Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A Polish ice cream chain has launched a campaign to stamp out sexual harassment of staff by customers, including empowering employees to refuse to serve such clients.
The campaign is based around the fact that the Polish word for ice cream, “lody”, also has an informal vulgar meaning, referring to oral sex. The company, Good Lood, which runs 37 outlets, says that its female staff regularly suffer lewd comments from male customers incorporating this double entendre.
In response, in late August it launched a campaign titled “Nie bądź oblechem”, meaning “Don’t be a creep”, with information displayed prominently at its ice cream stands and on its social media platforms.
The firm said it condemned “crude remarks, inappropriate jokes and verbal harassment directed at service workers” and promised to support its staff in dealing with them. “Everyone deserves respect, without exception!”
Good Lood advised employees to respond to inappropriate comments with a short, firm retort such as “Great, that’s the 20th time I’ve heard that” or “Perhaps you could repeat that more loudly, so the rest of the queue can hear?” It also called on other customers to react if they witnessed such behaviour.
In a follow-up social media post last week, the company confirmed that staff had its backing if they decided not to serve a customer. “If someone is a creep and makes inappropriate comments and verbally harasses them, our team have the right to refuse them service.”
That post alone has so far garnered more than 50,000 likes or other positive responses on Facebook. Good Lood says that its messages posted as part of the campaign have already received over 10 million organic views on social media.
Comments on the company’s posts show overwhelming support, with many commenters sharing their own experiences.
“At last someone has spoken out about this!” wrote one, who said she worked in an ice cream parlour as a teenager.
“I remember how outraged I felt when I heard comments like that from men who could have been my fathers, or even my grandfathers. I wonder what would happen if someone spoke to their daughters or granddaughters like that.”
Good Lood says it want to start a broader conversation on what the “global issue” of harassment and disrespect towards front-line staff in retail and hospitality.
“Working in service or hospitality does not mean consenting to disrespect. The safety and wellbeing of our team will always come before profit. We are not afraid to lose a customer who cannot show basic human respect,” the company said in a press release.
Founded 10 years ago in Kraków, Good Lood now has 37 outlets there as well as in the Warsaw area. It also sells its products throughout Poland at Biedronka, the country’s largest supermarket chain.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Good Lood/Facebook
Ben Koschalka is a translator, lecturer, and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
