Huge moment of pride a couple of weeks ago Swords when my son casually chucked out he'd been in a school debate (not the sort of thing he usually bothers with, though he's a born arguer like the rest of my family, but he thought it would look good on Uni applications) . He was arguing against the motion 'Religion is a force for good in the world'. Apparently starting votes were 7 for the motion, 22 undecided - 0 against the motion. Final votes 0 for the motion, 0 undecided, 29 against the motion. His technique 'I spewed out a load of Hitchens and refused to get angry at the stupidity of my opponent'. Then next weekend he almost cut someone in half with a perfectly legal tackle on the rugby pitch, which the opposing coach described as 'the best hit I have seen in any rugby, anywhere'. Sometimes this parenthood lark seems worth it after all.
Sounds like hes a chip off the old block Stan! (It also sounds a bit like 12 angry men!) Good to see Herr Uber posting again. I knew a subject like this would draw him out of hiding How long before Imaz makes an appearance?
Well it appears this is true, bit of a shame really just as M&S had got back into the game!! Not sure how (why or If) they intend to implement this across the stores nationwide but seems pretty dumb to me ? Why are singling out people who drink alcohol and eat bacon sandwhiches...? seems like persecution to me..
The only cock up they've made is putting someone on the till in that position. If they turned round and said they weren't going to hire anyone under 18 in any role because they'd need a second person on the tills with them to authorise alcohol people would be complaining about it so I don't see the not forcing people to handle alcohol/pork is an issue providing the situation is known at the interview stage so they know the limitations. If someone has been hired to be on the tills when they are unable (debatably unwilling but I'm taking the staff member's view point) to fully perform the job then there's been a cock up, they should have been hired as floor staff or back room staff working in a non-food area. Shops that size have people in specific jobs in specific departments, when I was working for Sainsbury's even in the local sized shops the chilled food department functioned like a separate shop when it came to the staff. We also had the policy that Muslims were allowed to go and pray and the correct times of day. No doubt the Daily Mail would report that in a negative way as they we were bowing down to foreign influence, when what we were actually doing was giving them unpaid breaks to do it. EDIT: And I didn't even realise the original article posted was from the DM, it's just so typical of them it ended up being them.
Or a lottery ticket? remember the first guy to win big in the UK (3m GPB) was an asian and he went into hiding because of his family. He wasnt supposed to gamble according to his religion From memory - i never saw any news about him giving the money back!! seems ALL religions just pick and choose what suits them? not sparking another religion debate after nines guidelines the other day
It seems the only religion that doesn't get special dispensation in any of these situations is Christianity in our allegedly Christian country. And on that note I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas!...
Well, we have to start somewhere Sooper, lets hope we make some progress on the rest of them in 2014! Merry Christmas!
Right a Beth rant.............................. This is not a company problem, nor is it the young assistants problem, or a customers problem.... IT IS A PROBLEM OF MIDDLE MANAGERS. God I hate the little Hitlers of middle management ...all t@@@ers of the highest order!! Cannot do their jobs to save their own skin. Cause most of the problems of this form that we see The girl said at interview...my religion prevents me from selling alcohol....the company rates her as a prospect, but suggests that she stays of the tills and works elsewhere, manager material....all fine and good...till the trumped up Mr Mainwarings of the world, "manage" her...they do not listen, have no plan or forethought, and no consideration of her as a person (or anyone else either)...all on a powertrip of I WILL tell you what to do and ou will do it UNQUESTIONABLY. They put her in the position that she has requested that she is not put in The middle managers caused this....no one else did I have noticed that it is the trumped-up ego-centric, pig-stupid people who "rise" to the level of minor managers....mostly they do this by backhanded, cosying up to people, the slimy g@@s! The rest of the hard working people are trodden on by them OK better now.......................And next years New Years resolution is................... I will love everyone...even the b@@@@@ of that middle-manager ilk that I work with
bet your glad you got that off your chest having said that it must have been her first day at work m&s must sell **** loads of booze and pork
Yeah, look at all those Christian shop workers being made to work tomorrow, or who are forced to work Sundays even when they've agreed at interview that they won't have to because it's the Sabbath.
Whats your point? We should be tougher on Muslims and others or softer on Christians? As for these poor fools who don't want to work on certain days but do anyway, obviously their faith is too shallow for them to protest or walk out. Call themselves Christian because they think the cross looks trendy, otherwise surely they would believe that God will provide for them if they do his bidding and follow these rules from the ancient Middle East? Perhaps they could use some initiative and set up their own Christian shops to make sure they follow all the rules. Religious and political beliefs are choices, except for those poor souls bullied into religion as kids and never given the education to think for themselves. Live with the consequences of your choices, don't ask for special dispensation for them. Just struck me Ric that your post may have been a little tongue in cheek......
I have a friend who is an ex copper. I asked him once if he'd arrested anybody famous. He had not but the closest he got to fame was rescuing that lottery winner from a car full of his relatives who were driving him to the bank to get some of the winnings!! Regrettably, money can be a bigger influence than belief in some cases.
The key word here is 'religion'. Here is my take on such matters. Religion is, IMO,an external set of beliefs / rules / regulations that are imposed on others by the people in authority of whatever belief system they find themselves in. So, a lot of the 'religion' that grates with people on here is exactly like that of whatever particular variety it belongs to. The more fundamentalist the religion, the worse the situation. We see the extremes of Islam and Christianity as the two commonest examples. Interestingly, the Bible states that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." The book of James Ch.1 and v 27. There is a very large amount of such 'true religion' that goes on in our society. Just as one example, the churches in my area run a winter night shelter for the homeless. Every night from 1st December to 31st March providing an evening meal, overnight shelter (supervised by residential volunteers) in a church hall on a rotating basis and a cooked breakfast the following morning. All free; all volunteers and supported by fund raising activities and donations. Now in a debate about the force for religion as good or not, I am certain no one would wish to align themselves against the good undertaken by that sort of work, would they?! In summary, I believe that 'religion' suffocates people and you have to separate that (little of which I would want to defend) from life changing internal faith that gives freedom and purpose to peoples lives and sometimes results in acts of self sacrifice that we can only marvel at. Just my personal perspective.
You should have seen that tackle mate. If belief inspires people to do good works, great. But the implication is that without this belief the same people would not care less for their fellow man. Personally, I think its a shame that people need to take on the baggage and ignorance of religious belief to 'do good', and there are plenty of examples of self sacrifice motivated by principle and a basic sense of humanity that are even more 'marvelous' because they are done with no thought of divine reward/ religious motivation. Trade off definitively not worth it in my view. So as usual this year my Christmas card donation goes to the NSPCC and Birmingham Christmas Shelter. Doubtless both have plenty of religiously motivated people working for them, but plenty of others too.
