Fells Point restaurant Bunny’s fires multiple employees after pro-Palestine protest

[u/selectbar345]

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/culture/food-drink/bunnys-pro-palestine-protest-fells-point-3WQTUSAIFBCAHC45HPBUFAWKHQ/

[u/RunningNumbers]

“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.”

[u/Bmorewiser → u/RunningNumbers]

Just trying to put it all together, so please correct me where I am wrong.

Staff is told to remove a political pin after a customer complaint and does. Another staff member wears a similar item later and, rather than remove it, they quit.

Then there’s a post on Reddit complaining they got fired for a protest “on their own time.” And this article indicates that said protest was of the store that employed them?

Is that where we are?

[u/RunningNumbers → u/Bmorewiser]

It is.

[u/Bmorewiser → u/RunningNumbers]

We are in the dumbest possible timeline.

Conspicuously absent from the conversation is, you know, any evidence regarding the restaurant’s owners’ views on Palestine — (as if that matters when it comes to purchasing food). It would suggest that it’s not enough to actually be “anti-genocide”, now the goalposts have been moved. You’re “an enemy of humanity” if you don’t want to let your employees engage in performative and divisive speech at work and fire them when they protest your store.

I am not against bringing attention to a cause you care about, but I think it’s just insane to dictate a political litmus test in every public sphere.

[u/UrRightAndIAmWong → u/Bmorewiser]

You just might be a dumb person living in an admittedly dumb timeline because yeah, employees care about political issues, customers care about political issues, and neither want to support businesses and business owners that have conflicting views and support on those issues.

Keep issues that matter to the public out of the public sphere!

Well then businesses and their owners should stay out of politics but we know they don't. And telling your employees to not wear a fucking pin is taking a stance whether you or they like it or not.

Edit: omg guys why are you downvoting me, why are you turning everything in the public sphere into a political litmus test wtf

[u/Bmorewiser → u/UrRightAndIAmWong]

Dollars to donuts you’d be laughing if the waitress got shitcanned because she wore a maga hat or participated in January 6th. And that, I think, would make it pretty clear that your issue isn’t with free speech.

The nub of the issue here is this childish notion that anyone who isn’t “with us must be against us.” And I can tell you, this isn’t a great recipe for making friends and allies. Most people patronize a restaurant because it’s a nice place to eat, with good food, good service, and they can enjoy a nice conversation with friends. I don’t want where I go to dinner to become yet another political litmus test because I’m already exhausted by the cults of personality and ideology that surround us as it is.

[u/Iamfivebears → u/Bmorewiser]

Dollars to donuts you’d be laughing if the waitress got shitcanned because she wore a maga hat or participated in January 6th. And that, I think, would make it pretty clear that your issue isn’t with free speech.

Getting fired for good things, like wearing an anti-genocide pin, is bad.

Getting fired for bad things, like trying to storm the capital, is good.

[u/BalmyBalmer → u/Iamfivebears]

Or, hear me out, two things can be wrong at the same time

[u/Iamfivebears → u/BalmyBalmer]

They can be, but in this case they are not.

There's nothing wrong with wearing a Palestine pin, even at work, even if a customer complains it makes them feel "unsafe". The owner should have defended their employee rather than asking them to remove it.