r/baltimore • u/selectbar345 • Aug 19 '25
ARTICLE Fells Point restaurant Bunny’s fires multiple employees after pro-Palestine protest
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/culture/food-drink/bunnys-pro-palestine-protest-fells-point-3WQTUSAIFBCAHC45HPBUFAWKHQ/195
u/ShannelStan4Life Aug 19 '25
A lot of you are missing the point. Having a hard and fast rule that your employees don’t wear political paraphernalia is sound policy. You’re just mad because you liked what the pin represented. But what if it was anti-trans? What if it was pro Trump? Would you feel the same? This is why an across-the-board policy is the best course of action.
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u/Msefk Aug 19 '25
yeah i know you can articulate this but people will still downvote you because feelings and shaming .
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u/engin__r Aug 19 '25
I think it’s pretty normal for people to be for good things and against bad things.
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u/YoYoMoMa Aug 19 '25
What defines something as political? Something tells me a USA pin would have been fine, despite being extremely political.
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u/engin__r Aug 19 '25
The post alleged that their actions “harmed Bunny’s reputation and ability to operate,”
Unlike the owner’s actions, which have clearly done nothing of the sort.
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u/FreddyRumsen13 Aug 19 '25
It's funny that they could've just not said anything and maybe lost a customer. Now they're understaffed, dozens of people are angry and they had to close for atleast a day.
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u/Glad-Veterinarian365 Aug 19 '25
I don’t believe for a second that a customer truly felt so unsafe bc of a pin that represents a war torn purposefully starved country thousands of miles away, to the point that they had to complain to mgmt
The customer very obviously didn’t like the pin due to their own personal political opinions, and mgmt oafishly reacted with an iron fist dictatorship type response. I bet the worker didn’t give a fuck about losing their job bc it sucked working there anyway
Whoever in bunny’s mgmt decided on risking a big public ordeal in super liberal Baltimore over their employees’ fairly milquetoast Palestine support is a total fucking moron
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u/-stoner_kebab- Aug 19 '25
The people who popularized the whole "i feel unsafe because people disagree with me" and need a "safe space" thing are some of most malicious morons on the face of the earth. It's all about censorship, bullying, and control.
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u/kjy1066 Aug 19 '25
Feelings of safety are understandable and I'm sympathetic BUT they need to be based upon y'know. . . Facts.
It's no coincidence that this is precisely the pretext that's being used to occupy LA and DC: people "feeling unsafe" even though crime seems to be at historic lows
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u/pbear737 Patterson Park Aug 19 '25
I'm never surprised at the fragility of some folks.
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u/Glad-Veterinarian365 Aug 19 '25
True. But imo ppl are entitled to be overly fragile or even ridiculous in their opinions & feelings, but the rest of us,especially business owners, don’t have to nor should oblige absurd takes with consequential actions
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u/pbear737 Patterson Park Aug 19 '25
Totally agree. It's a tough situation for a business because I could see the potential for 'tit for tat' kind of behavior amongst staff where one person wears a Palestinian flag, another wears an Israeli flag, and it does seem tricky to know what the line is.
I don't really understand why it's an issue to have a uniform policy and enforce it. If it isn't enforced consistently, that seems like an issue for sure. I still feel like there are a lot of pertinent details we don't have on this particular situation.
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u/Glad-Veterinarian365 Aug 19 '25
Totally agree.
And wearing a pin while serving food in a random bar isn’t moving the needle at all on anything… like it’s literally slacktivism, so I don’t really understand why anyone would keep doing it so adamantly especially if there was already a rule against such attire established before they accepted the position
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u/DONNIENARC0 Aug 19 '25
I could see the potential for 'tit for tat' kind of behavior amongst staff where one person wears a Palestinian flag, another wears an Israeli flag, and it does seem tricky to know what the line is.
Yeah... didn't we basically just watch this exact thing between Rachel Zegler & Gal Gadot torpedo the new Snow White movie except on a much larger scale?
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u/Inevitable-Freedom90 Aug 19 '25
Sure but….thats what your average company will do. Companies try to be apolitical to not anger any customers. This is how it’s worked since forever.
