Applebee's to feel the wrath of nursing mothers

Post by **Cairber** » 2007-08-30 10:01pm

A quick summary of the situation:

A mother was nursing her child in an Applebee's in Kentucky. She was facing the wall while doing it; a server came up to her and told her she needed to put a blanket over her child's head if she wanted to continue. Ky law specifically states that no one may interfer with a nursing mother. The mom took a copy of the law (which she carries in her purse on the back of a LLL card) and gave it to the manager. He continued to argue that in order to remain in the restuarant, she would have to use a blanket over her child's head.

She left the restaurant and called a lawyer and the news. Applebee's issued a statement that they were sorry and would keep blankets on hand for nursing moms to cover with in case they didn't have one of their own. When asked if it would still be a requirement to use them, they said yes.

Their parent company and public relation department both claim the actions of Applebee's in this matter are lawful.

Applebee's claims it is indecent exposure to not use the blanket and they have a right to require it. Here is their quote:

"I am calling with the corporate response you requested - and the corporate response to the breastfeeding in Lexington, Kentucky is that Applebee's and its franchisees love having families dine together at our restaurants. We believe that this franchisee made a reasonable and lawful request of this guest in order to promote a pleasant and comfortable experience for all of its guests."

So, on Saturday September 8th 2007, we are holding a nation wide nurse-in at Applebee's across the country.

Here is a link to a news story on this:
link

Wish us luck! And, if you happen to see a nursing mom at an Applebee's Sept 8th, give her the thumbs up!

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-08-30 10:07pm

Fuck those morons over. Make sure that for the entirety of the "nurse-in" you order only a single drink per table. If that. And go for the things that have a minimal profit margin like a coffee with milk.

Post by **Cairber** » 2007-08-30 10:12pm

weemadando wrote:Fuck those morons over. Make sure that for the entirety of the "nurse-in" you order only a single drink per table. If that. And go for the things that have a minimal profit margin like a coffee with milk.

We were just talking about this on our planning site! No body actually wants to eat their food or give them money. Some local planning groups are holding theirs outside the restaurant. Not sure what we are doing here in East Norriton yet, but we have 11 moms already on board!

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-08-30 10:28pm

Good luck! I hope they get the message, and quick. Messing with a mother is one of the most low-down things someone can do.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2007-08-30 10:28pm

I'll tell my sister-in-law, she had a baby yesterday.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-08-30 10:43pm

If Rebecca was still nursing, she'd join in. There are Applebee's here in Canada as well. But of course, here in Ontario it's actually legal for women to walk around topless, so I'm not sure the restaurant would have reacted the same way.

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2007-08-30 11:01pm

I just talked with my wife about this, and she thinks the action you're taking is absolutely great (and hilarious to boot). We're in both the wrong country and the wrong stage of life -- our youngest is 16 months old -- to help materially, but we're glad you're doing it.

I look forward to the post-game reports.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2007-08-30 11:22pm

You should get that woman who's still nursing her 8 year old girl to join you for extra points.

Jadeite · Post by **Jadeite** » 2007-08-30 11:44pm

Chances are you'll just piss off a bunch of waiters, get your drinks messed with, and not change a thing.

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2007-08-30 11:52pm

Perhaps, but to me it's more about the statement that they're trying to make rather than the results (positive or negative).

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-08-30 11:58pm

Jadeite wrote:Chances are you'll just piss off a bunch of waiters, get your drinks messed with, and not change a thing.

Hey, it's 1962!

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-08-31 12:09am

Jadeite wrote:Chances are you'll just piss off a bunch of waiters, get your drinks messed with, and not change a thing.

Yeah, it's much better to just let people shit on you and not say anything. Gotcha.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2007-08-31 12:18am

I know where I will be on Saturday, September 8! BRING ON THE BREASTS... I mean, how dare they try and oppress women and their right to feed their babies?

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Best of luck!

