(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Publix employee won't say "trans" on a cake [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-05-15
Publix, where shopping is a pleasure. Unless when it comes to asking an employee to write “trans” on a cake.
28-year-old Yasmin Flasterstein is the co-founder and executive director of Peer Support Space, a nonprofit organisation in Orlando whose mission is to “build, and be a local hub for, diverse peer-led recovery communities”. Close to the end of last month, Flasterstein ordered a cake for a “’spreading trans joy volunteer’ event”. But when she picked up the cake at a Publix in the Colonialtown neighbourhood of Orlando, she was gobsmacked.
“It just kinda felt like they were saying, ‘Trans people aren’t people,’ and it was extremely hurtful,” she said. Flasterstein never imagined she and her trans co-worker would face push back after asking a Publix Bakery clerk to write “Trans people deserve joy” on a sheet cake, April 26. “He looked a little bit confused, so I said, ‘T-R-A-N-S, trans people,'” she said. “I thought maybe he just didn’t hear me, but I didn’t really think anything of it.” That was when, Flasterstein said, the clerk walked away and came back with the manager. “The bakery manager had come and told them that they could not write ‘Trans people deserve joy’ on the cake because it was taking a political stance, and corporate wouldn’t allow it,” she said. Instead, Flastertein said, the manager offered to write “People deserve joy,” and that Flasterstein herself write “Trans” on the blank space at the top. “She seemed really emotional about it, and I really believed that it was corporate policy and out of her hands,” said Flasterstein.
The company and store manager both apologised to Flasterstein.
There was a message response from Publix’s verified Facebook page that read: “We are sorry that our associate did not handle your request appropriately. Please message us for more details and we will gladly make the cake,” it read.
The store manager also told Flasterstein, “I am genuinely disappointed that our team let you down. The message you requested written on your cake is one that we definitely could have written. Any message that is of a positive nature is allowed, and yours certainly was.”
But she never felt that the apologies were sincere, and Flasterstein wants the company’s policy to be more clear so that this incident won’t happen to another customer.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/15/2169574/-Publix-employee-won-t-say-trans-on-a-cake
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
