From: chrz@tellabs.com (Peter Chrzanowski)
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Summary: criteria for firing?
Organization: Tellabs, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 22:37:53 GMT

In article <5SEP199223305034@acad3.alaska.edu>, jsdph@acad3.alaska.edu (Dennis P. Harris) writes:

> According to a story on today's NPR Morning Edition, Waldenbooks has fired the
> staff of its Georgetown store in Washington, DC for refusing to sell the
> "Joke-A-Date" appointment calendar, which contains racist and demeaning "jokes"
> for each day of 1993.  After hearing some examples in the story of some of the
> "jokes", I agree with the former WB employees that the publication (from St.
> Martins Press, which should know better) would offend a large number of
> bookstore customers.

I don't understand your criteria for when it's OK to fire a bookstore
employee.  Would you, if the choice were yours,

* Fire an employee for refusing to sell books the employee considered
  offensive even if these books would NOT "offend a large number of
  bookstore customers" ?   That is, is this strictly a matter of individual
  conscience, or must some other standard be met?  What would you do with 
  an employee who refused to sell books by Ayn Rand, or Karl Marx, or
  anything published by a subsidiary of Exxon or GE (or St. Martins) ? 

If the employee could safely refuse to sell only those books that "would
offend a large number of bookstore customers", how would you determine
which books met that standard?  Poll the customers?  Or is it like
pornography, you can't define it (but you know it when you see it) ?

* Would employees be given a list of books they could safely 
  refuse to sell, or would they have to take their chances with
  an after-the-fact determination of offensiveness?


How would you feel about an employee of a public or university library
refusing to check out "offensive" materials?  Should computer "card catalogs"
state not only whether the book is on-shelf but also when an employee 
will be available who is willing to let you have it?

> I have already informed WB that I intend to boycott them until they stop
> selling the book and reinstate the fired employees by posting a message to
> their user services folks in their Walden Computerbooks on-line store in the
> Compu$erve Mall (GO WB), and I urge others to join me.  I also intend to write
> St. Martins Press and tell them I'm boycotting them, too.  The book's author is
> apparently afraid to use his/her real name, since it's listed as "Blanche
> Knott" (ooh, bad pun!).

How 'bout an employee in a drugstore who refused to sell makeup because
the beauty biz is "oppressive to women" ?  

Ok, so perhaps makeup isn't really all that offensive (or should I qualify 
that with: offensive to a large number of drugstore customers?) and perhaps
this book is obnoxious enough to offend practically everyone.  I'm still
still left with the question, why?  Do you believe there'd be less
racism if only racist books could be effectively suppressed, or if people 
who wished to buy them could only do so at "We B Racists" bookstores?
 

> There is no Waldenbooks store in my area, or I would have dropped in and told
> the local staff that I'm boycotting them, but you can drop by your local mall
> and let the local manager know how you feel.

  You could tell the local manager what you think, as well as how you feel.