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Did I do this wrong? Please tell me

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Member 999

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Dec 22, 2013
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Hi members,
I'm a muslim and I'm working in European Retail super market for more than two years. If I guide muslim customers about halal food, then do I do something wrong? Today one muslim man bought some food item, which was not halal, i told him that the food item, what you have bought is not halal. Then he asked me to do refund that food-item. I did refund. But my supervisor did my complaint to my manager and my manager got very angry on me and spoke with me very harshly. He was just about to kick me out of my job. I just want to know that

1) did I do anything wrong?
2) Is this valid reason to terminate my job?
3) I felt that now they will deal me in different way, and they will try their best to get rid of me? what I should suppose to do in this situation?

I will be thankful to you guy, if you will share your knowledge with me. Looking forward for replies.

thanks
 
The customer was still in store. He did not leave the store yet, and i informed him about that item. The policy is that if the customer is not happy with food/any item, or even bought the wrong food/any item. Do refund straight away. Even the the food item from chiller/fridge and he kept out of it and come back to you after hours, and you can not sale that food anymore (because of temperature), even though, do refund straight away.
 
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can my employer sack me just on this ground? that if I just let some specific people or typical muslim people (with hijab or beard) know, about only some specific food item that these item contain pork-gelatin or alcohol inside or those are not halal? just letting them know once. Is this good enough reason to terminate my employment?
 
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I doubt you will get the sack, but maybe you should consider whether you can fulfil your duties to your employer.

You are employed for their benefit in their retail business, not to give religious advice to their clients. If you feel it necessary to do so, you should resign. You are acting outside your remit, I can understand why, but if you are happy to accept their wages you should also be happy to act in their best interests, IMO.
 
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I would say it's good customer service to advise all customers on products you sell, for example to help ensure vegetarians aren't eating products that contain meat, those who are gluten intolerant not eating products that contain gluten or those from Jewish, Hindu or Muslim faiths are not buying products than contain foods that are against their religion. Regardless of your faith or otherwise it's about helping all customers make the best shopping decisions for them.
 
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I would have thought that the buyer would be checking/asking if the food is halal, etc, if they are concerned about it. I can't imagine they would get away with sacking you for it though.
 
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Changing the angle a little, how do you know your customer is a Muslim? How can you advise before you know? I would just stick to serving "a Customer" without doing any guess work or assumptions.

What really gets my wick is when I go to Mc Donalds and ask for a big mac they automatically ask do I want bacon with that?

How can they say such a thing without knowing if i'm a Muslim or Jewish.

Best to stick to what your paid to do as opposed to giving any extra advice or instructions which may not necessarily have the approval of the management
 
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Jazak-Allah you did the right thing and dont worry every thing will be all right, that idiot manager should be thankful to you for this to make sure quality customer service and it will bring many more loyal Muslim customer where they can be assured to get proper hahal food advice which is not always clear even with big chain.
 
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Merchant UK said:
What really gets my wick is when I go to Mc Donalds and ask for a big mac they automatically ask do I want bacon with that?

How can they say such a thing without knowing if i'm a Muslim or Jewish.
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They ask you whether you bacon with that precisely because they don't know if you don't eat bacon on religious grounds or even if you don't like bacon.

I like bacon but not necessarily on a burger so I would be pleased if they asked me
 
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You assumed that your customer didn't know the product wasn't halal.
Perhaps they were turning a blind eye to the fact and were embarrassed/shamed by your information into asking for a refund.
If they had asked for the information, you would have been right to inform them otherwise it was none of your business.
I doubt you can be sacked for what you did however if I was your employer I would have been pretty exasperated with your actions.
 
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Ian J said:
They ask you whether you bacon with that precisely because they don't know if you don't eat bacon on religious grounds or even if you don't like bacon.

I like bacon but not necessarily on a burger so I would be pleased if they asked me
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or to charge the extra 30p ??? which I think its more likely. If people don't ask for something then they shouldn't be told, which to be honest is the more polite way of serving someone than trying to get them to buy more of what they don't want or haven't asked for
 
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Merchant UK said:
or to charge the extra 30p ??? which I think its more likely. If people don't ask for something then they shouldn't be told, which to be honest is the more polite way of serving someone than trying to get them to buy more of what they don't want or haven't asked for
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So if you go into a café and ask for coffee you should be given black coffee as you didn't ask for milk or sugar?
 
