A group of cadets volunteering to distribute Remembrance Day poppies were turned away at Cabela’s in North Edmonton, an act one legion representative calls disappointing.
“The management of Cabela’s informed them that, no, they weren’t welcome there,” said Greg Laskey, cadet liaison and poppy fund representative for the Royal Canadian Legion Norwood Branch.
Folks in Regina seeking an alternate source for fishing gear can visit locally-owned Pokey’s. Readers are invited to publish/plug other local alternatives in the comments.
Update: An apology has been posted to their Facebook page. It’s pretty lame, though.
Yeah well, multi-nationals like Cabela’s generally are Canadian managed in Canada….in this case it sounds like the home office didn’t vet their hires well enough.
This similar to the Dixey Chicks faux pas….
Expect this policy to be reversed swiftly…..and Cabelas in North Edmonton to be under new management.
Maybe Cabela’s would have welcomed members of the local mosque offering Red Crescent Society poppies.
Cadets have been distributing poppies and collecting donations at Cabela’s in Saskatoon in past years. I doubt there is a Cabela’s Canada policy of not allowing it. I think it much more likely it was just a junior manager on duty at that store at that time who was afraid to make a decision or was in a snit with the individual employee who invited the cadets without checking.
I will check with the Cabelas in Regina. if they don’t want poppy sellers then they don’t want me as a customer either!
They have issued an apology, and will have cadets at the store.
They did have cadets on site at one of their other Edmonton stores, so clearly it’s not a company policy. A bone-headed decision by a local manager, not a reason to boycott the company.
And for those that wonder, no, I don’t have any connection whatsoever to the company, other than as a very infrequent customer.
Cabelas not welcome in Canada.
That’s what you get when you hire indoctrinated Progressives.
Red Crescent poppies are not red, but look kinda black and tarrish. Or that is the poppy grown in Afghanistan. They also gave us the beloved gifts of hassish and assassin.
An awful lot of progressives work in retail, bear that in mind as you make your choices as a consumer.
They just opened a new store in Nanaimo … I will be sure to NOT shop there … there are other places with the same shit.
Why does this happen EVERY YEAR, SOMEWHERE IN CANADA?
Contact page:
http://www.cabelas.ca/pages/contact
Remember to identify the store in question. I suspect the manager might be having a discussion with corporate management.
I’m appalled at the, (quoteing Brian Mulroney) the “STUNNING IGNORANCE” of some managers, or people of some influence.
This is my stunned face … 🙁
This looks like a mix-up with a manager not knowing the relationship between the cadets and the Legion. It appears the Legion had permission to have poppies there and this inept manager didn’t realize that the cadets work on behalf of the Legion. Bad PR from a manager who should have known better.
Cabellas has been and is big supporter of the military. This is a little mix up, put away the rope, there is no need for a hanging here.
That’s what happens when you get a former government bureaucrat to manage your business. 🙂
I don’t hold it against Cabelas. Face it, we all know that the decision was made locally by someone who should never have been given the authority to make decisions. And I trust things will be straightened out in short order.
Corporations in general and publicly traded ones in particular are ambivalent creatures of market pressure from any direction. No corporate spin doctor wanting to remain employed in such a wide-spread market and one focused on the North American outdoor sportsmen would allow a campaign against the Remembrance Day Poppy particularly in Canada where they are more conspicuous when absent. Some local store manager is likely getting his Pee Pee slapped.
I was about to buy a new tree stand from Cabelas – but now …
Basspro has the same gear and they have had poppy boxes at all their check out tills last year.
They have addressed the matter…satisfactorily in my opinion.
http://t.co/lESquTq9yq
Does no one read the linked articles?
What happened here was an employee – not a manager – of the store was the father of one of the cadets and invited them on premises. When they showed up the actual manager said no, that employee doesn’t have the authority to invite a third party on to the premises to solicit. Liability laws being what they are, he did exactly the right thing. The cadets should have talked to store management first instead of just showing up. Quit boiling the tar and plucking the chickens; a bag of poppies and a donation box does not mean you get to show up wherever the hell you want on other people’s private property without asking first.
Every single time one of these “OMG t3h ebil popy deniers!” stories comes up, it always turns out to be either misleading reporting or complete BS by some third party (cf. last year’s “Target hates poppies” smear campaign). Why, it’s almost as if an unscrupulous media outlet is trying to gin up Internet outrage for the sake of a few extra clicks.
