Wal-Mart Owns Up to a Faux Pas

Though I don't go there regularly, I have been to Wal-Mart on more than enough occasions to take notice of the fact that it probably has one of the most diverse workforces that I've seen anywhere. At least in the Washington Metro area in any case. You walk into one and there are usually workers from almost every corner of the globe working at some point or another in the store and it's hard not to run into someone who speaks your language. That being said, I was somewhat surprised to hear that Wal-Mart was apologizing to a customer who had apparently been insulted by a cashier at a store in Riverdale, Utah. When a Muslim woman dressed in her traditional burqua approached the cashier, the cashier stated, "Please don't stick me up." Which is another way of begging not to be robbed.

Now many people may think that this fairly 'innocent' comment should not have warranted the eventual dismissal of the employee in question, but I am rather satisfied at the fact that the company saw fit to terminate the employees job and put the employees in that job through sensitivity training. Some people would question whether it's really necessary to make such measures over something like this but I think it's quite necessary. Right now in the world at large, Muslims aren't generally viewed in a positive light. Very few people out there make a distinction between a Muslim and Muslim fundamentalist and so whenever someone says Muslim, the general reaction is to think of nothing but terrorism. It's a bad case of guilt by association but it's a natural tendancy in human nature so what can you do?

I ask the reverse question; supposing the cashier had made the same comment to an African-American? Do you think it would have been met with a playful chuckle and wholehearted acceptance? I don't think so either. It just goes to show that while some comments are acceptable to people they are seen as vile accusations by others. It's all a matter of perspective. I think Wal-Mart has done the right thing in taking swift action against this type of behavior and I would hope that if similar incidents occur elsewhere in their vast empire of stores that they take the same stance. And I don't believe that they should simply stop at the insulting of minorities. Insults to anyone's culture, religion or what-have-you should be dealt with in the same manner.

Most companies tend to sweep incidents such as these under the rug or attempt to point out that this was one worker at a particular store that has been dealt with. But to take efforts and publicly show that they do care about how the organization as a whole is perceived takes something more than just a Cover-Your-Ass approach. Will this affect Wal-Mart sales? Probably not. I mean the people who want to go there will continue to go there and the people who don't will probably start going to Target but whatever their preference, at least people should take heart in the fact that the sometimes sinister face of corporate America does care and is making efforts to show that they don't appreciate racial intolerance either.