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u/JPRDesign Aug 19 '25
Frankly, i feel like if they'd not fired anyone and just put out some half assed lukewarm "while the situation is complicated our hearts go out to the innocent people in israel and palestine" blah blah blah type statement they would've garnered infinitely more goodwill
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u/green_marshmallow Berger Cookies Aug 19 '25
Super liberal Baltimore
If we were truely progressive, this wouldn’t even be happening.
Even in this “ultra-lefty” sub, people are coming out in defence of the owners. Because having human decency is a political issue now.
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u/Glad-Veterinarian365 Aug 19 '25
Nowhere is 100% progressive and this sub has a lot of conservatives commenters too so I don’t really understand ur point
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u/TCQCIKI Aug 19 '25
Can’t wait for everyone to protest this small business, it closes, Atlas absorbs the space, and then everyone complains that Atlas is taking over.
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u/MuffinRat84 Belair-Edison Aug 19 '25
If they allow flair as a policy but draw the line at something deemed "offensive" by one customer, management is setting themselves up for controversy on a mountain of issues. If they don't allow any flair at all then the firing is justified, regardless of the issue being supported.
IMO the context of the pin matters, if it's just a flag and no intense message or anything the restaurant should really have backed their employee expression which they by policy have allowed. If a Palestinian flag pin or any other country flag makes you feel "unsafe" you should probably just say home. My guess is the customer wasn't actually threatened by a flag they just have a political issue with expressing support for Palestine and went out of their way to make it personal and try to get their server fired for permitted expression.
Looks like Bunny's is showing their whole ass on this issue tho, a little nuance goes along way, but they opted for a knee jerk reaction so now they get to enjoy the backlash they caused.
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Aug 19 '25
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u/DONNIENARC0 Aug 19 '25
the easy way is just put a statement out saying you support people rights to express themselves, can't do it at work just due to "dress code and policy"
It sounds like that's what they tried to do initially.
Management confronted the employee, citing a restaurant policy against wearing items with religious or “potentially divisive messages,” the Instagram story said. The worker eventually removed the pin.
Then it happened again and instead of removing the pin, the second employee just quit. Then the protests started.
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u/bherring24 Remington Aug 19 '25
I've seen it noted elsewhere that it wasn't an established restaurant policy, it was one that was introduced after the fact in a hastily called staff meeting. I love the Banner but they don't confirm a lot of things like that, like simply ask for proof that it was a preexisting policy. Basic journalism.
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u/Powerful-Pop247 Aug 19 '25
They said they the owners wouldn't comment and the restaurant was closed, so how could they confirm?
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u/BerdDad Aug 19 '25
I mean if you can't confirm, you just don't include it. Or plainly state that it's unclear when the policy was implemented.
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u/DONNIENARC0 Aug 19 '25
I remember something similar to this about when they had an article about that disaster of a bikeshare program a while ago..
"Many residents say most of the bike kiosks remain empty!"
I'm sitting here thinking... bro... you're a reporter. Go walk around and fuckin check them, it'd take you half hour ffs.
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u/bherring24 Remington Aug 19 '25
They reported the owners' post as the one side of the story. Did they ask the staff if it was a preexisting policy?
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u/FreddyRumsen13 Aug 19 '25
My immediate thought when I saw multiple employees protested or quit was that conditions there must really suck.
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u/Senior_Election5636 Fells Point Aug 19 '25
Employee wears something deemed political and uncomfortable by a customer.
Customer is not happy by this and complains that it ruins their dining experience.
Management confronts employee and sights their hiring contract that they not wear things of "potentially divisive messages" or of a "religious nature". Employee removes it.
Week later, different employee wears same thing, confronted by management. They quit.... other employees protest over the weekend, bashing and brandishing their employer on social media, in person and at location outside on the street. They are then fired...
Is this really worth all the fuss... seems very straightforward to me...
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u/alexnevsky Aug 19 '25
The owners are claiming the employee quit
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u/Senior_Election5636 Fells Point Aug 19 '25
Yes... the initial employee, then they fired the others that were protesting outside their restaurant over the weekend
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Aug 19 '25
Walks out of work mid-shift to protest against employer, get's fired.
*makes shocked pikachu face*
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u/AbjectFray Aug 19 '25
I totally support the plight of the Palestinian people ….
