrested for saying it doesn’t mean you’re protected from any and all consequences resulting from what you say.
If it had been a guy in winter with a skimask on & the same was said , noone would have given a flying fig. If I walked in with a condom over my head with eyeholes ,should I be upset if someone brought attention to it?
A veil is neither a ski mask nor a condom. At least with the ski mask the comment would have actually made sense since criminals do wear ski masks to hide their face while robbing stores.
The woman should learn how to handle such comments herself, there and then on the spot.
Which she did by making a complaint.
But as I’ve said before, if she’s going to wear the veil, she’d better know the score.
But employees who insult their customers don’t? Somehow I doubt she was horribly surprised when the cashier said what they did but you don’t have to be surprised by something to be insulted by it.
At least she didn’t say “please don’t blow me up.”
Perspective, people.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Completely agreed. WTH, Ben? You kept a good rein on the comments for a long time, & now they’ve all just gone to shit.
@pigeonpenelope: he may not have been “apparently insensitive”, he could have been the most tolerant and sensitive person in the world during interview and hiring.
Most asshats don’t show it until given a real chance.
Is this the Consumerist or Little Green Footballs? It’s hard to tell from these comments.
@morganlh85: you beat me to it.
Zzzzzz someone call the PC police! What happened to walking away and not patronizing a store you don’t like anymore.
American is becoming the biggest pile of mealy mouthed people. Crying foul any time someone says something that offends them. Are people afraid to say “screw you, asshole” and tell people like it is?
@jakkyl:
You’re paranoid, creepy and frightening.
This country was built on diversity. You can’t dump that idea now .. there would be no future for us.
Oh … never go to Dearborn, Michigan … it’d blow your mind.
Something similar was said to me at a library by a librarian when I walked in with my hood and face mask. I found it funny because who would stick up a library?
@jakkyl:
Also, are you saying that because you might be treated badly in Iran (or another country like it), that we should stoop to that level and abuse people here? That seems to be what you’re saying.
I bet you’re a Christian .. I can feel the compassion.
@radleyas: “I bet you’re a Christian .. I can feel the compassion.”
Way to obliterate any point your comment may have had.
It comes down to basic RESPECT and the misconceptions people have of any group other than their own. I bought a house in the hood, yeah there are some major jackass black people who live in the projects nearby, but I have some of the best next door neighbors ever who are black and latino.
Religion is no different since we have bozos hailing from every possible faith, either blowing stuff up, shooting OBGYN docs, et al.
I’m not sure how some people live life anymore always looking to be offended in some way.
@arch05:
Sorry, but it’s more than likely true.
@ canoehead: If you wanna bash consumerist, go over to CONGLOMERIST.com! Learn to spell “Making” correctly if you want to talk shit!
@radleyas: Doesn’t make you any less of a bigoted generalist.
I seem to be in the minority here, but I side with the employee here. If he/she had said “Please don’t blow me up!” that would have been highly insensitive, and then the case would be clearly against the employee–BUT he/she didn’t.
The employee said (allegedly) “Don’t hold me up (rob me).” This is just the employee trying to break the ice. Admitadely, it wasn’t the right way to do it, but it clearly wasn’t meant to be offensive.
As for America, we got where we are by INTEGRATING. Muslims who do this are NOT integrating. My grandparents (and grandparents who were Russian/Irish immigrants, respectively, to this country) didn’t run around dressed like cossiacks/celts–THEY INTEGRATED.
@XopherMV: Your comment is irrelevant, but your video is spot on. Thanks for sharing it.
I am offended by the Hijab. They represent Islam’s subjugation of women.
They should be mocked. And wearing one would be perfect cover for an armed robber … the clerk was right to be nervous. Walmart should simply post signs forbidding customers who conceal their faces from entering the premises.
And I am an atheist, BTW. As far as I am concerned, all religions are silly.
Awww, did someone’s feelings get hurt again? Stop the presses, we gotta let the world know… The terorists will and are exploiting our proclivity for polictical correctness. STOP IT PEOPLE! A joke is a joke, it wasn’t ‘mean’ spirited. I remember when we were kids telling ethnic jokes but that it taboo in todays’ world. It’s to bad we take this shit too seriously and can’t even laugh at ourselves anymore. What a world we live in.
@Canerican: Oh please. How on earth have you had to “change [y]our lifestyle to accomodate” Muslims? Are we making you take Fridays off and work on Sundays? Have we taken away your precious pork?
Frankly, I am tired of anything related to Muslims turning into an Islam-bashing contest on comments. @vastrightwing: I know your tone was meant to be sarcastic, but Islam is a religion of peace. Muslims believe in the Bible and the Torah, in Jesus and Moses and all the other Abrahamic prophets. So before you start bashing Islam, why don’t you remember that true Muslims actually respect what you believe because it’s a part of their religion? And any Muslim who tells you otherwise hasn’t actually read the Qu’ran.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Amen!
@Canoehead:
What? A radical atheist? He wrote a book about what he thinks and that makes him a radical? So that would pretty much make anyone who’s vocal about their religious affiliation radical.
The day you see Christopher Hitchens say something incredibly stupid like this will be the day the world ends.
Sounds like you are a pretty uptight Christian by your outrage over a simple photo, so I’m not sure why I’m wasting my time responding to you at all. If it makes you feel any better, he’s got a pretty big problem with you too. The sad thing is he probably knows 10x as much about it as you.
