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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Asda's new pronoun badges for staff

181 replies

BessyK · 08/06/2020 18:41

My BIL who works at our local store has just received this information, he thinks Asda's gone mad. Asda are also funding Diversity Role Models with £100,000 over the next year. Looks as though they're jumping in with both feet.

Asda's new pronoun badges for staff
OP posts:
steppemum · 08/06/2020 23:54

I shop at asda.
I often talk to staff - ask where things are, chat at the checkout.

I am polite and at times chatty.

I have never once needed to use a male/female pronoun, because when you are talking to someone the only pronouns you use are 'you' and 'me'

Mycatismadeofstringcheese · 08/06/2020 23:56

Gosh how transphobic of Asda to only include she, he and they! How awful of them!

What about Xe, zie, ve, fae, per and all the others?

I’m not saying if I worked there I’d insist on having a badge that said:

VE
VIR
VIS

that I could use on alternate Tuesdays as I don’t feel as:

PE
PIR
PIS

on those days (oh yes I’ll need a custom order badge for that too)

Asda's new pronoun badges for staff
Lordfrontpaw · 08/06/2020 23:59

@Mycatismadeofstringcheese - what the hell is all that blubber? Who comes up with this?

The lordself is not amused.

SingingSands · 09/06/2020 00:04

Does anyone else think "Ask me my pronouns" sounds a bit aggressive? Confused

Thisismytimetoshine · 09/06/2020 00:04

Yes.

SD1978 · 09/06/2020 00:06

I've never asked someone their pronouns, and don't see a need to in a public interaction setting. In a shop. Wouldn't be a hi, sorry to bother you, but do you know where the .............is? I don't think I've ever thought to say a pronoun in that interaction.

BaronessFloralBunting · 09/06/2020 00:16

I'm English. The most appropriate way for me to approach anyone I do not know, shop worker or otherwise, is to begin with the word, "Sorry..." If you get this wrong, you are simply not English.

LonginesPrime · 09/06/2020 00:16

Surely you'd only need to know their pronouns if you're planning to complain about them?

Is their customer service so crap that they have to pre-empt the complaints?

Perhaps they've had a spate of employees dodging disciplinary action by self-identifying as someone other than the person they were when they gave the crap customer service and this is a way to collar them once and for all. "No, you aren't a woman, John, you're not wearing a badge".

TooOldForSims · 09/06/2020 00:32

@LastTrainEast

I want to start going to Asda so I can play "pronoun bingo" so maybe it's a good marketing gimmick.
I want to start working there so I can demand a 'your majesty' pronoun badge.
thishouseisashittip · 09/06/2020 00:38

What the actual fuck is going on?!! I just can't understand anything anymore, 🥴😵 it's total madness wherever you look!

blubellsarebells · 09/06/2020 00:44

More utter bullshit.
Please someone tell me when this nonsense will end.
We dont wear badges at all at my work now.
Im pretty sure everyone can tell I'm a woman even without my name or a bloody badge.
We wear unisex uniform and either docs or nike trainers.
One of my customers asked me when my baby was due once. My baby was 4 years old.
If they ever try to force badges, which is not outside of the realms of possibility at my woke company i want one with the old adage "my pronouns are sex based, like my oppression"

SingingSands · 09/06/2020 00:54

I've never really understood why supermarkets make their staff wear name badges anyway. Customers don't wear them. People working in law firms don't wear them. It's just another way of belittling people in service industries isn't it?

I worked in two supermarkets as a student and always got pervy men letching at me and using my name to be over familiar. I used to get my boyfriend to wait outside to pick me up after my shifts because I'd feel so uncomfortable about some weirdo in his forties who kept trying to get me to go on a date with him.

Melroses · 09/06/2020 00:55

I went to Asda once - they only sell brown vinegar. Couldn't even buy the white/clear stuff for de-furring my kettle.

Homebargains is the place for this Wink

BitterAndTwistedChoreDodger · 09/06/2020 00:56

When I worked in retail, if I lost my name badge I would just rummage in the drawer and ask 'Do I look more like a Shadiya or a Kevin?'

As an aside, I worked for McDonald's the first year they did monopoly. I was told off by my manager, because I refused to wear a T shirt emblazoned with 'Community Chest.'

OldCrone · 09/06/2020 00:56

[quote Lordfrontpaw]@Mycatismadeofstringcheese - what the hell is all that blubber? Who comes up with this?

The lordself is not amused.[/quote]
Here's a video explaining the new gender neutral pronouns to a class of students.

Thisismytimetoshine · 09/06/2020 00:58

It is odd. There's rarely any need to address a complete stranger by name, even if you know it, especially when you're just asking where the frozen peas are.

It would actually sound nauseatingly over familiar if you did.

Molocosh · 09/06/2020 01:09

Can’t believe nobody has noticed the random snail? (if it’s not a snail then what is it?!)

Asda's new pronoun badges for staff
blubellsarebells · 09/06/2020 01:13

God yes I used to hate it when customers addressed me by name unless they were regular and we actually had a relationship.
Most of the time its used by older creepy men as a power play..women hardly ever/never do it, they might ask for your name if they want to pass compliments or they regognise you.
So uncomfortable and over familiar.
No name badges anymore but I introduce myself in person to most of the people i serve.

earthyfire · 09/06/2020 01:16

Thank goodness I don't work there or shop there!

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 09/06/2020 01:48

I’m not good at names, I struggle to remember someone’s name ten minutes after meeting them.

I imagine that the average supermarket will have tens, if not hundreds, of employees.

Since you’d only use a pronoun other than “you”, when talking about someone, not to them, I’ve already thrown up my hands in despair at the impossibility of remembering all those names, let alone what they want to be called when they’re not there. It’s so typical of this nonsense that the practicalities of policing how people talk about you, in an organisational setting where you might need to refer to dozens of people, is completely ignored in favour of dominance displays about pronouns. But of course, the pronouns are not really the point.

It’s forced teaming isn’t it? Once you coerce people into using going beyond simple courtesy, the next infringement is that much easier. It also automatically casts the pronoun-havers as victims; badges and such reinforce the idea that colleagues won’t behave with civility but must be educated into right think. Of course being in the position of trying to remember what pronoun goes with who is going to be annoying and will inevitably cause friction when people get it wrong. Thus will victim-hood (“they got my pronouns wrong”, wail the offenderati”), be confirmed and the next demand more readily acceded to.

Easy woke points for organisations who won’t pay a proper wage and normalising of identity politics in the mainstream. But probably not to the benefit of people who just want a job and a quiet life, no matter how they identify.

ElizabethMainwaring · 09/06/2020 02:20

@Molocosh
Re the 'snail'. It looks like a slice of green chilli to me.
There are some incredibly funny posts on this thread. Well done everyone!Smile

Blossom513 · 09/06/2020 05:50

It's a drawing pin! Must be posters pinned to a board.

Antibles · 09/06/2020 06:54

FFS.

Not shopping there.

Antibles · 09/06/2020 06:56

As an aside, I worked for McDonald's the first year they did monopoly. I was told off by my manager, because I refused to wear a T shirt emblazoned with 'Community Chest.'

Shock
TSSDNCOP · 09/06/2020 06:57

Asda, Tuesday morning:

Customer : May I ask about your pronouns?
Asda emp : Pronouns? Hmm. Hold on. Sheila! Where do we keep the pronouns?