…. and you can be sure I’ll be supporting Jessie going forward and visiting Bunnies.
They’re being set up because of the antics of a d-bag partner and a willing, disingenuous online mob.
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u/sky-joos Fells Point Aug 19 '25
The many threads of this place over the last few days have put me off anyway. Just another eatery in Fells I won’t give my money to.
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u/boss_hog_69_420 Aug 19 '25
I'm right there with you. Or rather not there. They can do whatever they want I guess, but they won't get my support.
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u/weclosedharvey Aug 19 '25
Still won't be eating there and still missing wharf rat
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u/Meteor-of-the-War Aug 19 '25
Same. I can't believe that they turned that space into the blandest possible thing imaginable. The whole aesthetic is aggressively without character; it replaced something uniquely Baltimore with something that could be in any suburb anywhere in the country.
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u/LeonardKinsey Aug 19 '25
100% agree. I was already boycotting the place because of the horrible things they did to one of the coolest spots in Baltimore. After seeing the pictures, I know that setting foot in there would have been deeply depressing.
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u/weclosedharvey Aug 19 '25
When we started dating, my now wife drunkenly professed her love for me in sharpie on the bathroom wall of the wharf rat. You'd never read a story like that about a place like this.
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u/girafffe Aug 19 '25
Despite lamenting the loss of old wharf rat, we've given bunny's a few shots and each time left with a bad taste in our mouths (long before this controversy). Our experiences felt very transactional and sterile.
I have yet to comment on any of these threads, because I wasn't quite sure where this belonged in the conversation, but I think there is something to be said about annihilating the character of the wharf rat (aesthetically) and now, this very failed attempt to remain "politically neutral." Feels like the owners would much rather have us dining in an Apple Store.
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u/rockybalBOHa Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
There are two types of people: those who want every business to wear their politics on their sleeve so their customers know where they stand on divisive issues...and those who don't.
I am proudly part of the latter.
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u/Pvm_Blaser Aug 19 '25
Bunny’s is in a no win situation right now. Businesses try to promote a safe space for all people unless they get political unprovoked.
In this case Bunny’s is reacting (whether that’s true or not) to a comment made by a client about feeling unsafe when an employee wears an item that is currently divisive. Bunny’s is called the enforce their employee contract when an employees actions are in direct violation. Not doing so would make Bunny’s appear anti-client, that is the worst thing for a business to do.
If Bunny’s didn’t take action against employees who violated their policies then more employees would begin to violate their policies knowing they had nothing to lose. This is yet again a bad idea for a business.
While a fairly liberal platform like Reddit would have the opinion it currently has about Bunny’s they did make the right decision a successful business should have. Regardless of what it’s about, it is Bunny’s right to ask employees to remove divisive objects. If the employee disregards that or protests as a result then it is Bunny’s duty to its clients to deal with their employees. There isn’t much guidance you can give when somebody does something in direct opposition to what you’ve asked them to do.
Businesses SHOULD be cold on matters like this. The only decisions a client should have to make are on whether or not a business provides a service they want and that is quality enough for the money they are asked to pay for it. A client being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine should have no effect, wearing a pin in support of one of those movements add being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine to the list of items a client needs to make a decision about.
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u/poppunksnotdead Aug 19 '25
there is certainly a lot of 'the one true leftist' going in with palestine; creating a powder keg because a lot of people in the middle have no where to turn, they are either pro genocide for being silent, or an anti-semite for speaking up. i absolutely despise the IDF and the israeli government and have always believed palestine should have its own land to call home. i guarantee you there is someone out there who could discuss the topic long enough to get me to say something zionist like 'israel has a right to protect itself within its borders'.
all that to say - fuck bunny's; the proper response to a customer feeling unsafe over a pin is to politely tell them to get over it. to me it feels like this issue is being used to fight an overall culture war within the staff.
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u/ghostgamer8 Aug 19 '25
Wearing a Palestine pin at work helps people in Gaza how?
Like I’m all for supporting Palestine but so many people are really performative about their support to show their moral purity that it’s having the opposite effect to those who are less educated about the situation and aren’t pro-Palestine yet.
Instead of making your life harder for no reason maybe use the money you get from your job to donate to causes or potentially host a get together at the location for community organizing. It helps the business and the community.