Couldn’t been any case of thin skin involved here, could it? If the woman had laughed, this would have been a non-starter. Can’t make jokes about this? What is it, related to Scientology?
@Canoehead: Basically, Hitchens’ view of Islam is based on the fact that he feels their organized religion has contributed to a majority of problems in the modern world. He considers the group to be “fascism with an Islamic face.” But he also feels that ALL religions have played their part in making the world a very unpeaceful place throughout history.
Regardless, the comment shouldn’t have been made whether she was Muslim, Christian, black, white, Spanish, Martian or anything. Ridiculous. I also agree with the fact that it’s not WalMart’s fault, since it is illegal to ask someone if they’re prejudiced as a condition of employment. The cashier is just a complete moron.
@nuttycakes:
The problem with many Islamic zealots is that they have NOT read the Qu’ran; They believe what their clerics tell them to.
That said, Islam is NOT a “religion of peace.” Rioting over a cartoon does not indicate peaceful, or even rational behavior to me.
Before you (any of you) start spouting about Islam being a “religion of peace” please go to the middle east (by which I mean Pakistan, Iran, Syria, etc.) and walk around telling Muslims that you are a Jew. See how they react.
A more correct statement is: “Islam is a religion of [blowing their enemies to] peace[es].”
@attackgypsy: I don’t know. When I was a taxi driver (and really, is there a more disposable employee?), an idiot coworker refused to allow a blind man’s service dog into the car. He had to go to ADA training before he could resume work; he wasn’t fired.
(Oh, and yes, the company could have been held liable for this driver’s ignorance if the customer had decided to pursue it beyond a formal complaint.) Of course, that’s the ADA, not mild and questionable hate speech.
@SuffolkHouse: (Someone may have already answered this, but:)
Hijab means “cover” generally and technically refers to modesty and appropriateness in behavior, clothing, the whole 9 yards. It’s typically used in the west to mean the CLOTHING part, most specifically the head covering (as that is unusual in the west so the most-often remarked upon), but it can refer to any particular form of cover, from scarves to burqas. Typically if the hijab is important to the story, you’ll want to specify — the story here has a somewhat different flavor based on whether she’s in modest western clothing with a head-scarf, or in a full-on burqa.
@jakkyl: You know, just because other countries are bigoted assholes that repress various religions doesn’t mean we have to sink to their level. I think America’s better than that. But if the only way to make you feel better is to become that which you despise, well, more power to you. If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Congrats on becoming just as intolerant and hateful as those you hate for their intolerance and hatefulness.
@Canoehead: Maybe you’re new here (and judging by your “new headline,” to the English language as well), but that is the standard Wal-mart picture Consumerist has been using. Apparently the irony and subtle commentary of the implied “church of Wal-mart” sailed straight over your poor little offended head.
@ChuckECheese:
Re: “Right to left”:
Can you be even more dense and unintelligible in your posting assholery?
Go away.
E.
@Canoehead: you don’t think your comment is a bit of a kneejerk reaction? Way to be the pot calling the kettle black here.
Wal*Mart makes me sad.
@witeowl: my argument still stands. it still works. your meager peddling at a word i used in order to compensate for your own lack of intelligence only makes you seem desperate. i myself made a good point that you didn’t know of and someone with more understanding of law was able to chide in and help. if your only contribution to a conversation is to throw out insults, maybe you should leave. someone needs a nap.
@cmdr.sass:
I think the joke was she had on a black mask like a robber does. Not that she is going to kill him because shes a Muslim.
@pigeonpenelope: Give me a break. You made a mistake. Own up to it.
And if you’re looking for an insult count, you’ll win. Review my other posts if you want to know where I stand on this issue. The sad part is that we agree on the whole. You’re just too pissy to see it. Have a nice nap.
I wonder if the teller at the bank down the road said the same thing before she was robbed by a woman in a hijab…..
Aside from all the American/Christian/Muslim/Islam arguments here the point I would like to bring up is the customer was an ass. It was a single off color comment. And if you look at where the story originated you’ll see that it was likely a reference to a cowboy/old timey bank robery with the face partialy covered with a bandana. Yes it does show short sighted-ness of the teller. But for love of god/allah/budha/FSM/xenu/whatever the customer should have to abide by our culture which used to be able to joke and have fun over being religiously devout. Its kind of why people moved to this country in the first place ya know….
@Coyote: Yeah, and we used to also do great performances like blackface and call people funny little terms like porchmonkey and pickaninny. Ah…. those were the days. Oh, and we could joke about how the Jews had all the power and are all moneygrubbing hagglers. Yes, and we could use free speech to plainly tell someone that they weren’t wanted in our neighborhood with two pieces of wood and a little fire. Yes, those were the days.
(For any sarcasm-impaired, the above paragraph is rife with it.)
On a related note: when’s the last time any of you watched Blazing Saddles? We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
That one comment is hardly an insult. If someone came in from the cold wearing a scarf around their face, the same comment wouldn’t be out of the question.
It sounds pretty obviously like a light-hearted joke to me.
Where’s the Council on Islamic-Humor Relations when we need them?
The kid who said it is a clown. However, I bet he’s a half-way okay person. I am part Hispanic (and look mostly Hispanic). People like this kid aren’t usually the bad people. The people that scare me are the bright, educated people who have influence that smile to your face then stab you in your back. They are way more threatening and there are alot of them. Many play themselves off as progressives, open-minded, etc… I’ll take a misinformed, foot-in-mouth good-intentioned hillbilly anyday of the week over them.