McDonald's bans poppy

By JOE WARMINGTON, QMI Agency

TORONTO - Kaitlyn Hall-Kuch wanted to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day.

Problem is the 16-year-old employee of the McDonald's on King George Rd. in Brantford was told, shockingly, she can't.

"Myself and another woman, whose father is a veteran, were wearing one when a manager told us to take them off," she said Wednesday.

She was floored and demanded to know why?

"He told us it was for safety reasons and that it was a corporate policy," she said. "We were very upset."

Read story here.

McDonalds again! Last time they wouldn't allow a guide dog. Now this.

Does anyone think at that company? Suggest they find someone that employs a little common sense to review all corporate policies so they don't repeat this crappola.

They are a private business and are well within their rights to ban items that they believe constitute a safety issue.

It would be interesting to see if others in the restaurant business are also told to not wear such items. I can't imagine it's just McDonald's.

What's next, allowing kirpans to accommodate their Sikh employees?

Actually I can understand why a business which is in the food creation business would want to stop employees from wearing anything like a poppy where the needle can come loose.
There are just too many unscrupulous people out there.
Didn't I read about someone suing a restaurant because they "accidentally burnt themselves with hot coffee awhile back.
Plus I do not want to find a needle in my mouth because someones poppy fell off and the cook was too busy/lazy to look for it.

I lost my poppy today....

I should have stuck it into my skin.
It's the thought and remembrance that counts.

Yeah...it's not actually the poppy that's the problem.
It's anything that may become dislodged from the "uniform" and be found later in the food.

They could've worn the poppy...just not the style with a straightpin, it would have to be a safety pin, or something else accepted in the industry.

They wear name tags with pins for chrissake.

This was another dumbassed decision made at head office....just like the one Amazon made.

BTW, the service dog was a decision made by some dumb kid/manager at the store level I believe??

I could understand that - those stick-pin poppy's fall off fairly easily. However my daughter came home from school yesterday wearing a poppy - a sticker poppy. Good idea and about a penny each to produce.

The whole point here is find a solution. Don't arbitrarily ban something that has profound meaning to so very many.

Sticker poppy, I like.

JTF wrote:They wear name tags with pins for chrissake.

This was another dumbassed decision made at head office....just like the one Amazon made.

BTW, the service dog was a decision made by some dumb kid/manager at the store level I believe??

the name tags are rarely if ever stick pins

I'm fairly confident that beyond the safety issue, they have a corporate HR policy in place that bans ALL pins/pieces of flair that are not corporately sanctioned (such as promotional buttons (i.e- "Two for one Big Mac Deal!" or service award pins.) It's a common practice in F&B/Hospitality to disallow any outside pins on uniformed employees, because it may suggest political leanings or something that ill-reflects on the corporation.

It's sad that the poppy falls into this category, but unless the rule makers give it the thumbs up and supply for all staff, it's unlikely to be allowed in that environment.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2843472

A statement sent to the QMI Agency from McDonald's Canada in Toronto states that "the health and safety of our customers is a top priority.

"While our crew and managers behind the counter and in food preparation areas are not permitted to wear traditional poppies with pins due to health and safety concerns, they are permitted to wear Royal Canadian Legion poppy stickers where appropriate and as available."

Hall and her daughter say they find the policy statement strange because the name tags worn by restaurant crew members are affixed by safety-pin-style pins.

"What's the difference between my safety pin and a poppy pin?" said Kuch-Hall, who does not work in the restaurant kitchen. [Note, DeanK has already answerd this one.]

"I can understand boys in the kitchen (not wearing poppies) but I just hand out food at the drive-thru and take orders on the counter," she said. "It's taking away your right to show respect (for veterans)."

Kuch-Hall's mother said that, in a call to McDonald's head office, she was told that employees could wear stick-on versions of the poppy. And in a separate call to the head office of the Royal Canadian Legion, Hall said she was told that stick-on poppies must be ordered in advance.

I was in a Timmies this am and asked them if they wore poppies yesterday.

They did.

Seems the danger issue is confined to Mickeys eh.

not at all

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-veterans.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327826/Hollister-shop-assistant-gets-poppy-ban-uniform.html

and the kicker

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1445714/Poppy-pins-banned-in-case-people-sue.html

The Royal British Legion has stopped supplying pins with its poppies because it fears compensation claims from "injured" members of the public.