Burger King apologizes for a BF incident

From CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/11/1....ap/index.html

Burger King apologizes to breast-feeding mom
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 Posted: 11:18 AM EST (1618 GMT)

OREM, Utah (AP) -- Burger King has served up a plain apology to a
woman who said she was ordered by a franchise employee to stop
breast-feeding her baby in the fast-food restaurant's dining room or
leave.

Kate Geary said she was made to "feel like a criminal" for
breast-feeding her baby girl Monday and asked the burger chain for an
apology.

Miami-based Burger King Corp. issued a generic apology in a prepared
release Tuesday.

"Burger King Corporation and our franchisee apologize for any
inconvenience any of our guests experienced at our restaurant on
November 10, 2003," the release said.

The company said its employee was simply responding to the request of
another customer who was uncomfortable with Geary breast-feeding at
the eatery. Geary was never asked to leave the restaurant, the
statement said.

"The general manager sent a female employee to speak with the woman
and asked that she either cover herself or move to the ladies room,"
the company said in a prepared release. Geary contends she was fully
covered.

The restaurant , about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, does not have
a policy on breast-feeding.

Utah state law says a woman has a right to breast-feed anywhere.

You know what really bothers me about things like this is the fact that
there are such things as 'breastfeeding policies'. We as adults aren't
asked to curb our eating out of respect for other people! Sure we are asked
not to eat in a place where food spills can cause product damage, but that's
different. I have to say that I am pretty disgusted at how something so
natural and necessary has to be regulated. : P Grrrrrrrr.... I could go
on and on....
-Alicia
"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
om...
From CNN.com:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/11/1....ap/index.html

Burger King apologizes to breast-feeding mom
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 Posted: 11:18 AM EST (1618 GMT)

OREM, Utah (AP) -- Burger King has served up a plain apology to a
woman who said she was ordered by a franchise employee to stop
breast-feeding her baby in the fast-food restaurant's dining room or
leave.

Kate Geary said she was made to "feel like a criminal" for
breast-feeding her baby girl Monday and asked the burger chain for an
apology.

Miami-based Burger King Corp. issued a generic apology in a prepared
release Tuesday.

"Burger King Corporation and our franchisee apologize for any
inconvenience any of our guests experienced at our restaurant on
November 10, 2003," the release said.

The company said its employee was simply responding to the request of
another customer who was uncomfortable with Geary breast-feeding at
the eatery. Geary was never asked to leave the restaurant, the
statement said.

"The general manager sent a female employee to speak with the woman
and asked that she either cover herself or move to the ladies room,"
the company said in a prepared release. Geary contends she was fully
covered.

The restaurant , about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, does not have
a policy on breast-feeding.

Utah state law says a woman has a right to breast-feed anywhere.

In article oBvsb.376616$6C4.306889@pd7tw1no,
says...
You know what really bothers me about things like this is the fact that
there are such things as 'breastfeeding policies'. We as adults aren't
asked to curb our eating out of respect for other people! Sure we are asked
not to eat in a place where food spills can cause product damage, but that's
different. I have to say that I am pretty disgusted at how something so
natural and necessary has to be regulated. : P Grrrrrrrr.... I could go
on and on....

Well, I have to say while I agree breastfeeding shouldn't be
restricted, especially not in a restaurant, it's not true adults
aren't asked to curb our eating out of respect for other people. You
don't take food to church, for instance, or into a concert -- even
though people do take food into movies regularly.

Michelle
Flutist

--
Drift on a river, That flows through my arms
Drift as I'm singing to you
I see you smiling, So peaceful and calm
And holding you, I'm smiling, too
Here in my arms, Safe from all harm
Holding you, I'm smiling, too
-- For Xander [9/22/98 - 2/23/99]

"Michelle J. Haines" wrote in message
...
In article oBvsb.376616$6C4.306889@pd7tw1no,
says...
You know what really bothers me about things like this is the fact that
there are such things as 'breastfeeding policies'. We as adults aren't
asked to curb our eating out of respect for other people! Sure we are
asked
not to eat in a place where food spills can cause product damage, but
that's
different. I have to say that I am pretty disgusted at how something so
natural and necessary has to be regulated. : P Grrrrrrrr.... I could
go
on and on....

