Seems every year the public freaks over the poppies being sold when a mistake happens and an employee of a store asks them to leave. This chain seems to be the first to hit the major news this year. Seems to be no plan on the part of the company and nothing more then an error on the part of a store employee or manager.

Other stores in Edmonton had no issues nor did other locations in the chain.

Cabela’s apologizes for turning away cadets selling poppies at Edmonton store | Globalnews.ca


I don't fully understand the poppy thing, I know it has to do with something about a war, but not much else beyond that, so maybe I misunderstand or don't understand it all.

Are people too sensitive when it comes to simple mistakes made by company employees this time of year over this?

I'm curious about which charity sales people are welcome in store.

The poppy was one of the only flowers to grow on the battlefields of Northern France and Flanders after the 1st world war. They grew on the torn up land were soldiers fought and died and have been used as a lasting memorial symbol for fallen soldiers both past and present ever since particularly in the UK and Canada

I can't see how asking Cadets selling poppy's to leave was ever a misunderstanding and given the concept behind the poppy find it quite disgusting

A lot of companies have no soliciting policies and waive them for poppy sellers but there always seems to be one store of a chain where a local employee errors and asks them to leave, usually corrected quickly by head office and a donation usually results from it.

I just think its too much over reaction to an error made by 1 employee of 1 store.

I just feel these situations are just simple mistakes and no reason to even make the news considering it's not company policy at these places to kick the poppy sellers out.

[QUOTE=tee1;11460648]The poppy was one of the only flowers to grow on the battlefields of Northern France and Flanders after the 1st world war. They grew on the torn up land were soldiers fought and died and have been used as a lasting memorial symbol for fallen soldiers both past and present ever since particularly in the UK and Canada

You are right tee1. The remembrance service that takes place at Westminster Abbey, London, UK, on the nearest Sunday to 11th November, drops poppies on the congregation. Each poppy dropped represents one life lost during the wars.

Wearing a poppy is a mark of respect for the fallen.

The display at the Tower of London:

No, people are not too sensitive.

The failings of the management is inexcusable. I hope the compay has the grace to apologise in the form of a big cheque to the Legion. The poppy as a symbol is nearly 100 years old, but sales of the poppies continue to provide support to veterans of modern day conflicts.

Wow Greenhill what fantastic photos. Thank you.

The other one is the Salvation Army.

$10,000 is a nice gesture but a drop in the bucket for a big chain like Cabelas. They have everything but nothing I need so I haven't gone in yet.

Yes.

Yes, that sounds like a nice gesture to me too...

It's caused quite a media shit storm, quite rightly.

I'd never heard of Cabelas, but looked them up, they do look big.

By John McRae May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

I read of one over a week ago. I don't remember where. Might even have been the UK.

Plenty of charity people are welcome in all sorts of stores, but the usual protocol is that you have to ask permission first before soliciting. This ensures not only that the store avoids having competing groups trying to fundraise at the same time, but also provides a means of checking that the fundraisers are genuine and not just holding out a bucket to collect for a new TV.

For example, my Scouts Canada group (everybody from the 5-year-old Beavers through Cubs and Scouts to the Rovers and Venturers) does a big fundraising drive in early October each year for Apple Day. We ask permission several weeks in advance from the likes of Wal-Mart, Superstore, Tim Horton's, Canadian Tire, Starbucks, and a couple of banks, to stand outside or in their vestibule and offer patrons an apple while waving a collection tin in their general direction. All of them usually say yes. Many organizations raise money this way. It's less effective than it used to be, since fewer people carry cash these days, but it's still a good way to foster public engagement and raise awareness, even if funds aren't as forthcoming as they once were!

However, I am quite sure that if we turned up without asking first, we'd likely be invited to move on. A couple of years back, one organization changed the way they grant permissions, from the individual store manager to a regional head office. We always make sure we have the letter from the head office with us, in case the local store manager didn't receive notice that we have permission. It's easy to see how a misunderstanding like the one in Edmonton could have arisen; it's also easy to see how it could have been resolved without every getting the media attention that has resulted. I strongly suspect fault lies on both sides.