Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
From what I saw on CNN about this, and they did an extensive interview with the mother, the employees did not know Target's policy towards nursing mothers.
The food area was someplace I didn't think of, though the mom would have been around more people there than say, over in furniture.
There was a story on CNN? Good grief. I may have to start regarding the stupid things people do from time to time as lucrative, fame-creating moments as well.
I don't think it's an issue that people were around. I think it's an issue that she refused to get off the floor and move somewhere more safe and appropriate.
There was a story on CNN? Good grief. I may have to start regarding the stupid things people do from time to time as lucrative, fame-creating moments as well.
I don't think it's an issue that people were around. I think it's an issue that she refused to get off the floor and move somewhere more safe and appropriate.
right it's just like I said it was apublicity stunt and she probably wants to be compensated in some sort of way. "Oh Mrs. Sitonthedirtyfloor we're so sorry that our employees wanted to have you sit in a more comfortable enviroment heres a $1000 gift card!" Yeah right.
The food area, for one. Many Targets have places to sit to eat. The employees suggested that the mom use a dressing room; Target's policy is that a nursing mom who wants to use one has precedence over shoppers who want to try on clothes. She refused.
I wonder what people would think of a person sitting on the floor of the clothing department, eating a sandwich? Would Target employees be out of line to suggest, hey, maybe you could move somewhere more appropriate, where people aren't banging into you with their carts? If it's weird to sit on the floor of a store and eat a sandwich, then it's weird for anybody to eat there.
Exactly. I did not directly breastfeed, but I exclusively pumped for four months. I fed my baby many times in Target's snack area. He could hang on the in the minute it took me to walk to the front of the store. It would never occur to me to plop down wherever just because my baby is hungry.
I vaguely remember this happening at a grocery store a couple of years ago. Some woman sat down and starting breastfeeding right in the middle of the aisle. Who does that?
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,700 posts, read 41,723,992 times
Reputation: 41376
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnonChick
I think all these advocates and political protesters are misinterpreting the law. Perhaps they are misinterpreting it intentionally.
The Federal law allows women to breastfeed publically in all Federal buildings.
It does *not* prohibit Target from making a policy prohibiting breastfeeding in the public areas of their store. Target is private property, open to the public. It is not a federal building.
Each state is allowed to pass their own laws extending the breastfeeding policy further, and Texas has certainly done that. However, several states have not, and several states have -limited- public breastfeeding laws, that provide for *privacy* when breastfeeding, but not permission to do so in any publically viewable location (such as public places having nursing lounges).
Also, I agree that one mother's right to nurse anywhere, does not supercede my right to grab a pair of jeans from the shelf to try on, in a store that exists to profit, in part, by my grabbing a pair of jeans from the shelf to try on.
Target is not a breastfeeding lounge. It is a retail operation. If that woman was sitting on the floor in front of a shelf of jeans, then she was preventing customers from even -going- to those shelves. Makes me wonder how many customers went to customer service to complain that they were unable to even check to see if Target had them in their size, because of some crazy lady parked on the floor feeding her baby.
I think it wasn't the breastfeeding, OR the floor sitting, that caused the store employees to tell her to leave that spot. I think it was the combination of the two. The fact that she was doing something - not abnormal, not immoral, not bad - but unusual - in the spot she was doing it..that prompted the action.
Not that it's unusual to breastfeed. No. It isn't. It IS, however, unusual to flop down on the floor in front of a shelf of jeans for sale to the public, to breastfeed. THAT - is unusual. It's unusual enough that if I had seen it, I would've wondered what was *wrong* and probably would've gone to Customer Service to let them know there was some chick parked in front of the jeans shelf feeding her baby (though if she was doing it discretely, I might not have known she was feeding her baby, and instead I might have though she was clutching her baby to her chest - maybe in shock over some kind of trauma)...
There's no telling what prompted the employees to even approach this woman in the first place. But I'll bet it was probably due to customers who wanted to -------- SHOP ------- in Target (WHAT A NOVEL IDEA)..and were impeded by some whacko on the floor.
It is too bad that the woman chose to take a controversial case to make a statement over. It puts a negative cast on what ought to be a pretty straightforward issue.
The food area, for one. Many Targets have places to sit to eat. The employees suggested that the mom use a dressing room; Target's policy is that a nursing mom who wants to use one has precedence over shoppers who want to try on clothes. She refused.
I wonder what people would think of a person sitting on the floor of the clothing department, eating a sandwich? Would Target employees be out of line to suggest, hey, maybe you could move somewhere more appropriate, where people aren't banging into you with their carts? If it's weird to sit on the floor of a store and eat a sandwich, then it's weird for anybody to eat there.
I think some women like this just want to exploit their baby to get themselves a lot of attention.
The baby doesn't have to have a public place with a big scene being made, in fact the baby would be more comfortable in a quiet dressing room away from the noise.
I may have to start regarding the stupid things people do from time to time as lucrative, fame-creating moments as well.
Eh, I take this part back. I still think the situation needed some common sense, and the employees were in the wrong for some of the things they did, but I don't think every dumb thing an employee does warrants a public corporate apology. I don't know that mom and whether this was a publicity stunt or simply blowing a dumb mistake out of proportion, so I rescind the above comment.
right it's just like I said it was apublicity stunt and she probably wants to be compensated in some sort of way. "Oh Mrs. Sitonthedirtyfloor we're so sorry that our employees wanted to have you sit in a more comfortable enviroment heres a $1000 gift card!" Yeah right.
I saw the CNN interview and she wasn't in the studio for it. It was a phone interview. I highly doubt she did all of this for publicity. She has asked Target for an apology, not for money.
I saw the CNN interview and she wasn't in the studio for it. It was a phone interview. I highly doubt she did all of this for publicity. She has asked Target for an apology, not for money.
An apology for being rude? May be warranted, although I don't see the need for a public apology for that. If I got a public apology from a store or restaurant every time an employee was rude, I'd always be on the news.
Or an apology for being offered a cleaner, more comfortable spot to nurse her baby instead of sitting on the dirty floor in people's way? Even if she claims she was "by the jeans" that are possibly against the wall, suppose there are customers who want to look at jeans and she's sitting there in the way? I am pretty sure any grown person sitting on the floor could be asked to move no matter what they were doing.
There have been breastfeeding moms who were nursing their child in an appropriate place, not bothering anybody, and have been told to leave, they can't do that in here, go in the bathroom, etc. THOSE are the cases that warrant outrage and advocacy. Target employees told this woman to get off the filthy floor, offered her a more comfortable spot. I don't see the problem. Them being rude about it does not call for a march and protest imo.
The more I think about it the more I think she was rude to every other person in the store. A Target store has plenty of places to sit. Instead she just plopped herself down in an aisle. Sorry, but in my book that is plain, old fashioned bad manners.
No one told her she couldn't breastfeed. She was selfish and wanted to do what she wanted to do. Even though the employees offered her the use of a dressing room. You can't always get what you want. There are other people in the world.
Had they said, "No breastfeeding in Target!" I'd grab a picket sign myself. But to support a woman who wants to plop down on the floor because SHE wants to? No.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