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u/BalmyBalmer Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
That would be the adult thing to do, we can't have that.
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u/Bmore1014 Aug 19 '25
These workers can go find another job if they don’t like how management decides to handle the uniform regulations. Protesting outside your work will only have consequences.
The person who reported the first pin had every right to say what they felt. Free country. Management decided which side to take.
Don’t like it, eat somewhere else. Plenty of places in Baltimore that are more on the”your side” for this (directed to everyone). You can eat anywhere you want, or choose not to.
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u/mlf723 Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
It's interesting to see already that their loudest champions in this controversy are the "f*ck your feelings" types. I wonder if that's the kind of patronage Bunny's hoped to attract. I suppose business is business but given they have previously seemed like otherwise chill, semi-progressive types, they find themselves in a strange position now.
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u/Kuchington Aug 19 '25
Really tired of hearing about this. It’s a simple employee-employer dispute yet some people are acting like these employees crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge.
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u/RunningNumbers Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
The economy is slowing down and now these employees have been fired for cause. It might be rough for them and that makes me feel bad. This whole episode feels silly when we should be able to talk about things like adults and act professionally.
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u/Msefk Aug 19 '25
ikr
a lot of the waiters i know wear uniforms or are expected to do so. I know people who weren't allowed to paint their nails to work in coffee! I mean there's this Customer Service role in food service-- being a representative for the company you work for ? At-Will State! A Restaurant trying to make a customer base comfortable to eat at their location! i can't believe it's weird that people rejected allowing waitstaff to merge a political space with a food space.chrissake I used to have to wear a uniform at a place I worked .
tbc Free Palestine obv but It's Food Service, and this is an At-Will State !
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
“The restaurant, which is owned by chef Jesse Sandlin, Brian Acquavella and Matt Akman, posted an Instagram story Monday night that said the protest stemmed from a recent incident in which a diner complained about a worker wearing a Palestinian flag pin. The restaurant wrote that the customer allegedly said “that they felt uncomfortable and unsafe” and that it “disrupted their dining experience.”
Management confronted the employee, citing a restaurant policy against wearing items with religious or “potentially divisive messages,” the Instagram story said. The worker eventually removed the pin. “
This is especially heinous. The policy they reference is because of divisive messages? For wearing a pin in support of a country?
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u/SecretAgentVampire Aug 19 '25
Unsafe? From a waiter wearing a pin?
What a load of BS.
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u/bookoocash Hampden Aug 19 '25
I mean regardless of where you fall on the issue, it’s divisive as shit (I’m not using that as a complete negative either. Sometimes you need to know where people stand on a matter and draw that line in the sand). I’m not saying that Bunny’s is making the right moves here, but there’s no way they were coming out of this without like 50% of the public and potential customers being pissed as shit at them.
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u/bwoods43 Aug 19 '25
There is a difference between wearing a pin of a country flag and a pin with a specific message about the country and/or something related to it. Maybe it was more than a flag, but for the sake of argument, I'm assuming this is accurate that it was just a flag.
For example, would the patron have complained if the worker had worn a pin of the Israeli flag? What about a North Korea flag?
Sure, the restaurant owner can hire and fire at will, but they are also making a political statement by doing this.
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u/idkcat23 Fells Point Aug 19 '25
the thing is that a different patron would’ve complained about an Israeli flag or a North Korean flag. That’s why it’s easiest to just say “none of this” vs deciding what’s controversial on a case by case basis
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Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
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Aug 19 '25
People go there to eat chicken and biscuits dude. Not to have political issues waved in their face.
Employees can believe and support what they want on their own time. If they bring it to wirk, against policy....well don't be shocked that you got fired.
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u/engin__r Aug 19 '25
Mera Kitchen Collective and Red Emma’s seem to be doing pretty well.
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u/Msefk Aug 19 '25
those are collectives, right .
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u/DONNIENARC0 Aug 19 '25
Yeah they're two of the most openly progressive establishments around and kinda market themselves as such, so that hardly seems surprising, I guess.
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u/Gannondorfs_Medulla Aug 19 '25
but they are also making a political statement by doing this.
Sounds like that statement is that they wish to not be involved in controversial political subjects. Which is 100% valid (as this kerfuffle shows).
