"It's discriminatory," Peters said. "How do you put an age on a grandparent or a mother or a father, for that matter?"

Toys R Us tells 3 On Your side they always have to set guidelines when they have promotions and for this one, they say establishing an age requirement was appropriate.

But Peters disagrees and says Toys R Us may claim to love grandparents, but what they really mean is that they love "old" grandparents.

"To assume that someone over 50 is a grandparent and that someone under 50 is not a grandparent, it's not fair," Peters said.

We're old fashioned—to us, anyone with a grandkid is a grandparent. What do you think?

Young grandmother feels shortchanged by toy store [AZFamily.com]
(Photo: ThatBeeGirl) (Thanks to Greg!)

The ruling upholds a lower court's decision from 2006. The suggested changes include different size bills and raised markings. The government acknowledges the problem but also insists that the blind have sufficiently adapted by folding corners on bills, using automatic bill readers or by getting help from sighted people. Currently, over 100 countries make use of different size bills or have other features that help the blind.

Mitch Pomerantz, the president of the Council of the Blind said, "I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is." Sam McClain, a blind man who manages a snack shop complains about automatic money readers, "It's slow. Sometimes I have 10 or 15 people in here, and I can't use it." Aside from being slow, the money readers have also been known to have trouble reading the new $20 bills. He usually has to rely on the honesty of his customers.

Since some employers hesitate to hire blind workers because of the money recognition issue, redesigned bills could mean more job opportunities for blind people. "When there are so few things in your life that you've got total control over, being able to even take care of your own money is such a big step, without requiring someone to tell whether you've got enough money to go out and get a beer or have a hamburger," said Kim Charlson of the Perkins School for the Blind.

Despite the governments resistance to a major money overhaul, they have actually been inching toward change to help the visually impaired. For example, a recent currency redesign for the $5 bill features a purple giant-sized 5 on one side to help people that have moderate vision impairment.

The treasury department has run into this issue in the past but had received resistance from the makers of vending and change machines citing that such changes would cost these companies billions to redesign their machines. However, one proposal is to leave $1 dollar bills unchanged, thus negating theses costs.

To make matters even more complicated, not all blind people agree that a change is needed. The National Federation of the Blind sided with the government and told the appeals court that no changes were needed.

If newly designed money can help people gain their independence then we think it should become a reality, despite the financial cost. We're not design experts but couldn't something could be added to currency to give it a tactile signature without breaking current change and vending machines? How would you go about changing money to help the visually impaired?

Court rules paper money unfair to blind [CNN]
Court: Paper money discriminates against the blind [AP]

According to the article, Richardson is likely in violation of a state law that prohibits unfair sales practices, as well as state laws "prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or national origin in places of public accommodation." Even the group that Richardson claims membership in—Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE)—is trying to distance itself from Richardson:

"There's no way I can defend what he did. It definitely isn't the policy of RIILE to go around and use your RIILE card to intimidate people," said Gorman in a phone interview. "That's not something that RIILE would promote ... to make citizen's arrest."

Genao said he is still upset over the encounter, which he called "loud in tone." Richardson called it "a discussion."

"I told [Richardson] I'm a U.S. citizen by choice, whereas he was just born here," said Genao. "I have every right to be here. I told him his behavior was shameful. And he went on to say that a lot of these illegal immigrants are criminals and we have to stop them, and he said he did this for his country — because it's going downhill, because of all these illegal immigrants.

"What [Richardson] should have done was say, 'Thank you for shopping with me.' That's all he had to do."

(Thanks to ElizabethD!)

"Store owner asks to see shoppers' Social Security cards" [The Providence Journal]

Ted Grose, president of Los Angeles-based 1st Mortgage Advisors, said labeling entire counties as "declining" is "ridiculous — it totally fails to distinguish between areas where prices are rising or relatively stable, and other neighborhoods or communities where they are not."

David Berenbaum, executive vice president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer advocacy group active in litigation against subprime mortgage companies, said that "sound underwriting has nothing to do with geography. It is based on the income and qualifications of the applicant, and the valuation of the property by a professional appraiser."

"Anything else," Berenbaum said, "runs afoul" of federal fair lending and Civil Rights statutes. "It is redlining."

Paul Skeens, head broker for Carteret Mortgage in Waldorf, said he had observed that lenders' county and Zip code designations "have their heaviest impacts on areas with high proportions of minority groups and people with moderate incomes who bought houses" with low and no-down payment programs during the first half of the decade.