“a bag of poppies and a donation box does not mean you get to show up wherever the hell you want on other people’s private property without asking first.”
What is amazing is that any manager could be so stupid. Don’t managers ever watch the news and remember that some ignorant manager somewhere does the same thing every year. Outrage is exactly how the problem should be handled.
Sounds like somebody is worried about their Cabela’s stock.
I’m just glad the store manager didn’t try to claim that the poppy ban was consensual on his facebook post.
“An awful lot of progressives work in retail,”
No kidding, I’ve dealt with a few Liberal retards working behind a gun counter in the past.
They love to try and BS you like you’ve never seen or held a “firearm” before. “This is what you really need/want”.
Even had a guy try to convince me that the long gun registry would never die, it did two days later. The next week I saw him he sputtered about how it’d never really go away and that the police chiefs would bring it back immediatly.
Two months later I accedently bumped into him working at a gas station/ resturant off the highway. I just kept walking.
It’s almost as disgusing as the new urban trendy fad of shopping for hunting camo designer cloths.
No poppies at Cabela’s?
No problem – I will go check out Wholesale Sports. If they don’t have them I will go to The Fishin’ Hole, P&D firearms or any of the more reputable rod and gun stores.
Screw you Cabelas!
This was sincerely an unfortunate case of miscommunication on our part: old Cree phrase meaning “Chief at trading post is a dickhead”
Miscommunications and misunderstandings happen. The real test is what happens when the mistake is pointed out.
And they’ve failed that test. The half-@$$ ‘apology’ buried as a comment to a post (not even a post itself) on Facebook is pathetic.
Some comments are demanding Cabela’s make a big donation to the fund before they’ll be forgiven. That’d be a nice gesture, but then we’re no better than outraged lefties (but I repeat myself) who demand blackmail from businesses for not having a 3rd bathroom for transgenders and similar manufactured grievances.
Well, this is definitely a step in the right direction
http://www.cabelas.ca/news/50/royal-canadian-legion-remembrance-day-poppy-fund
Not buried in a comment on FB, for one thing…
Totally cool with Cabelas, no need to eat our own here, they made a stupid mistake.
Saying that, try Sail and Lebarons in the GTA they have better prices than Cabelas (Barrie) and Bass Pro (Vaughn).
Crappy Tire is a rip off everywhere for fishing and hunting gear.
This little store has live bait (minnows) 24 hours a day from friday and saturday and stocks small manufacturer great ice fishing must-haves the big stores don’t carry. It’s in the same mall parking lot as Bass Pro (Vaughn).
http://www.truecanadianoutdoors.com/
Last year while distributing poppies for the local Legion in Prescott Ont. we attempted to place a counter top box in the local Burger King. Every business and other organization in our community was very supportive when approached with our counter top boxes except for Burger King. The Membership of our Legion was advised regarding the attitude of Burger King and I am sure that at least some of that filtered down into the local community. Also in fairness I should mention the absolutely huge support we have always received from MacDonalds and Tim Hortons. Both these Companies have always welcomed us with open arms, as opposed to Burger King. I do not know if this is a corporate policy of Burger King or just a short sighted manager,but when I sent an E mail to Burger Kings corporate office in Mississauga I never even got a response. I drive past there every day and Timmies parking lot is always full and so is Mickey Dees,not so with the Burger King parking lot.
The under assistant minimum-wage junior associate ‘manager’ responsible for this was probably just following the company’s 900 page operations manual. In an effort to move up the company ladder he strictly adhered to policies and procedures. Employees that use their own heads in situations like this run the risk of being labelled renegades and losing their jobs. If people are still incensed they can go buy their made in China duck hunting camo gear elsewhere.
SHOUT for assistance; Sometime ago SDA ran a connection to a picture of “Soldiers beneath a plot of soil providing protection of peace for a Family standing above the soil”.
Can someone provide a link to this? A family, who lost one of their Sons in the Korean Conflict, has asked me if I can help them to locate the picture. Thank you for any assistance. Cheers;
Cabela’s in Barrie, ON, is only a few months old …they ARE prominently displaying poppies at the checkouts. Sounds to me like the local Edmonton manager blew it, but it’s NOT a chain-wide policy.
How about we now all check our local TARGET store to see if they have it right.
Miscommunication my ass.
What was “miscommunicated”? Tell us. What was said/written to the employee/store manager that created the “miscommunication”?
What a load of crap. They screwed up royally and whoever pulled this stunt needs to go.