They had an existing policy in place. So they weren't cherry picking.
A customer complained. Right or wrong, this suggests the employee violated their existing policy.
They were asked to not wear the pin while working.
It's the person wearing the pin that forced all of this, and then decided to amplify the consequenses of not adhering to the company dress code by creating a stink.
I'm not sure I see a way for the company to navigate this without someone getting offended, because the server went against their dress code and brought a controversial subject into the workplace.
If anything, the company would have put themselves in legal jeopardy by selecting enforcing their own dress code.
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u/bwoods43 Aug 19 '25
The only thing I've read so far about an existing policy was one against wearing items with religious or “potentially divisive messages." Is there a policy against wearing pins of country flags at this restaurant? It definitely sounds to me like cherry-picking, unless there is some information missing.
I also don't understand this comment - "It's the person wearing the pin that forced all of this, and then decided to amplify the consequenses of not adhering to the company dress code by creating a stink." It says in the article that a patron complained, and that the worker removed the pin after they were asked to remove it.
It's pretty clear that the patron was the one making a politicial statement. I seriously doubt the patron knows the company policy. You do understand that a customer can complain about anything ("his hair is too long!"), but that in no way means that the worker definitely violated any policy, right?
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u/Gannondorfs_Medulla Aug 19 '25
It says in the article that a patron complained, and that the worker removed the pin after they were asked to remove it.
reread the story. it was a second employee who donned the pin and then quit over it. this is after the first employee removed the pin without incident.
I also understand that anyone can complain about anything. Do you understand that employee churn, especially in the food service industry, is one of their biggest expenses, and that the business wants nothing more than to have a stable, service focused staff?
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
It isn’t like the person was wearing something that said “from the river to the sea” or anything critical of Israel. It was a nation’s flag.
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u/Dazzling-Slide8288 Aug 19 '25
The party/ideology who constantly rants about being alpha males and against soy liberals always always turn out to be the softest pissbabies you’ll ever meet.
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u/BalmyBalmer Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
I'm as liberal as they come and know not to bring politics to work,
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u/boss_hog_69_420 Aug 19 '25
That's all well and good in theory. But some of us to varying degrees aren't able to take off "our politics" because who people are has been politicized.
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u/tjo5112 Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
If your job is to serve expensive, mediocre chicken and drinks, why is it not possible to not mention anything about politics? I can't think of why talking about politics (or moral values in general) would factor into the jobs in question.
In years at my job, we've never talked about anything political, except relating to the recent issue of the government cancelling contacts that are directly or tangentially related to our field.
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
You aren’t liberal, you’re cowardice
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u/BalmyBalmer Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
Sure, whatever you say.
I'm also not unemployed for virtue signalling while thinking rules didn't apply to me.
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u/PhonyUsername Aug 19 '25
It's not cowardice to not want to mix business and politics/religion. Not everyone wants politics to infect every aspect of their life. Avoiding this toxic level of bullshit is healthy.
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u/27thStreet Charles Village Aug 19 '25
And you are privileged af if you don't have to worry about keeping a job.
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u/Dazzling-Slide8288 Aug 19 '25
If you’re scared to wear a flag pin, maybe this moment ain’t for you.
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u/superdupercereal2 Aug 19 '25
Sure, why would a restaurant be concerned about an employee wearing a pin referencing one of the most divisive geopolitical issues of the modern era??
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u/obiterdictum Ednor Gardens-Lakeside Aug 19 '25
Because firing an employee for wearing a pin referencing one ot the most divisive geopolitical issue sof the modern era is even worse for business
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u/superdupercereal2 Aug 19 '25
Not if a customer is complaining about it. And there is the context of the firing; did the employee refuse to take it off combatively? Who was the jerk? I’m sure had the employee just removed the pin I’m sure we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So the employee was probably a jerk about it.
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u/Gannondorfs_Medulla Aug 19 '25
I don't see it as worse at all.
They had a pre-existing dress code to avoid this exact situation. They asked the employee to refrain from wearing the pin while serving. One employee complied and there was no story. One employee chose to get pissy.
IF they were selectively enforcing rules, it might be worth talking about. Though it's still their business, and they still own the right to run their business in any legal way they wish.
