If you support what the waitress was wearing, as an employer, would the above shirt also be acceptable?

    Waiting for a tire repair on our car we decided to eat breakfast at The Pancake House in Old Forge, NY. I have fond memories of being brought here by Martha Carman, our grandmother.
    Suddenly we could hear hell being raised. A customer was mad because a waitress was wearing a Trump shirt. This is a business where employees wear shirts with company logos on them.
    First of all I never would have raised that kind of hell over such a thing as a customer. However, if I was the employer she would be told to put on a Pancake House shirt, or at least something else that’s more neutral.
    And to be clear I would say the same if it were a Biden or a Harris shirt. As a waiter or waitress what is your job? It’s NOT pushing some political, religious or social agenda into the customer’s faces. You have to serve Trump, Kennedy and Harris clients. THAT is your job. It’s not to evangelize, or distract from what you are there to do. BTW, DOESN’T MATTER how many customers like it, support it. Again, no matter who the shirt supports or insults.
    If, as the boss, I wanted to run a political-based business it would be made clear from the start. But as owner of a restaurant my first thought would be, “What the hell has this got to do with serving pancakes?”
    Nothing.
    ”Free speech?” Even a fool would normally know you can’t say or do anything you want at work. Not even a customer can: it’s private property and it up to the owner.
    Also to be clear: I am not the employer, not the owner. They decide, no matter how I feel. But this does bring up a topic…
    IMO, we are far too much in each other’s faces these days. The guy got in the owner’s face. The waitress wearing the shirt, since it’s not what employees wear there, was in the face of the owner and the customers. But the owner decides.
    Problem isn’t just that people are too easily offended. It’s also these days seems we go out of our way to offend. It’s an issue FOR BOTH SIDES. The customer should have asked for a different waitress. The employee, IMO, in this specific business should be wearing Pancake House shirt. Again, up to the employer but, IMO, it’s a good business practice.
    No sane person would want to live in a society where there are signs outside every business “Harris only…” or “Trump only…” customers. Nor would I recommend they gussy themselves up with banners, flags, posters promoting any political, social or religious agenda.
    In this case both customer and employee can disagree without in your face. But there are lines one shouldn’t cross. What if it had been a Hitler shirt? What about a “I’m trans, deal with it” shirt? Seems to me those supporting the employee might feel differently if her shirt had had either on it. The bigger issue is that there is a standard here;
    And we also have to deal with possible violence. Yes, as a society, we have gotten that nuts. Though it might make an interesting murder mystery story, Murder at The Pancake House.” If it were a teen waitress with an acne problem it would be so hard for me to resist writing, “As she left work she was hit by a car, flatter than a blueberry pancake.”
    Bad jokes aside, societies that focus too much on in your face politics and religion are among the worst in human history… Stalin, Hitler…
    And this goes back way before Trump. Political correctness is a two sided sword and those who demand they get in our faces are just as much to blame as those who are offended too easily. If you think it’s one sided I give you LGBTQ… especially these days with trans and cross dressers. One look at the outrage on social media tells the story. Suddenly who is easily offended flips over to the other side. If the waitress who wore the Trump shirt wore my imaginary “I’m trans, deal with it” shirt, how many of the same people would be offended, raise hell?
    Maybe you ask, “What about the children?” A lot of this is a great opportunity for parents and their kids to talk. But perhaps not in the middle of an establishment where all kinds of people gather to have a pleasant, peaceful meal. Which is why I wouldn’t support her wearing a clearly marked “LGBTQ.”
    The business here is FOOD, not agenda, especially controversial ones in an election year.
    To me the question is for the owner are you more in business to promote any political, social or religious agenda, or sell whatever? Similar rule would apply if I were boss if an employee wore an “Accept Jesus or go to Hell” shirt, or “Atheist and proud of it.”
    Waitresses and waiters job is not to serve talking points or try to convert anyone to anything, and avoiding possibly offensive things would be a GOOD thing. That’s whether it’s a pro-Trump shirt, or the jail Trump shirt atop this column. I would make a suggestion, however, if this must be then all waiters and waitresses wear such shirts and the anti Trumpers get to wear theirs. In fact the employer should buy them for those who can’t afford. Then let chaos reign.
    Would I advise that? Hell, NO.

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    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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