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Merchant UK said:
Changing the angle a little, how do you know your customer is a Muslim? How can you advise before you know? I would just stick to serving "a Customer" without doing any guess work or assumptions.

What really gets my wick is when I go to Mc Donalds and ask for a big mac they automatically ask do I want bacon with that?

How can they say such a thing without knowing if i'm a Muslim or Jewish.

Best to stick to what your paid to do as opposed to giving any extra advice or instructions which may not necessarily have the approval of the management
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They are asking you a question, yes please or no thanks both easy and acceptable answers
I bet they get a talking to if they are not asking, what has Muslim or Jewish go to do with asking the question!?

You might not have realised you could get bacon added, this to me is a good question to ask p.s my answer YES! MMMM bacon
 
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the customer was old, and looking very practicing Muslim with long white beard, he was very thankful of me.
 
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Member 999 said:
the customer was old, and looking very practicing Muslim with long white beard, he was very thankful of me.
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So you believe, so ask yourself why did he simply buy without inquiring the type of meat? Either he forgot, did not care, or couldn't afford to buy correctly. You might have unwittingly upset him and caused embarressment as easily as what you believed helped him.

It still changes little regarding your duty to your employer though, does it? If I was unhappy to say sell alcohol due to personal or religious reasons I would avoid working in an off licence.
 
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MBE1 said:
So you believe, so ask yourself why did he simply buy without inquiring the type of meat? Either he forgot, did not care, or couldn't afford to buy correctly. You might have unwittingly upset him and caused embarressment as easily as what you believed helped him.

It still changes little regarding your duty to your employer though, does it? If I was unhappy to say sell alcohol due to personal or religious reasons I would avoid working in an off licence.
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That's a good point, Perhaps the guy couldn't afforded the Halal meat and was buying a cheaper cut? He was no doubt embarrassed when you told him, so he refused it out of principal?

Should it be you place to question peoples faith? perhaps you should try a different employment that wont affect your religion so much?
 
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Surely by making the comment to the customer, you have made an "assumption" of the customers religion or beliefs. I would assume that from a business perspective if you or another staff member made that same assumption and got it wrong that it could be quite offensive and deemed as stereotyping.
 
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Being a Muslim myself, I would like to add that if I was told by someone that the product is not Halal, I will politely say mind your own business. I'll buy whatever I want and if I am concerned about the product being Halal or not, I would ask.

I don't think it is a sackable offence though. If one is concerned about religious do's & don't, then one must learn the practices of all the religions, not just one particular one and warn all customers what they ought to buy or not!
 
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He did not ask me, I told him myself.
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Being a Muslim myself, I would like to add that if I was told by someone that the product is not Halal, I will politely say mind your own business
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Would you agree, @Uzair Kharawala that the only reason someone would have for rightfully informing you, if you didn't ask, is if the item was in the halal section when it wasn't halal?
 
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Totally agree Ashley. But the thing is that if any Muslim is quite particular about Halal meat, they would go to the Halal meat shops only and not to Tesco, Asda or anywhere. So that gentlemen who was purchasing a non-halal product totally knew that it wasn't a halal product.
 
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But the thing is that if any Muslim is quite particular about Halal meat, they would go to the Halal meat shops only and not to Tesco, Asda or anywhere
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Unless of course there aren't any in the area. For example, Lewes is a town of 17,000 people, but to the best of my knowledge we do not have a Halal meat shop, but we do have a Waitrose, Tesco and Aldi. :)
 
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Ashley_Price said:
Unless of course there aren't any in the area. For example, Lewes is a town of 17,000 people, but to the best of my knowledge we do not have a Halal meat shop, but we do have a Waitrose, Tesco and Aldi. :)
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True, but those who are bothered with all the religious stuff, they tend to stay in bigger cities and towns where they get all the food and stuff.

Those who are in smaller towns & villages, they're either not bothered about Halal food or they will go to extreme lengths to get the meat & provisions from far away places. I'm not very religious, but still go to get the meat from a shop which is 40 mins drive each way. We get 1 month's supply at a and just freeze it.
 
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Sad to say that several Halal butchers sell the meat to their community, when it is not, good profit though.
 
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