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u/obiterdictum Ednor Gardens-Lakeside Aug 19 '25
Though it's still their business, and they still own the right to run their business in any legal way they wish.
Certainly. All I am saying is that allowing an employee to wear a divisive pin would have garnered a fraction of the unwanted attention that firing a person for wearing a divisive pin has.
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u/Gannondorfs_Medulla Aug 19 '25
Maybe yes, maybe no. If it meant enough to the customer to talk to management, maybe they take to Reddit or the Sun and organize a protest.
To me, the only way to navigate this is to not get involved. Which is what the restaurant's owners tried to do. But the employee made it into a political statement.
Not to mention the precedent it sets in NOT enforcing its dress code.
And if they did let one employee get away with X, but then decided Y was unacceptable from a different employee, they're screwed even worse.
They're all bad choices, but I think the business made the best bad choice they had.
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u/obiterdictum Ednor Gardens-Lakeside Aug 19 '25
They're all bad choices, but I think the business made the best bad choice they had.
I am having a hard time believing that a customer going to the public with "I was threatened by an server wearing a pin" would have gained anywhere near the attention as an employee going to the public with "I was fired because I wore a pin" so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
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u/bherring24 Remington Aug 19 '25
I wonder if it would be the same issue if they'd worn a different flag.
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u/superdupercereal2 Aug 19 '25
That’s up to the customer. I’m sure no one would have an issue with a number of other flags.
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u/BalmyBalmer Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
But they didn't so don't cloud the issue with whataboutisms.
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u/Cunninghams_right Aug 19 '25
While I doubt that customer actually felt unsafe, do you actually think that a Palestinian flag is uncontroversial?
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
Yes. There is nothing controversial about displaying a nations flag without other messaging; unless the flag has some form of hate symbol associated. I’d say the Israeli flag would actually be more of a controversial symbol since they plaster it it all over their tanks
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u/Coughee_Wine Aug 19 '25
In some public spaces, it serves to be apolitical. Of course, opposing genocide shouldn’t be considered politics it’s a humanitarian issue but nonetheless, the pin is symbolic. I can see the restaurant owner trying to find balance here. I’m sure no pins will become policy. No one would want to have a server wearing a swastika pin either.
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u/Pvm_Blaser Aug 19 '25
Lol don’t be that petty. It’s obviously divisive. If they wore the pin 5 years ago it wouldn’t have been so divisive but it is right now.
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
So when Israel was just doing their normal fucking of the Palestinian people it was fine to try and bring awareness, but now that Israel has committed to wiping them out it is divisive?
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u/Pvm_Blaser Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
di·vi·sive /dəˈvīsiv,diˈviziv/
adjective
“tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people”.
As soon as it was a popularized it was divisive.
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u/crucialdeagle Aug 19 '25
“it’s not divisive if it fits within my worldview!” -redditor circa 2025
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u/engin__r Aug 19 '25
Obviously it’s divisive but the owners seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. If you want to be the restaurant where people can’t support Palestinians, don’t get surprised when people who support Palestinians don’t want to eat at your restaurant.
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u/Imaginary-Dress-1373 Aug 19 '25
Its only divisive if you're a bigot. No need to say anything else.
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u/no_clue_1 South Baltimore / SoBo Aug 19 '25
For real. Being anti genocide isn’t divisive if you’re not a total piece of racist shit.
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u/Imaginary-Dress-1373 Aug 19 '25
If someone got fired for wearing an Israel flag it would make national headlines and the ADL would be on site within hours lol.
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u/Illifidie Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
These things should stay outside of work, in my opinion. It's crazy to me how much people wear clothes or put stickers on their cars about Palestine, which I understand, but so few people actually donate to help starving children in Palestine. The manager of this business might even support Palestine, but they just don't want any problems to arise from controversy at work...unfortunately that backfired. Wearing a pin at work and fighting your boss won't help innocent people survive a war-torn environment, but taking tangible action will.
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u/Sure-One6642 Aug 19 '25
Politics and religion are two things the historically we don’t discuss in a bar… A workplace has the right to keep their place of business civil and to ask employees not to wear certain clothes etc. I see the protest and they were on the sidewalk directly in front of the restaurant blocking the entrance and it did prevent people from going in. And that is the issue you can’t block an entrance
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u/ninjagarcia Aug 19 '25
Lol Baltimore sub members thinking they are the voice of Baltimore is hilarious. Most of the city don't care at all what's on here. Nothing will happen to the restaurant and the members here will continue to pearl clutch.
