Printer turns down work

[gordo]

A printer in the UK is turning down work:

http://tinyurl.com/ya99o7mu

What do you think?
Do you turn away print customers for similar reasons?
Is it reasonable for a printer to have their customers pass a morals test before accepting their jobs?
What if the printer refused work for other reasons - e.g. political or religious affiliation? Is that OK?

 

[arossetti]

My American might show but I'm of the belief that as a business owner you own your business, just like as a home owner you own your home. You can choose who you wish to enter through your doors and who you don't want to enter, for any reason. I also believe in the right for people to call you a bigot, racist, antisemite, etc and do it on the public sidewalk right outside your store and leave you a nasty review online of their experience.

I'm sure there are 1,000 other printers in the UK willing to take this work.

 

[keith1]

I expect in the end, the customer was relieved to not be dealing with such a bigot. The only time I can recall refusing a job is when someone requested his report marks be altered and a new copy produced. Basically forgery. He needed something to show his parents. The university was a major account so I considered it not prudent to get into the business of forging documents for their students.
Other than that I think I've only ever stopped dealing with chronic late payers and jerks.

Sort of loosely related. A few years ago I was on a cruise out of Miami. Turned out the cruise was also booked for quite a large Gay group. It was fun. They were a great group and added considerable excitement & partying to the cruise. Many dressed in drag. Not a spec of trouble that I'm aware of.
However, we overheard many expressing their disgust, downright hatred and intolerance, swearing it would be their final cruise with that cruise line and send nasty letters to cruise headquarters. I was gobsmacked that this was still occurring to such a degree. I think it was about 2013.

 

[gordo]

My American might show but I'm of the belief that as a business owner you own your business, just like as a home owner you own your home. You can choose who you wish to enter through your doors and who you don't want to enter, for any reason.

Perhaps, to avoid any misunderstanding, the printer should include in his signage the caveat as to who he would not do business with - akin to the "No shirt, no shoes, no service" signs one often sees in seaside restaurants.

 

[dabob]

Gonna throw some gas on the fire . . . what if the "customer" wanted a racist poster made, or perhaps graphic pornography, what would the group do then, we have in the past turned down work which we found to be personally offensive or inflammatory. But, on the other hand we helped a gay group produce their version of a trivia game.

The easiest way to avoid any problem is charge 15 times what the job is worth . . . if the "customer" has any sense he will find another vendor . . . .

Methinks its up to the business owner to decide what they will or will not produce.

 

[MailGuru]

Perhaps, to avoid any misunderstanding, the printer should include in his signage the caveat as to who he would not do business with - akin to the "No shirt, no shoes, no service" signs one often sees in seaside restaurants.

Here in the US, some businesses have an actual sign posted "We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To Anyone For Any Reason". As arossetti indicated, even those that don't, still adhere to that principle. It's pretty much understood that it's an unwritten rule for those that own their own businesses.

 

[Manafaith]

Agree with dabob. The owner of the shop where I work has "passed" on The Communist Party of Washington State. A White Supremacist Group and a few others the like. Business should Always retain full control over whom they will or will not do work with and for. In this politically correct version of America we currently live in it seems like it is no longer "Free Choice" Reminds me of the Baker in Oregon who got their pants sued off because they didn't wanna make a cake.

 

[namelessentity]

It's a tough call. On one hand, you're a business owner and should have the right to be a bigot, but where does the line get drawn? I'm pretty sure it'd be pretty illegal to refuse service to a black person, even if you could come up with some bs religious reason not to serve them.
I think unless the content is illegal, it's better to take to work to avoid destroying your reputation like the bakery owners did. If it were 1960 or something, yeah, refuse the job, but it's 2017 and social media is going to destroy you as a company regardless of where you stand.

 

[Manafaith]

Agree 1000% A business Owner should have the right to destroy their reputation should they choose that path. Might be a stupid path but that should be their choice. I believe however that there is a HUGE difference between basing that decision on the color of ones skin versus religious or political views.

 

[gordo]

Agree 1000% A business Owner should have the right to destroy their reputation should they choose that path. Might be a stupid path but that should be their choice. I believe however that there is a HUGE difference between basing that decision on the color of ones skin versus religious or political views.

What is the huge difference you see?

 

[MailGuru]

It's certainly a "slippery slope" and, the business owner is caught right smack dab in the middle. As in the case of the UK printer, since most of his business comes from Christian organizations, taking that LGBT job could potentially jeopardize the majority of his business (those organizations could boycott his operation as a result). I'm am not a bigot, and, could care less whether the customer is LGBT or not, but, I think the government is wrong in forcing business owners such as the Oregon and other wedding cake bakers in to risking other (non-LGBT business) to comply with the law. Just goes to show, if you really want to screw things up, get the government involved.

Maybe dabob's right, just price it out of market so the customer goes to another vendor. Or, another option would be to just turn down the job for some other reason (I'm sorry, we're just slammed right now. The production schedule is full until January of next year........"

 

[maas]

The business owner has every right to refuse work based on his set of values, even if these do not align with the majority of opinion.

 

[MailGuru]

The business owner has every right to refuse work based on his set of values, even if these do not align with the majority of opinion.

Yep, I agree, but, it doesn't work that way in real life. Just google the Oregon Baker's story, and, the baker (The Klein's) lost the case and had to pay a $135,000 fine.

 

[AP90]

Here is a post of the opposite. Is the LGBT owner a bigot by everyone's standards now?

Short snippet of the article is a LGBT coffee shop owner asked a group of christians who were with a Anti-abortion group to leave. I haven't read anywhere that they were protesting or doing anything but trying to get a cup of coffee


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0b34afa5b77d9

 

[maas]

I just did exactly that....... Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Oregon, said they simply want the freedom to live by the tenets of their faith.

“We just want the government to tolerate and accept differences of opinion, so we can continue to follow our faith,” Mrs. Klein said at a press conference following hearing. “We hope that, even if people have different beliefs from us, that they will show each other tolerance and that we can peacefully live together and still follow our faith. That’s all we want.”

Not sure where the justification for this fine is or maybe i am missing something

 

[MailGuru]

Not sure where the justification for this fine is or maybe i am missing something

Oregon State Law

 

[arossetti]

Not a lawyer obviously but being disabled is a protected class in the US according to the ADA. Being an alcoholic is having a disease and according to the ADA makes you a protected class. What if a local liquor store owner refuses to serve a guy who buys 1.5l of vodka from him each day because morally he doesn't feel right about enabling the alcoholic?

Is he sued for discriminating against a federally protect class?

 

[maas]

"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today."
thomas sowell

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

A printer in the UK is turning down work:

http://tinyurl.com/ya99o7mu

What do you think?
Do you turn away print customers for similar reasons?
Is it reasonable for a printer to have their customers pass a morals test before accepting their jobs?
What if the printer refused work for other reasons - e.g. political or religious affiliation? Is that OK?

I saw this article earlier today. I do not personally think that the printer was the one that "inflamed" this situation. In general white people in the UK are being bullied at every turn. It's basically 1984 over there (not joking).

 

[dabob]

Just as a p.s. to my suggestion to upcharge them by 15 or 20 times . . . if they accept the job and pay the freight you can donate the "overcharge" to any group that opposes the group that wanted the work . . . just sayin