Labeling these areas as "declining" and then imposing higher down payment requirements "becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy," Skeens said. "People can't buy there because they need more cash upfront, the houses don't sell and prices go down."

Prospective homeowners should check with their realtor to see if their desired zip code comes with a financial penalty that could affect their purchasing plans.

Zip Code 'Redlining': A Sweeping View of Risk [Washington Post]
(Photo: zenera)

There's some speculation that the delays are caused by flirting, but the wait time increased the busier the shops became, which runs counter to any flirtation theory (assuming it's more difficult to flirt acceptably when there's a long line of people waiting to order).

Some unanswered questions: is Boston more chauvinistic or sexist than, say, Berkeley? What about a large city in the South? Do women take longer to order, even when they're ordering the same drinks? We've noticed that at Starbucks, we tend to order coffee in, like, 3 seconds, while our communal Consumerist girlfriend takes upwards of half a minute while she weighs her options, gives precise instructions, or makes small talk. But of course that doesn't explain why an all-female staff nearly removes the wait time.

In general, the study seems to imply, you're likely to get the best service if you're an older, handsome, white (or at least non-black) male:

There is also evidence that blacks wait longer than whites, the young wait longer than the old, and the ugly wait longer than the beautiful. But these effects are statistically not as persuasive.

...a rival coffee shop would have to be very close indeed to justify a trip aimed at avoiding a 20-second wait. Even coffee retailing isn't that competitive.

This week, about 50 people staged a "hug-in" at the store, which we can only imagine melted the eyes of any anti-gay witnesses. This is why you don't let personal prejudices take control of you when you're the manager of a store—the response from those you treated unfairly is 50 times worse.

"Animus in the Aisles" [MetroWeekly] (thanks to Brian!)

RELATED
"Hugging it Out" [MetroWeekly]
"Rite Aid Hug-In a Success" [TheNewGay]
Fox News Coverage Of Hug-In [YouTube]
(Image: Fox 5 News, Washington, D.C.)

"We respect the jury's decision but we feel that it did not reflect the facts in the case, so we are studying the decision and have not ruled out an appeal," said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, in a phone interview on Wednesday. "Ms. Haddad was dismissed because of numerous violations of company policy."

Haddad's lawyer responded:

"The message in our case is you can't take a professional pharmacist and fire her for reasons that aren't enforced for male pharmacists. Their reasons were just laughable," said Richard E. Fradette.

"It's very similar and probably draws upon the same practices that we're talking about in our case," said Joseph Sellers , an lawyer with Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll in Washington, D.C., and co-lead counsel in the class action .

Mass. jury awards $2 million in Wal-Mart bias suit [Reuters]
Wal-Mart told to pay $2m to fired pharmacist [Boston Globe]
(Photo: taberandrew)

Target gets a free pass in many cases, as opposed to say, a certain blue-colored store, thanks in large part to its eye-popping ad campaigns and associations with artists and feel-good organizations, but the allegations by one disgruntled Target worker, which you should read with a hunk of salt, paint a different picture...

landlease: I work full time at Target and id like to tell their secrets
benpopken: We love secrets
landlease: I worked day time and overnight so i know what its like around the clock First, the security mostly follows black people. One manager told me they don't want a black person working in electronics, because they steal more than others...

(Photo: nycmstar )

Everyone makes fun of customers as soon as they walk away. We wear fake name tags so that when a customer DOES tell a manager that an employee was rude, nobody gets in trouble.

When we apply, we are promised 40+ hours a week. I am down to 24. And every week my manager tells me they will go up to 40. The only reason is that I'm under 40 is that then you don't get health benefits.

benpopken: What store do you work in?

landlease: I work in NY. I'm not telling where. Oh and theres a bar across the street. So on the measly half hour breaks they give you in an 8-hour shift, many people down as much as they can and return to work buzzing or drunk.

Oh, and I'm getting a surgery next month, so i begged to work 40 hours so my health insurance can activate, they said no. So I'm gonna have to pay like, full price.

Oh oh oh, one more thing before i go, the dog recalls. Apparently the people working in pets, don't give a shit, cuz they didn't remove anything....

UPDATE: And now, counterpoint from a current Target employee:

I just read the new article about Target and wanted to share my insight on the issue.

The employee said some truthful things, but some were extreme exaggerations.

1.The security mostly follows black people

a. Not true at all. I work at a very busy target, and we usually have 3 AP people on site at all times. They rarely have time to follow anyone. One usually stands at the doors, one is in plainclothes and wonders the stores looking for suspicious activity - never following unless told to do so by the third person who is usually watching the cameras.