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2007-08-31 12:23am

I'm sure the company execs don't care about the actual issue one way or the other. The only questions are a) whether implementing a 'breastfeeding is ok' policy will increase or decrease profits, and as a subset of this b) whether it's worth the effort to make local managers (likely to have their own idiot prejudices in hick areas) actually respect/follow such a policy (to the extent of telling customers who complain, say they're disgusted, threaten to leave etc to like it or lump it).

You can either make it clear that they will directly lose revenue from nursing mothers, you can try to kick up enough bad PR that they lose business that way (but then for every liberal customer they lose, they might pick up a fundie customer who respects their 'strong defence of traditional values' or similar bullshit), or you can impose direct costs by sueing them for illegal discrimination. Frankly of those options I think the third has the best chance of success, but that's just a guess based on what I've read about the situation here.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-08-31 12:35am

I think the idea is simply that a business like Applebee's (or more accurately, whatever corporate conglomerate owns the chain) likes to keep away from any kind of controversy. So if this kind of policy leads to a controversy, the management is likely to say "try to keep this kind of thing from happening in the future by going easy on the nursing mothers". Unless, of course, fundies actually stage a counter-protest when mothers are allowed to nurse. I suppose it depends on just how likely that is. At the end of the day, management just wants publicity like this to go away; they don't particularly care how.

Oni Koneko Damien · Post by **Oni Koneko Damien** » 2007-08-31 12:36am

So according to Applebees corporate, it's perfectly lawful to interfere with nursing mothers, demanding they cover up with a blanket, which is illegal under Kentucky law. Hmm, makes perfect sense to me, I don't know what everyone else's probem is.

Aside from the announcement here, is there any online-information source to network with others regarding this? Because I'd love to take part and know a couple handfuls of mothers who would love to do the same.

Oni Koneko Damien · Post by **Oni Koneko Damien** » 2007-08-31 12:39am

Darth Wong wrote:Unless, of course, fundies actually stage a counter-protest when mothers are allowed to nurse. I suppose it depends on just how likely that is.

It *is* Kentucky, so that's a valid concern.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2007-08-31 01:46am

Jadeite wrote:Chances are you'll just piss off a bunch of waiters, get your drinks messed with, and not change a thing.

For similar reasons, my wife and I never return food that isn't to our satisfaction. I once worked in a restaurant, and I know what cooks do to the food of people who irritate them.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-08-31 01:58am

Starglider wrote:'strong defence of traditional values'

I'm pretty sure there are absolutely no values more traditional than a mother breastfeeding a child. It predates humanity itself, for one thing...and there isn't a single injunction against it in the entirety of the Bible, no matter HOW you read the damn thing.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-08-31 02:35am

How is asking a nursing mother to put a blanket over her breasts and the child's head interfering with the act of nursing?

Post by **Broomstick** » 2007-08-31 02:44am

When you go to a restaurant are YOU asked to hide under a blanket, as if your eating was shameful?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-08-31 02:45am

havokeff wrote:How is asking a nursing mother to put a blanket over her breasts and the child's head interfering with the act of nursing?

Um, no. The correct question is "Why should a nursing mother be asked to put a blanket over her breasts and the child's head?" Any compulsory inconvenience, no matter how minor, requires at least some justification. And as minor as using a blanket may or may not be, the comfort and peace-of-mind of prudish Christianists is even more insignificant. They can go fuck themselves. In the missionary position, of course.

Spin Echo · Post by **Spin Echo** » 2007-08-31 02:46am

havokeff wrote:How is asking a nursing mother to put a blanket over her breasts and the child's head interfering with the act of nursing?

It's not so much that the blanket is interfering with the feeding of the child, but that breast feeding a child is treated as an obscene act.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-08-31 02:46am

Broomstick wrote:When you go to a restaurant are YOU asked to hide under a blanket, as if your eating was shameful?

No. However, I'm not an infant that will have no memory of the event either. Again, how does it INTERFERE with the breast feeding?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-08-31 02:56am

Oh for fuck's sake. Which complaint carries more weight, "I shouldn't have to do that" or "I shouldn't have to be aware of that"?