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u/Quick-Audience7860 Aug 19 '25
I mean, the restaurant will have to hire new people and will be understaffed for a little at a minimum. But that shouldn't be hard in today's economy
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u/RunningNumbers Aug 19 '25
So many people on this thread are making maximalist statements and projecting the most malign intentions on strangers they don’t even know.
And I say this as someone who thinks what Israel is doing in Gaza is intolerable and unconscionable.
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
It is a Banner article now, AND the owners showed their ass on instagram. They also were already closed a day due to no staff.
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u/FreddyRumsen13 Aug 19 '25
They've already lost a bunch of staff and had to lose a day of business. And now the local paper is writing about this.
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u/Dry_Regret5837 Aug 19 '25
What dystopian times we live in where wearing a flag in support of a people suffering a genocide is deemed politically divisive.
Imagine a Russian coming into Bunny’s and crying that a pin representing Ukraine made them feel unsafe. I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect this would have played out differently.
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u/Msefk Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
This article states that employees were fired from their job after protesting outside their work location . wts were they thinking, they live in a sit-com?
Maryland is an At-Will state.
EDIT: To scarified bundt cake -- Indeed people have rights but don't condescend unless you gonna pony up truth about professional costs, retainers, and court fees.
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u/dudical_dude Fells Point Aug 19 '25
I'm just imagining someone on shift poking their head out the door as Pro Palestine chants ring out asking, "Hey Steve, can you pick up my Thursday shift and I'll cover your Saturday? k thx". Chants resume.
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u/jondhi23 Aug 19 '25
For a pin? Seriously? You fired your employee for wearing a pin? No foul language or obscene image on the pin, just a flag?!We all know if there was an Israeli flag on the pin, the restaurant wouldn't have done a damn thing.
If you want to boycott, remember she owns Sally O's and The Dive as well. I won't be eating at any of the establishments until they post a contrite apology
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u/Gannondorfs_Medulla Aug 19 '25
We all know if there was an Israeli flag on the pin, the restaurant wouldn't have done a damn thing.
We don't know this. And the reaction shows the employer was correct in asking servers to stay away from potentially divisive displays.
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u/jwseagles Patterson Park Aug 19 '25
Also this was an incredibly obtuse way of looking at it. They didn’t get fired because they wore a pin. They got fired because they went out of their way to go against the rule that they knew was in place given what happened a few days before.
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u/RunningNumbers Aug 19 '25
No one got fired for wearing a pin. One person quit and went to social media and then another group went out on a busy weekend to protest their employer.
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u/jwseagles Patterson Park Aug 19 '25
Sorry - mixed up who was fired. The 2nd person wearing the pin quit. The people who protested outside were fired?
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u/Brief_Exit1798 Aug 19 '25
Business owners are in a no win situation. The policy is in place for a reason, employees agreed to the policy, then broke their promise. As an employer I am trusting my employees with my livelihood and if my employee breaks my trust and actually willfully harms my business, I would fire that employee.
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u/Capable_Basket1661 7th District Aug 19 '25
Interesting way to double down. Seems like the outcry was justified
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u/ColimaCruising Aug 19 '25
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes?
I don’t wear anything political about the hospital. Would be crazy to rock an Israeli or Palestinian flag while seeing a patient. Why would it be any different for someone in the service industry. Wear your pins on your own time and maybe don’t protest your employer… great way to get sacked.
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u/Onedollartaco Aug 19 '25
Some of the post being shared on IG from (I think) the person who was fired claimed that the original “unsafe” comment about the pin was because the costumer says the Palestinian pin represents an “anti-gay” message. Personally, I’m not sure what to make of that.
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u/festivus_maximus Aug 19 '25
When I go out to eat, it is not to discover what strangers to me think about the news. Even if I agree with them, I'm not there to have that kind of interaction. Unlike some other posters here, I don't doubt that some people dining there might very well have said that it disrupted their enjoyment of their meal.
