To ask a Muslim admin assistant to organise Christams cards

[Goodfrock]

We're a small PR company who sends out lots of Christmas cards. Whether this is worthwhile is up for debate, but the decision has been taken that it will continue for this year at least.

The admin assistant to whom this task falls is a newly appointed Muslim woman I.e
The person in her role has done it previously but it wasn't her last year.

She's not comfortable organising the cards. Was it an unreasonable request? This is very much a genuine question. I'm kicking myself for being insensitive at the same time as thinking it would be daft to get someone more senior to do it.

@listsandbudgets your friends situation is totally different though. I can imagine as a vegetarian working even in an abattoir office would be distressing and against her moral and ethical code. I'm a meat eater and even I couldn't do it. but wishing merry Xmas is not against the moral or ethics of being a Muslim, quite the opposite. the equivalent would be a Muslim working in a business that sells alcohol, that would be tough and a lot of Muslims avoid such roles if they can. this is just dumb.

@Whataretheodds 😀😀😀

If your assistant doesn't recognise or celebrate Christmas OP, then they're just cards, aren't they? with no specific meaning as far as she's concerned...

She's definitely BU. I worked for many years in the Middle East, and frequently sent Ramadan and Eid greetings out on behalf of my employers. We also frequently received Christmas cards from our Muslim clients.

And there it is...

what is her objection? It's a simple admin task. Nobody is asking her to celebrate baby Jesus. She is massively unreasonable. You asked her to send out cards, not to engage in any kind of religious worship.

Oh, I've been accused of being so sympathetic I'm antisemitic on the other threads. Can't win!

Are they religious cards?

I think it will be me who gets sacked if I go with that line.

I don’t think anyone is being U tbh. You wasn’t being U to ask but she clearly doesn’t want to have any involvement in anything Christmas related due to her beliefs. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

It’s like saying a Jehovah’s Witness is being U to decline sending out Christmas cards on behalf of the business when they very clearly don’t celebrate Christmas. I think if you push it any further she could have reasonable grounds of discrimination so it may be best to get someone else to do it

If I moved to a Hindu majority country and took an admin role in a business, I would help out with Diwali celebrations. As I would with Eid celebrations if I moved to a Muslim majority country.

It is not racist to expect people to integrate into basic aspects of the culture of the country they have chosen to live in.

Wow what a fucking dick you are

She's been asked to source some examples for approval, then would need to arrange for them to be ordered, signed and sent out. She gets to choose the designs and messages she puts forward, but we wouldn't go with anything very religious anyway.

She's the only "junior" and it's a bigger job than it sounds, by the time you've finished faffing. No one ever likes doing it. It would be me if it's not her.

@Goodfrock can you get someone else to do it? Because I've worked with similar people in the past who were happy to play whatever card it was available to them and stick it to the company and drag colleagues along in their claims.

I'm muslim, and she is being unreasonable.
No harm in doing Christmas cards.

Can you just rephrase it as sending out seasonal holiday cards, rather than specifically Christmas cards, and let her choose whether they say “seasons greetings” or “happy holidays” or whatever she likes.

And if she was born here? There’s a whole lot of assumptions based on the fact that she’s Muslim. How do you know she chose to live here when she literally could have been born here? You don’t have to go along with something that happens in a country when you have different beliefs. Christmas cards are not British tradition?

Asking an admin assistant to send out company Christmas cards is absolutely not the same as pronoun use or Maya Forstaters case.

You're not being unreasonable OP.

She's absolutely ridiculous, and rude.

Most business Christmas cards have no relation to religion whatsoever, aside from occasionally the word "Christmas". It's not an insult, it's a cultural tradition.

That‘s a lot of involvement for something Chrissmasy for someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas. It’s not as if you’ve asked her to take Christmas cards to the post office and she declined. You’re better off doing it yourself tbh

I was going to say that it's just an admin job, so she should just do the admin... but this sounds slightly more involved. I would personally be happy to sort out Diwali or Eid decorations or celebrations if need be, but would have to take guidance on what is appropriate and customary.

Is she perhaps concerned about nuances of design and messaging with which she is not sufficiently familiar, never having had to choose them herself...?

If you moved to a Hindu majority country, and took an admin job, would you refuse to help decorate the office for Diwali or organise a staff party?

I am not anti-immigration, but I believe that respect has to be a two way street. If basic aspects of a country’s culture so offend you that you can play no part in them, you should not move there. Minority cultures are deserving of respect, and so is the majority culture.

You don’t have to go along with something that happens in a country when you have different beliefs.

is she campaigning to work on Sundays? Is she campaigning to work on Christmas Day, Easter weekends?

We have a Christian culture, but it's funny how people pick and chose what they go along with 😂

Christmas has been nicked from pagan events anyway.

because you believe trying to pretend Christmas doesn't exist is reasonable 🙄