Misinformation correction: M&S Staff

Ha ha indeed.
It's spectacularly clear that M & S policies in relation to this man appear to be beiong breached in so many ways. The fact that he's boasting that men are allowed to train as bra fitters for girls and women, the fact that senior staff are allegedly on his side cheering and clapping, (as opposed to adopting a professional, customer centred approach. Plus posting on social media and doing yet more damage to the public perception of M & S as a brand that cares more about men with a fetish than they do about the safety of women and girls - their customers.

Yet another own goal and as always, revealing how transactivists are always determined to undermine boundaries and safeguarding of girls and women.

Sad times.

OUR COMMITMENT
M&S recognises that colleagues use social media as part of their daily lives. It is also a powerful tool to engage our customers and colleagues. Our Social Media Policy applies to all UK employees and sets out what is and isn’t acceptable content to post on social media as a representative of the M&S brand. As well as minimising reputational risk to M&S’ brand and business, this policy (and the expected behaviours contained within it) also aims to protect colleagues from possible disciplinary or legal action that could arise from irresponsible social media use.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

• To protect other colleagues and minimise any potential risk to M&S’ brand and reputation, it should always be in the forefront of our minds that we are representing M&S – even when we’re using a personal account or device outside of work hours
• Do not be offensive, discriminatory, bullying or threatening on social media, or make false, misleading or defamatory statements, encourage or display illegal activities
• Respect copyright. If it’s not yours, don’t use it
• Comply with company confidentiality obligations at all times
• Be vigilant and flag any possible social media policy breaches to your line manager

HOW TO DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE

• M&S uses technology to continually screen public social media platforms feeds for potential opportunities or risks to the business
• The Customer Sales and Service Centre (CSSC) continually monitors for social media posts where M&S has been tagged or mentioned (typically using either a hashtag (#) or @mention) and takes appropriate action
• Colleagues are personally liable for anything they post on social media. In the event of a breach of the Social Media Policy, M&S may launch an investigation that could result in disciplinary action, including possible dismissal from the company and/or legal action from third parties

I should have added ‘allegedly’ to my post with the Reddit screenshots.

There are a lot of weird details in that Reddit post though.

Just as an aside - and not in relation to this case.

I am not familiar with UK employment law but is there a point at which an employer can dismiss an employee because of their need for constant affirmation and praise or excessive fragility?

Is there a point at which an employer can decide they are providing too much support in return for too little work?

It's in here -section 21.

https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/marks-spencer/corperate-governance/m-and-s-code-of-conduct.pdf

Sorry, don't have time to read it at the mo.

I wonder what M&S's staff social media policy is.

I wonder if it needs revising.

Good point on the damage did ahe/he buy them first?

AI throws up na Irish branch a 2 euro cup of coffee was a sacking offence in 2012

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20294132.html

And why rip up and throw out

"If it is true, M&S have some problems with staff appropriateness at that branch that aren’t just based on this employee."

I see some significant issues arising there. Obviously, this is just this person's recounting of the relationships, but there seems to be some professional boundaries that might be missing.

Even if this Reddit poster is genuinely the trans person involved, I’m taking his one sided, dubious rendition of events with a giant pinch of salt. If it is true, M&S have some problems with staff appropriateness at that branch that aren’t just based on this employee.

Ha ha ha
If that was the M&S manager he could be fired for giving a media interview after everything has died a death, so large pinch of salt needed.

Ha ha if the author is that man and a manager there is no way he would remember a single incident after months in any kind of detail because memorys dont work that way.

Unless he was not in the habit of speaking to customers in that way anywhere?

Lets remember the girl was shopping for underwear so was in the correct department.
M&S staff dont offer personal shopper help and dont hold stock off the floor if he was offering to find stock the girl mother would have as him to find X or get the women who worked in the department to help find X not "No thanks".

So its the wrong memory or did M&S have CCTV where they coiuld review the visual of the encounter and are refusing to supply it to the data subject?

