Pakistan bakery 'taking action' after employee refused to write Merry Christmas on cake

Following an uproar on social media, a popular bakery in Pakistan is investigating the incident wherein its employee allegedly refused to write ‘Merry Christmas’ on a cake purchased by a customer. According to Dawn, Delizia Bakery in Karachi clarified that it does not discriminate on the basis of religion. It said that they were now investigating the matter after the customer, Celestia Naseem Khan, posted on Facebook that when she bought a cake from the bakery’s Defence Housing Society branch, an employee refused to write “Merry Christmas” on the cake. 

According to the social media post, Celestia said that the worker told her that he was not allowed to write ‘Merry Christmas’ as he had been given an “order” from the kitchen. Celestia said that the bakery was so against the minorities and their religion that they could not even make money from such occasions. “Very disappointed from Delizia for their unethical and unprofessional behaviour,” she wrote. 

Following the incident, several social media users expressed their shock and anger. However, in response, Delizia’s management said that the incident clearly was an “act of an individual”. The bakery said that it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of religion or creed. “At the moment we are taking action against him (the employee). It was done in an individual capacity and is not company policy,” the bakery said as quoted by Dawn. 

‘Dismissals’ might be the course of action, says Delizia 

The bakery went on to state that employees may have refused to write ‘Merry Christmas’ due to a lack of education and awareness. Senior management at Delizia separately said that there is nothing wrong with wishing someone a ‘Merry Christmas’. The official expressed sorrow at the incident and said that the company now plans on releasing a statement on social media “soon” to address the incident and clarify its stance. 

Meanwhile, it is to mention that this is not the first time that a Delizia employee refused to write ‘Merry Christmas’ on the cake. According to Dawn, back in 2018, a woman was denied a cake with ‘Merry Christmas’ written on it and told that it was based on “company instructions”. The official said that following that incident there were dismissals and that might be the course of action this time as well. 

(Image: Rep/Unsplash)