When I managed, I told my employees if any customer made them uncomfortable they could signal me over with a simple "I need to step out for a minute" and I would take over zero questions asked. And we backed that shit up.
That was sweet of you as a manager, but there's a difference between "I do not want to be the one to handle this transaction" and "I want this Nazi to leave the store and not spend his bigoted money here..."
A big difference, and one entirely out of the control of a front line retail worker or even a store manager in many, many cases.
By giving my employees a clear, integrity-driven promise to have their backs without making a scene or requiring them to explain themselves, as well as simple instructions on how to do so discretely, it gives them some of that agency and control back. It's also important in de-escalation: if that Nazi were a stalker or abuser, or someone looking for the fight / confrontation / scene, having an escape valve gives an employee with little to no training nor responsibility to deal with that - it's simply not fucking fair to ask that - the choice they need to avoid a fight-or-flight-or-freeze, trapped moment.
Besides if anyone gets to show that little shit where the door is, nicely, walk them nicely to it, and make damn sure they know how unwelcome they are, it'll be me.
I remember this one story about a bartender kicking out some SS guy before he even sat down even though he was being civil. When asked the bar tender said if you let one in and tolerate them, then he invites his friends. And then they invite their friends. And before you know it its a Nazi bar. You have to nip it in the bud right away.
Speaking from experience, when you come from a dysfunctional home environment you tend to have a much higher threshold for dysfunctional work environments. You may not see things for what they are because similar behavior was normalized throughout your life by your caregivers. Your baseline of what is considered acceptable treatment is skewed as a result. This is not to say that we are powerless in perpetuity, of course. It's just an explanation for why such things can occur.
ffs… folks put up with what they have to. And for saying “feels oddly at home about it” well, isn’t a huge chunk of the comic about her emotionally abusive mother?
does making this observation mean I lack compassion for her? 🫤 i didnt actually mean it that way.. im familiar with the pattern myself.. so i can certainly empathize
no company would want to face the backlash of revealing that they won't let their employees not serve nazis, and if the higher ups aren't a company that cares about that and still make you, then they're nazis and you shouldn't work there.
237
u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire Aug 07 '26
Fair but based on knowing Naomi works retail I'll bet my bottom dollar that her manager won't let her refuse