Earlier this month, I saw an email come across my inbox that troubled me. It was from a source I usually find has solid information on conservative and Christian issues. One Million Moms put out an email plea to boycott Family Dollar Stores accusing them of “corporate greed.” I have to disagree.

The email cited an internal memo received by One Million Moms from the company in question, “Only 2 people working per store on Christmas day. Each store needs to do $1100 in sales in order to break even, this is why we only have 2 people working.” They went on to characterize Family Dollar Stores executives saying, while they are “sitting around the Christmas tree with their families, their employees will be leaving their children at home, just to make a few paltry dollars for the company.”

1. This email bothers me on four different levels, the first of which is that there are many valid issues that have been and still need to be taken up by Christian conservatives, but this is NOT one of them. We need to pick our battles wisely.

First of all, OMM (One Million Moms) doesn’t cite anything that states Family Dollar Stores is requiring any of their employees to work on CHRISTmas day. Their memo, in fact, says it is LIMITING that number to two. Having worked many holidays BC (Before Children), I can tell you that there are plenty of employees who need the extra money that holiday pay will bring. When I worked outside the home, there were many of us all fighting to get the overtime. I worked many holidays because I brought in from time-and-a-half to triple time! There was NEVER a shortage of people volunteering to work a holiday and there were plenty of disappointed employees who didn’t get the work!

Secondly, who says the two employees who are working that day even have any children? Most people who requested to work overtime or holidays didn’t have any children, which is why they were so eager to work. However, there were some who chose to work the holidays in order to earn more money to bring home to their children. Since this is America, shouldn’t that be their choice?

And while we are talking about America, let’s remember that we stand for capitalism. Family Dollar Stores, like all other businesses, are in business to make money. There is nothing greedy about that. You and I can argue about whether remaining open on CHRISTmas day is worth it to them, but we cannot conclude that they are being greedy by trying to turn a profit, give their employees an income and supply their customers as best they can.

Lastly, some employees are not Christian. If they are going to remain open, those who choose to work may indeed be Jewish or Atheist. Why is OMM assuming that every employee working on CHRISTmas day is not there by their own choice and has their own priorities?

2. The next issue I have with this email is the inflammatory choice of words.

“Company would rather have mothers working a cash register than being with their children on Christmas moring.”

“Shame on Family Dollar for breaking up famililes.”

“In a few short years, Christmas Day will give way to full-blown corporate greed.”

These words inflame the hearts of readers but do not substantiate the accusations it implies and directs at this company and all who choose to remain open on CHRISTmas day.

3. The third issue I have with this OMM email is inciting an incident that could result in damaging the reputation and income of this business, as well as others who choose to remain open on the holidays. Not only does this hurt the company, but all its employees who rely on this company to feed their families and, in this economy, I’d call that shameful. I might agree if I found that the action rose to the level of taking some action, but I don’t find that at all in this case.

4. My final issue with this email goes to credibility. The link I provided for you doesn’t include the last part of the email they sent out. It had a P.S. with a correction for an earlier version of their story which “incorrectly named Dollar General by mistake.” Apparently, Dollar General will be closed on CHRISTmas day. The scathing remarks about this story were mistakenly attributed to the wrong company. I can only pray that their business was not hurt because of the mistake. While OMM did correct the mistake and apologize, it may not have reached all the readers. We all make mistakes, but it is desperately important to be sure of the facts before you put something out there that could damage someone’s reputation.

I’m unable to find Family Dollar’s response to this article, nor can I find any other information. However, with the little information OMM lists in this article, I can come to no other conclusion but that this is an unfair and potentially damaging characterization of Family Dollar Stores.

Lastly, there was a P.S.S. listed asking readers to forward the email and support One Million Moms. Now this is actually a little nitpicky thing, but it bothers me as I know it bothers other readers. It’s not P.S.S. It’s P.P.S. P.S. stands for Post Scriptum (Post Script) which is Latin for “written after.” P.P.S. stands for Post Post Scriptum which is anything written after that. While I am not the best speller and we all make mistakes, it’s little things like this that bug some readers and can cause a loss of credibility. There was already a loss of credibility due to the unfair accusations about the company, the unsubastatiated inflammatory words and the mistake in citing the wrong company in the first article.

Frankly, I was shocked that One Million Moms would send out something like this. They usually can be counted upon to be on the Christian conservative side of an issue and I’ll continue to look for their articles, but this one is a big mistake in my book.

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JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication, but it is her humorous approach to communication skills which has made her a highly sought-after Christian speaker and writer.  Her articles appear in homeschool publications, such as Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which also endorses her Say What You Mean curricula.  You can also find JoJo on web sites such as Crosswalk.com and Dr.Laura.com.  For more information on communication FUNdamentals and Christian-based communication skills for the whole family, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

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