Customer was not sucky at all just a bit ... er ... worried ... ?

[Pixilated]

Grocery store cashier here (in Canada).
Woman comes through my line with a small order, among which was a whole chicken.

She points to a green starburst on the chicken wrapping.

Customer: "What's that mean?"

The text on the starburst reads "Halal."



I ask if she knows what "kosher" is in the Jewish religion. She says she does. I tell her this just means the same thing, except for Muslims.

Customer: "Oh ... so it's okay for me to eat it then?"

One thousand and one sarcastic responses came to mind but I decided none were appropriate for somebody who was just asking for clarification.

Me: "Yes. It's not relevant to anybody not a Muslim, just like 'kosher' wouldn't be relevant if you weren't observing Jewish dietary laws."

Customer: "Oh okay."

And off she went with her halal chicken.

TBH I was expecting some kind of rabid rant, and was very pleased that I was wrong, wrong, WRONG.

[RealUnimportant]

Yay for how you handled it, and double-yay for how she reacted to it. Heard so many stories of people blowing up when they get told something's Halal, not because of what it means intrinsically but simply because it's "catering to the Muslim community" (to put it far more politely than they would.)

[taxguykarl]

I can recall a similar experience. The client was perusing a government document whilst I was keying in her info and asked "What is Tagalog?"
I looked up and realized that she was looking over the languages in which that form was available and replied "Filipino, linguists tell us it's a blend of Spanish and Malay."
"Oh, I see."