Making the Wrong Statement

most of the stores around here do not have greeters. the malls and the stores are surely cutting down on expenses. years ago, they have these greeters who will guide us into the main areas of the mall. now, the greeters are gone. instead, the malls and the stores hire more guards. it is noticeable that the need has now switched to having more guards to keep watch over the place.

trini, yes and that is very sad!

That is not right. Not everyone is familiar with the store and we all need help. Besides there are the elderly and people who are almost blind and have difficulties. The greeters are needed. Luckily we still have them here at Walmart in Winnipeg, but if the recession comes up here, then they will be out like down there.

So, if the Superstore is discriminating, can't the people they refuse to hire file a complaint with someone? Here in the states the Labor Board or the Dept. of Labor or the local news would be all over it if Walmart tried something like that.

I suppose they could, but this is Canada, people are afraid to make waves especially if they are not in a distinctive minoiry. There are plenty others here who do not speak English, but I guess they are not the right look. It does give the wrong impression - like maybe they want people to convert to Buddhism or Brahmism.

ohh i see...and i agree with you on that completely..its canada!! not the other way around..

That is why I like the American system the best. I watch People's Court and a lot of the people speak with foreign accents, like Russian, Yiddish, Italian, Jamaican, whatever, but they all speak in English. So no matter where they come from, they are all Americans, but here in Canada, we are supposed to be hyphenated Canadians as if the country of origin is more important than Canada itself.

I think this is a Canadian thing, they want the East Indians to be more comfortable then anyone else. And they want to give the opinion that Canada is now Western India, that we all are Buddhist or Brahmans, etc. that we are all into New Age, believe in reincarnation, that the East Indians own the businesses, etc. So they are giving the wrong impression.

You are giving an excuse just as it is official to say that we are into diversity and multiculturalism up here (for anyone except white males of Anglo-Saxon background who happen to be Christians and I guess their families are included as well.) I mean there are lots of people here who cannot speak English and or French - why we are getting a lot of Mexicans because of the meat plant in Brandon - and their English is not good, so why is there not a Mexican or Spanish lady as a greeter to greet the people who only speak Spanish? It is not about the cold weather and people being unfriendly - that is off topic. Besides we can meet people at Church or at the Food Court at the Mall and talk your socks off. It is just that like people in States who live in New Mexico might want to see a show where the boss is Mexican-American instead of Black, we want to see greeters at Superstore to be the same as those in Walmart, not just East Indian. You know if I said that only white ladies are greeting people at Superstore, you're attitude would be much different. You would have said it was discrimination.

since, i am so far away from your place, suspenseful, i may never be able to get correctly the entire picture. although the understanding is now much improved, i understand why you want more people of divesre culture to be greeters at the store.

Let me see, we have a couple of Somali families in our area, our neighbor is Filipino, and there is a West Indian Family who lives at the edge of the block,and I am sure there is just as much a mixture in the other streets in the neighborhood and more some. After all this is Canada the land of diversity where you do not have to bother to learn English or French as long as you look exotic and people praise Canada for multiculturalism. I mean they come from countries where they would work for low wages when the come here. And you are right about Walmart, I see retired people, young people, people who have fat problems, people who cannot get around very fast, people who are from different backgrounds and shades - there is no discrimination in Walmart. Now if it were not so blasted crowded and if it were not so confusing being directed to checkout number One, or checkout number two, etc.

There is a whole lot of difference between having a greeter in an area where there is a major population of Mexican=Americans, or someone in Vancouver, British Columbia in the down town area who happens to be Chinese-Canadian, but we do not have that many East Indians in our area. We have quite a number of Canadian Aboriginal, Metis, Ukrainian, Polish, English, French, and Dutch Canadians, a few Somalian and West Indian families, we even have a Filipino family, quite a lot of East Europeans, but not that many East Indians. So why does it give the idea that the whole of our area has suddenly had a great influx of East Indians? I wonder if it is the same as down in the States where they try to make something true that is not by having all those Black Americans in positions of power when there is a limited number. So up here they try to make us believe that the people in power are East Indians or they are the majority of the population --by hiring only them as greeters in our Superstore.

I feel the same way. If the district has a mixture, then anyone who applies should be hired to help the people come in the store, not say, "well we do sell a lot of East Indian products, so we prefer that we show our multiculturalism by hiring East Indians. We do have other cultures here, and maybe there are some people who came from Mexico who want help in finding where you keep the Spanish food section there.