2. Everyone makes fun of customers as soon as they walk away. We wear fake name tags so that when a customer DOES tell a manager that an employee was rude, nobody gets in trouble.

a.Several things wrong with this one

b. We sometimes make fun of customers, usually in jest to make the time fly by faster - and it's usually not about a certain individual.

c. We do wear fake name tags SOMETIMES. The majority of team members wear their real names. The executives give you a random nametag if you come to work without one.

3. When we apply, we are promised 40+ hours a week. I am down to 24. And every week my manager tells me they will go up to 40. The only reason is that I'm under 40 is that then you don't get health benefits.

a. Bull Fucking Shit.

b. When you apply, you're told that you have an opportunity to work 40+ hours. You are never scheduled over 40 hours unless you're paid overtime. There were no promises. Target has been cutting hours but if you are only working 24 hours a week suck it up and maybe learn other areas of the store. I'm trained in 8+ areas of the store and get over 30 hours per week.

c. Theres also a sheet where you can cover shifts for another employee - great way to get new hours.

4. On half hour lunch breaks:

a. Yes, this is true but it's plenty of time if you don't try to get drunk before coming back to work. Almost all of the team members at my store eat in the break room or restaurants nearby and end up waiting at the punchclock to be able to clock back in.

5. Dog Recalls

a. It was removed if there was a specific recall. Target stores were sent signs and lists of recalled food items and dates. The food was removed from the store I work at the same day.

Target does have some flaws, but this is just crazy - she was probably reprimanded for working drunk and took out her anger on here.

The law on this is Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace. It requires employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for an employee's religious beliefs — "reasonable" being anything that doesn't create an "undue hardship" on the employer or on co-workers.

Religion on the job: Legacy of Puritans resonates today [Arizona Daily Star]
(Photo: cmorran123)

"It's unconscionable to use race on any of these things, in terms of what kind of service, or how you charge, or whatever," Bloomberg said.

"Go patronize a different [restaurant.] Let capitalism work." According to the Daily News, the city Human Rights Commission determined there was probable cause that discrimination had taken place at the Canal Seafood Restaurant located at 266 Canal St., and referred the case to the office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for a trial. —MEGHANN MARCO

Take yer menu & shove it, Mike tells Chinatown joint [DailyNews] (Thanks, Kalun!)
(Photo: moriza)

David Lopez, a visitor from Wisconsin, contacted the commission after eating at the restaurant with several friends last October.

He and his girlfriend knew something was wrong when a waiter told them that a serving of rice would cost them extra. They had noticed Asian customers munching on similar dishes served over a bed of rice.

"Being Hispanic, we both like rice," said 46-year-old Lopez. "We saw other customers getting a different menu. We were told we could order from it if we spoke Chinese."

The prices on that menu, written in Chinese, were an average of $1 cheaper per dish.

How mean for chow mein! [New York Daily News via Gothamist]
(Photo: OS2k)

In a March 14 letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said "Geico's methodology is reprehensible because not everyone has the opportunity or can afford to pursue a four-year college degree."

Geico, responding in a March 17 letter to the NAIC, said the CFA's opinions are "an offensive attempt to link fundamentally fair and actuarially sound industry practices with invidious discrimination."

Read More: CFA Press Release.

GEICO is probably not tying the metrics because they're big meanie-pants, but rather, as there's a statistical relationship... But what do you think?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

(Tip o' the hat to Thomas!)

"I went into Victoria's Secret to purchase a bra set and was told they didn't sell in my size and to go to a Lane Bryant Store. Or I could buy a catalog for $5.00 to purchase my size," Babette, of Dewitt, Iowa, told ConsumerAffairs.com.

"I know I was discriminated against my size due to the fact that was told to go elsewhere to make my purchase."

That last sentence can take awhile to parse, so I'll translate for you: Victoria's Secret is redirecting its largest breasted patrons to the Lane Bryant store in Iowa, forthwith known by all men by its classical name, "Xanadu".

To be fair, there does appear to have been a remarkable surge in nastiness amongst Victoria's Secret employees lately. But who can supress a titter when reading a quote like this?

"Because of the winter rain, I wore a heavy black wool coat with pockets and was holding my gloves and car keys in my hand. While I rummaged through the sale bins, my gloves fell on the floor, so I put them and my keys into my pocket for safekeeping. All of a sudden, four or five snotty teenagers dressed in black come out from the woodwork asking if I need help," Anne told ConsumerAffairs.com.