And the language construction (lady and a teenage child etc) in the text is not on par with what I would expect from a (fluent) english speaking/english educated person who has been employed by one of the bigger uk retail stores and if I notice that something is off🙃

Then is he saying that M&S custromer service made up a whole story about events which did not happen and had different training and/or understanding of how bra fittings are carried out?

But good on the man for making claims on behalf of M&S.

Nice to see that as a manager he would have allowed male staff member to be trained and carry out a bra fitting on a 14 year old girl. (Not creepy at all)

I am sure he would also claim that as a manager following M&S policy his actions (allowing a male member of staff to put hands on the any part of the upper body of a 14 girl ) would have been supported by his manager the Regional manager and the Regional managers boss. ( that will give PR a work out for the next while).

If he is an employee and wrote that on a public site after M&S made a public statement about the bra fitting policy he can rest assured that he has shown a level of professional understanding that not even my cat 🐆 would envy and created a large hurdle for his future career path in M&S.🐈‍⬛

He has 100% proved the mothers point and showed that her issues around safeguarding the staff (and brand) was a concern.

As staff policy gaps:

• would result in a manager expecting a female member of staff to carry out bra fittings on the type of men who are currently booking appointments to harrass staff.

• could result in a male member of staff being charged with child sex offences against teen age girls or sexual offences against adult women. And I would vote guilty in the jury room and explain to others why "just following orders" wont work for pervy shop staff either.

He has 100% proved the mothers point and showed that her issues around safeguarding customers was a concern.

No dear M&S your policy should not allow this man or anybody to instruct a male member of staff to go into a small room where a 14 year old girl (or any woman) is alone and undressing and offer to measure her breasts. Or create a belief in staff (male or female ) that this socially acceptable and is not a safeguarding problem.

It was crying out for it 😂

Huh. I hadn’t read this thread. Just noticed Eresh you had the same reaction to the reddit thread that I did. ‘… and everyone clapped’.

Other thread where this post was first mentioned last night

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5393686-new-m-s-bra-fitting-policy?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

People on both the Reddit thread and here on the other thread are saying that they have checked out social media (apparently he originally posted his full name) and it does appear to be a real person working for M&S in that area.

I dont think it's him at all, not least because he says he's not aware that M&S have said that their fitters are now female only.

Fantasywise, when I read it I thought ‘and they all stood up on the bus and clapped’.

dear god in heaven, 'I'm the male who acted in a creepy way and distressed an already unhappy child, pity meeeeeeeeeeee!'

Thanks Sabrina.

That is an indication that the management still is not understanding the safeguarding issue then.

There is so much focus in that reddit post on all the falsely assumed issue/s. I consider that the entire management seem to need safeguarding training on this. However, I also think that the direct line management is not trying to understand the issue. They are focused on the outrage that they feel is happening to their friend.

Not that familiar with reddit but isn't the sort of place that you can claim to be anyone you want and post the first thing that pops into your head?

Things like ... said another manager had ripped up and thrown out all the papers with this article in the store

This sounds like fantasy - do M&S know that their managers are destroying the store's stock?

... and that the apology had been redacted once my boss and the regional manager had set the record straight

I guess that the poster means withdrawn rather than redacted. I have not seen anything from M&S withdrawing their apology - can someone point me at this? All I have seen is M&S follow ups where they further clarify their policy.

All seems a bit fishy

More gussied-up contemporaneous notes?

Is it catching?

This is true. Except that the first complaint came through within weeks of the interaction. That would cause the interaction to remain top of mind for a while.

@Helleofabore That Reddit post went up yesterday evening.

exactly, that bit doesn’t ring true to me, he selectively remembers exact details of where the customer was and how they looked, which he knows makes him sound better.

If this was an unremarkable encounter of an employee asking a customer if they needed assistance then I'm surprised he remembered any details after 5 months.

I said this on another thread, but he ignored the complaint - him approaching a girl in the bra department, and talked about bra fitting and the bra department isnt a female only space.

How did he expect the conversation to go? Apart from 'no thank, you' or 'Im looking for the food hall', its going to involve more bra talk, isnt it?

And hes let the girl know hes aware shes looking for bras.