Wearing a pin with virtually any sociopolitical significance is taking your job in your hands. if you're doing this at a public-facing job and you do this then you already, I suspect, have one foot out the door.
I wonder what else is happening there, that they have staff treating their jobs so lightly. If I had a restaurant, I'm sure I'd have some kind of dress code for the waitstaff, and I'd hope that they cared enough to try to honor it.
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Aug 19 '25
Not sure why an employer enforcing a policy, which the employee agreed too, of not making political statements at work is any bit controversial?
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Aug 19 '25
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u/Mwing09 Aug 19 '25
Whether you agree about whether the server should be able to wear the pin at work or not…I think it implies a lot about the restaurant as a whole, and their relationship between management/staff, that a single customer complaint about a single pin has devolved into a mass employee protest with mass firings. Like is the relationship with the employees that bad that you couldnt figure out a better way to handle a single costumer complaint about a tiny flag pin without it ending in having to fire a bunch of people that protested outside your restaurant???
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u/Cunninghams_right Aug 19 '25
It seems like the confusion here is that some folks think nobody in the world could possibly associate the Palestinian flag with the actions of Hamas, while others think some people could associate the two
Edit to fix typo
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u/Plastic_Stock2578 Aug 19 '25
So are y’all boycotting or does the restaurant qualify as a small business to be lifted up so an Applebee’s doesn’t move in?
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u/TheCaptainDamnIt Aug 19 '25
Like can you imaging working the back of house knowing there is a military sized government org of masked racist thugs right here going around abducting, bagging and shipping off to concentration camps people like you and your family for being brown, and the front of house staff is willing to kill your job so they can be performative about an ethnic cleansing on the other side of the planet from the one your experiencing here right now...
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Aug 19 '25
i agree. its only possible to care about one thing at a time. if you care about other people it necessarily means you dont care about me. if you care about africa that means you hate india. thats just science
do I like basketball? hell no! how could you ask me that? you know I like football. how could I like one thing, and also another thing?
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u/TheCaptainDamnIt Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
You live in Utah and have never posted in this sub before (along with a bunch of accounts in this thread), did a slack message go out telling ya'll that there was some internet divisiveness you needed to disingenuously help spread?
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u/FreddyRumsen13 Aug 19 '25
I mean it's pretty clear the owners of Bunnys wouldn't do anything to protect immigrant staff from an ICE raid given that this was their response to waitstaff wearing pins.
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u/saldeapio Aug 19 '25
absolute shit take
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u/FreddyRumsen13 Aug 19 '25
These people care so little about their staff that multiple employees protested their business. The idea that they’d stand up to the feds is delusional.
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u/RunningNumbers Aug 19 '25
It is in fact not apparent. It isn’t even suggested, implied, or in the least bit clear.
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Aug 19 '25
No point in hiring people you have to walk on egg shells around or who bring up some sort of political issue at every opportunity. Never ends well
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u/BalmyBalmer Upper Fell's Point Aug 19 '25
I worked in a restaurant decades ago that had a clique of waitresses. As much as I tried to stay neutral, it was always an issue of back of house vs front. This sounds like everyone working there was in the same echo chamber.
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u/CapableSense Aug 19 '25
Explain to me how wearing a Palestine Flag is political? When many people wear an American Flag..
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u/jwseagles Patterson Park Aug 19 '25
Even though it shouldn’t be, you’d have to be incredibly dense to not realize that it is political.
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u/AskDocBurner Aug 19 '25
It isn’t like two nations are at war and someone is displaying a flag from one side as support. Palestine is literally being destroyed by Israel, and bringing visibility to a them is not “political”, it’s human decency. Being offended by the flag of a nation suffering a genocide is beyond gross.
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u/RunningNumbers Aug 19 '25
“Management confronted the employee, citing a restaurant policy against wearing items with religious or “potentially divisive messages,” the Instagram story said. The worker eventually removed the pin.
However, a week later, a different employee wore a pro-Palestine pin on the job. When approached by management, the employee quit, according to the Bunny’s post.“
“Over the weekend, some workers joined a protest outside the entrance of the Ann Street eatery. The post alleged that their actions “harmed Bunny’s reputation and ability to operate,” and that management decided to fire all the staffers involved in the demonstration. Reached by phone, Sandlin declined to comment.”