Marks and Spencers: Are they right to allow Muslim staff to opt out of selling certain products?

Upon recently hearing M&S were now implementing a new policy which would allow Muslim staff to refuse to sell alcoholic or pork products in order to accommodate to their religious beliefs, I simply just shook my head in disbelief. I've seen a lot of debate on twitter about this subject, but 140 character isn't quite enough for my to get my view across in the manner I would like so I decided to resurrect my old blog and express my view here (expect regular posts from now on by the way).

Anyway, back to the subject I think it is simply ludicrous that such a policy is being introduced and even though I respect the fact that M&S are simply trying to show that they are accepting of all religions, cultures and races this new policy will create much more problems than it will solve; not to mention that fact that it is completely impractical. Think of it like this; it's a busy Saturday afternoon and there are big queues everywhere and your child is getting very irritable and wants to go home. You wait in the line patiently, only to get to the front and be told by the Muslim check-out assistant that you'll have to go and join the back of another queue because you have bacon and a bottle of wine in your basket. Not only is it a big inconvenience on yourself, it'll also ensure that long queues are formed making the whole experience more stressful for everyone. The only way to solve such a problem would be to mark the tills where a Muslim person is working so you are aware not to queue there. However, I dread the day anything near to that is made reality as it is basically a form of underhanded segregation. All this will do is create divisions and a sense of resentment towards Muslims, which will bring the resurgence of bigoted and discriminatory statements you would only expect to be found in the comments section of the Daily Mail.

Jazzy's Verdict: I respect M&S for attempting to fully accommodate for all cultures and beliefs, however I think there is no need for them to take on this policy as it will only cause more problems and quite simply there is no need to fix what isn't broken.