“Hello, this is Joel”, I answered the phone. “Customer service please,” the caller said. “I’ll give it my best shot,” I responded. “I’m about to place an order for 500 Christmas cards and the real estate broker wants a full color picture on the CD and in the card, can you do it”? “Yes,” I said, “but, we have a policy … if the broker is not attractive enough, we won’t print it”. Some people either don’t have a sense of humor or, more frequently, don’t get my sense of humor. I backed out of the joke and we lived happily ever after.
The serious question is … do we have the right to refuse an order? The answer may not be so simple.
The Supreme Court decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby set the table for a company to be able to use its religious beliefs in considering the benefits package it does or doesn’t offer its employee.
In Kentucky, when a county clerk refused to grant a marriage license to a gay couple, another fuse was lit concerning the rights of a government employee to fulfill their job obligations if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
The most current case ... Masterpiece Cake Shop Ltd v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission crosses the line into over-the-counter commerce. The fundamental question the court will rule on -- does a business have the right not to sell or service the public based upon their personal beliefs?
In this case, the baker considers himself an artist and believes he is entitled to refuse a customer based upon their sexual preference and not apply his talent and skills in selling to them. In a few months, we will know the direction the nation will be steered to.
As a duplicator of CDs and DVDs and printer/publisher, I have been presented with all types of custom work. I have had the opportunity to produce pornography. I have had racially insensitive material and a host of jobs most of us would consider “offensive” in some way. Without any issues, I have declined orders many times in my life. However, in 1979, I went so far as putting my career on the line when I was the publisher of a book company and refused an order from The United Arab Emirates to produce a world atlas that identified one nation differently than the United State government had. My board of directors thought differently than I and ordered me to take the business; after two weeks of internal squabbling, we declined.
I learned, then, that business decisions are ruled by money. My board wanted us to “sell out” our 79-year principles and policies for what would have been the order of the year in terms of volume. I also learned to abhor the argument “if we don’t do it, someone else will”. Abhor is the best word I can use because that is a whorish concept that doesn’t make for good business.
Can a Democrat refuse to print a Trump yard sign? Can an Evangelical conservative refuse to make a campaign button for a candidate openly supporting a woman’s right to choose? Can a tee shirt shop refuse to design or simply decorate a shirt for a gay bar? Granted, many of us are small businesses well under the radar, but times have changed and there are plenty of cause advocates ready to stomp on those they disagree with. Masterpiece Cake Shop is a small business and their legal bills, sure as devil’s food cake, are being paid for by groups supporting their principles.
We are in the branding business and everyone, every cause, every institution has a brand. The swastika was a brand, a symbol. What if … the order for a mug required printing of that symbol (legal or not). It gets even more complex. Imagine deciding to run, embroider, silk screen, etc. an item with a nude woman. Today, that action can cause you much more harm under the rules, regulations, and decisions referencing hostile workplaces and sexual situations. The courts ruled Robinson v Jacksonville Shipyards in 1991 that calendars in the warehouse created and encouraged a sexually hostile, intimidating work environment for female employees; perhaps a muscle car calendar is next, perhaps it’s a beefcake calendar for the fire department.
So, I put forward this conversation for us all to have. Have you refused an order based upon your own principles, philosophies, etc.? Have you done it in an open and honest declaration as to why? Or, did you cover your decision with some screen such as not being able to meet a ship date, out of stock, an extreme bid? I bring up the last point because currently, unless your kid or brother-in-law is a lawyer you may be best to camouflage your declination.
We have individual rights but, in the immortal words of Vidal Sassoon…” If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.”
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.