Well, I have to say while I agree breastfeeding shouldn't be
restricted, especially not in a restaurant, it's not true adults
aren't asked to curb our eating out of respect for other people. You
don't take food to church, for instance, or into a concert -- even
though people do take food into movies regularly.



Mrs. Cynic here. You do not take food to concerts because the food vendors
want to be able to serve you food. Food is not ALLOWED in most stadiums.

Michelle
Flutist

--
Drift on a river, That flows through my arms
Drift as I'm singing to you
I see you smiling, So peaceful and calm
And holding you, I'm smiling, too
Here in my arms, Safe from all harm
Holding you, I'm smiling, too
-- For Xander [9/22/98 - 2/23/99]

What really gets me about many of these store and restaurant incidents
is that the person who is offended frequently goes to store personnel to
complain rather than confront the offending mother mother and child face
to face.

I wonder, would you as the mom rather be approached with such a
complaint my staff or the complaining individual? I could see both
sides, but what I'd really like to see is one store, just one, say the
the complainant that what the mom is doing is perfectly legal and fine
with them as well. But I supposed we'd never hear about it if they did.

-Karen, mom to Henry 3 1/2 and someone due 4/24/04-

yikes, this drives me mad, can you believe that there are people out there
who think our babies should eat in the toilet, nor to I understand the
"cover yourself up" other than a few secs whilst latching on, what can you
see!

-----------
Anne Rogers

"Stephanie and Tim" wrote,

Mrs. Cynic here. You do not take food to concerts because the food vendors
want to be able to serve you food. Food is not ALLOWED in most stadiums.

Heh. When I think of concerts, I think of symphony orchestras in nice large
concert halls. You do not take food to these concerts because it is RUDE.

But then taking a baby to such a concert is also rude, unless it is a family
concert specifically planned for kids in the audience.

Mary Ellen
William (8)
Matthew (6)
Margaret (2)

Karen wrote in message
link.net...
What really gets me about many of these store and
restaurant incidents is that the person who is offended
frequently goes to store personnel to complain rather
than confront the offending mother mother and child face
to face.

They are probably too embarrassed to go near enough to the nursing mom
to *have* a conversation, if even seeing NIP bothers them that much!
;-)

I wonder, would you as the mom rather be approached
with such a complaint my staff or the complaining individual?
I could see both sides, but what I'd really like to see is one
store, just one, say the the complainant that what the mom
is doing is perfectly legal and fine with them as well. But I
supposed we'd never hear about it if they did.

Good question. Usually I prefer to deal with things at the source of
the problem, which would be the individual. OTOH talking to the store
employee could impact how it's handled at that store for other moms in
the future and is more likely to hopefully bring about an improvement
for a greater number of people. I think the best-case scenario is the
nursing mom is approached by a store employee, mom educates employee,
then employee educates complainer. Well no, best case would be if the
employee simply looks at the complainer and says "so?" in the first
place, so the mom never hears about it at all.
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 7 mo.
And Jaden, 2 months

Cleaning the house while your children are small is like
shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing.

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 21:37:56 GMT, Karen wrote:

I wonder, would you as the mom rather be approached with such a
complaint my staff or the complaining individual? I could see both
sides, but what I'd really like to see is one store, just one, say the
the complainant that what the mom is doing is perfectly legal and fine
with them as well. But I supposed we'd never hear about it if they did.

I would rather the person who is complaining approach me about it. If
they do approach the staff - I do think the staff's response should be
"We are sorry you are offended by breastfeeding but there is nothing
we can do as the mother is within her legal rights." But yes we would
then never hear about it - unless the person complaining tried to
flight for their right to be unoffended .

Di

Karen wrote:
What really gets me about many of these store and restaurant incidents
is that the person who is offended frequently goes to store personnel
to complain rather than confront the offending mother mother and
child face to face.

I wonder, would you as the mom rather be approached with such a
complaint my staff or the complaining individual?

People can be ugly. My husband is related to one such individual. The type
that has no problems with verbally combatting with anyone about issues that
are hot topics.

So I'm going to say that it should be handled through the staff...
preferably through management because grunt workers aren't paid nearly
enough for customer satisfaction issues.

Laurel