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View Full Version : Burger King apologizes to breast-feeding mom


alandenisefields
11-12-2003, 01:03 PM
Saw this on CNN; thought it might be food for thought! We realize there was another thread like this about Disney in the past week or so.

Alan & Denise Fields
authors, BABY BARGAINS

Burger King apologizes to breast-feeding mom


OREM, Utah (AP) --Burger King has served up a plain apology to a woman who said she was ordered by a franchise employee to stop breast-feeding her baby in the fast-food restaurant's dining room or leave.

Kate Geary said she was made to "feel like a criminal" for breast-feeding her baby girl Monday and asked the burger chain for an apology.

Miami-based Burger King Corp. issued a generic apology in a prepared release Tuesday.

"Burger King Corporation and our franchisee apologize for any inconvenience any of our guests experienced at our restaurant on November 10, 2003," the release said.

The company said its employee was simply responding to the request of another customer who was uncomfortable with Geary breast-feeding at the eatery. Geary was never asked to leave the restaurant, the statement said.

"The general manager sent a female employee to speak with the woman and asked that she either cover herself or move to the ladies room," the company said in a prepared release. Geary contends she was fully covered.

The restaurant , about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, does not have a policy on breast-feeding.

Utah state law says a woman has a right to breast-feed anywhere.
amp
11-12-2003, 01:09 PM
A generic apology was all they could muster?! I guess it's better than nothing, but geez....
lisams
11-12-2003, 01:47 PM
I think I would rather be asked to leave than to move to the ladies room where people, you know, how gross! How do you sit on those toilets anyways since there usually is no seat cover to put down? At least they appologized. It gets me why someone would complain anyways - just don't look!

Lisa
jennifer13
11-12-2003, 02:35 PM
I doubt that anyone has ever been asked to leave a Burger King (or anywhere else for that matter) for reading Playboy, or any woman been asked to leave for wearing a see-through/low-cut whatever shirt. God forbid we should use our breasts for anything other than sexual objectification. Argh! Well at least they apologized, it is a start.

Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03
houseof3boys
11-12-2003, 03:13 PM
An apology and that's it? Geez, they could have thrown in a sundae with extra cherries at least!

I like how it was made public though. :P
cara1
11-12-2003, 06:27 PM
_Even_ if you had a problem with people breastfeeding in public (and I know my Mom used to think it was weird for me to nurse in restaurants), would you actually have the nerve to go complain to the manager about it, knowing full-well that if someone took action, it would come at the baby's expense? How nervy!
deborah_r
11-12-2003, 06:45 PM
Their "apology" makes me madder than the original incident. People in this country need to get a clue about the difference between indecency and FEEDING A BABY! It seems people mostly have a problem when they see it while they are eating...but it's not like this mom is changing the baby's diaper on the table or something that could possibly cause a loss of appetite...it is just feeding a baby.

I'm infuriated. Also, "the restaurant...does not have a policy on brerast-feeding" Ummm, can they? The law says we can BF anywhere where we and the baby are allowed to be, so how could a restaurant have a policy on BFing??? I don't like that that sentence implies there could be a policy against it. If Burger King wants to start providing special, CLEAN, comfortable rooms for nursing mothers, I'll use them. But since they can hardly keep their restaurant and restrooms clean, I doubt this will happen!!!
sweetbasil
11-12-2003, 06:49 PM
That's awesome, Deborah! You tell 'em. Spick 'n span restrooms at Burger King, you're right...not in this lifetime ;)
bluej
11-12-2003, 06:50 PM
"knowing full-well that if someone took action, it would come at the baby's expense"

Good point! What, it's more important for them to eat than the baby? If the NIP is making them uncomfortable then they can pick up their burger and go into the restroom and eat it!
heidi_timms
11-12-2003, 07:10 PM
I don't NIP, but I agree! It's not like the restrooms at Burger King are like the Nordstrom lounge! Where was this mother supposed to sit on the toilet? Yuck! I feel like writing a nasty letter to BK. Anyone else?

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03
deborah_r
11-12-2003, 08:07 PM
My MIL said she used to nurse my SIL in the bathroom stall STANDING UP.

Not that I'm recommending it, but maybe that's what people who think we should go to the ladies room are thinking.