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Department store's piano policy absurd
v / A it j. :V •
“Jingle Bells, Something Smells,
Von Maur laid an egg.”
It’s not even Thanksgiving yet,
and Christmas carols are chiming in
the department stores, the merchan
dise displays are wrought with Jack
and Jill in reindeer and snowflake
cardigans, and sales associates are
trying to shove candy canes down
your throat.
If you long for the time when the
holidays meant more than wrapping
paper and Nine West, and you think
this commission-driven Christmas
spirit is hard to swallow - steer clear
of Von Maur this holiday season.
Voir Maur is Lincoln’s newest
department store, located in the
SouthPointe Pavilion. It got its begin
nings as a small family-owned busi
ness in'arstore front in Davenport^
Iowa. One hundred and twenty-five
years later, it is the largest privately
held retail store in Iowa and ranks in
the top 50 fashion department stores
in the country. Von Maur’s headquar
ters are still located in Davenport.
The store’s management is dead set
on taking the “Christ” out of
Christmas.
Thafs right. Von Maur doesn’t
want any mention of baby Jesus in
his manger, and no one is allowed to
sing “glory to the new bom king.”
This national chain with offices in
. Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Indiana and
Minnesota prides itself on aii attrac
tive and relaxed environment to
enhance your shopping experience.
To add to your capitalistic enjoy
ment, a pianist seated at a grand
piano plays music during all store
hours. Christmas music, now that
Thanksgiving is in sight.
Jessica Fla\
But not if the song makes any
mention of Christ, Jesus or “God and
sinner reconciled.” (
Von Maur pianists have been
instructed to play Christmas tunes
-that don’t have any religious connota
tion. If a customer should request,
say, “Silent Night,” they are supposed
to tell their fans they don’t know it.
How about “Joy to the World”?
Nope, they can’t know that one either
- by decree of management.
The piano player who told me
about this order handed down by
management wasn’t very happy
about it. Explaining that shoppers
like traditional Christmas carols, this
disgruntled musician said the rule
was mean-spirited. The pianist also
confided that there was nothing to be
done and declined to talk about it any
further for fear of being fired -
employees are not supposed to talk
about it.
What kind of place is this? Who
feels the need to censor “Away in a
Manger?”
So I called the store. I was
patched through to Stephanie Olson,
the human resources manager. I
recounted the policy as I understood
it and asked what the motivation
behind it was.
“No comment,” was her sharp
reply.
“You won’t comment on your
piano policy?” I asked, befuddled.
“No, and if you pursue this
(inquiry) further, or use my name and
title, I’ll take action,” she said.
Take action!?! What in the blazes
I just wanted to hear something more
inspiring than “Grandma Got Run
Over by a Reindeer” while I shopped
I decided to try the Omaha Von
Maur at Westroads and see what was
going on. I asked if this was a policy
in that store and if the reasoning .
behind the policy could be explained.
I was expecting the employees to
simply explain that Christmas means
a lot of different things to a lot of dif
ferent people, and they didn’t want to
step on any toes. Which is rather silly
anyhow, since I can’t imagine anyone
jagain is a senior English and/
being offended by “Joy to the World.’
But no. Not even a lame excuse u
the pursuit of political correctness.
They had me on hold for about half
an hour and then decided not to com
ment. At least they didn’t threaten m<
and were kind enough to direct me tc
their national headquarters.
Iowa is a friendly place, I thoughi
as I called their home offices. I want
ed to know if this was national Von
Maur policy or if it was unique to
Nebraska stores. I spoke with the
Director of Advertising Jenifer
Sautter and recounted my story with
hopes that she could clue me in.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Is there anyone there who does
know? Is there some kind of piano
policy?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Can you possibly find out?” I
asked completely exasperated.
“Let me check, and if we want to
comment, I’ll call you back.”
I called three more times and
each time she was “unavailable” for
comment.
JC Penney has live music at
Christmas - well, actually it has a
“player piano,” and the owner of the
piano performs occasionally. Their
store manager indicated that it has
not put restrictions on what
Christmas tunes can and cannot be
played.
So I went back to Von Maur. I
requested “Joy to the World.”
Surprise, surprise. The pianist didn’1
know it. I requested “Silent
Night,” another surprise. So I
asked the pianist if they’d been
instructed not to play songs with
references to Christ.
“I’m not allowed to com
ment” was the reply.
I finally got to speak with a
different manager, Julie
Finnegan. I told her my story
and asked for some explanation.
She started by telling me how
Von Maur had an inviting envi
ronment and had been in busi
ness for a hundred and some-odd
years - blah, blah, blah.
philosophy major and a Daily TV
“That’s all very interesting, but
1 would you care to comment on your
piano policy?” I asked.
Finnegan replied, “We like to
appease all our customers. We don’t
; want to exclude anyone. Are you
writing about this? I hope you know
our store doesn’t approve.”
Well, isn’t that special. Von Maur
doesn’t want Christmas to be recog
nized as a Christian holiday, and it
doesn’t really want to talk about it,
and it doesn’t take kindly to anyone
asking around about it. Just consider
yourself appeased.
Keith Sheets^ the manager at
Dillards, reported that his store has
live music only on occasion but
played Christmas music throughout
the store. He said the store plays a
wide variety of music. When asked
what he thought about the exclusion
of music that mentioned Jesus, he
said he couldn’t speak for the store
but gave his personal thoughts.
“Everyone is entitled to their owr
opinion, but really - without the
Christ, where do they think
Christmas came from?”
The fact is that Christmas is a cel
ebration of the birth of our Lord and
savior Jesus Christ.
It’s not a toy
festival for ,
✓ Ai v
munchkins with pointy ears. It’s not ,
about candy canes dancing in chil
dren’s heads. It’s not a consumer jubi
lation. The spirit of giving - the
Christmas spirit - is a reflection of
God’s grace in giving his only son to
pay for the sins of humankind.
Appeasement is the absurd moti
vation for banning “Christ” from
Christmas. I don’t particularly like
Von Maur’s approach to public rela
tions, and I think it’s fishy that its
managers have such a difficult time
answering simple questions about
store policy.
And if they don’t want to exclude
anyone, they’ve failed miserably.
Christians everywhere are excluded
when this store bars songs celebrat
ing the birth of Jesus. This is still
“one nation under God,” and the
money spent at Von Maur still says
“in God we trust.”
Please feel free to call Olsen with
your Christmas greetings at 420
i 9100, or e-mail the national Von
Maur Center at www.vonmaur.com.
Making the same mistakes
Feminist movement must not follow male individualist track
Ever since I heard about the femi
nist movement, I have fully supported
it. It’s an idea that was long overdue.
Women said, “We want to vote just like
men.” Well, right on, Sister, you should
be allowed to vote. Women said, “We
should Rave the same rights as menT
Exactly.
I heard the rally, “Feminism is die
radical notion that women are people
too.” I could not have agreed more.
When Rush (is wrong) Limbaugh
coined the term “Feminazi” for their
views on abortion, I thought they’d
take him to the fat farm or the ftinny
farm, just so he would leave us alone.
' There is no reason women should
n’t be treated die same as men. Test
scores prove women are smarter then
men, they mature faster, and they are
less likely to be violent or in prison,
j There shouldn’t have ever been a femi
nist movement; women always should
have been treated equally.
But now as I look at a movement
that in America has been the standard
of equality among people, I can’t help
but think that something in this move
ment has gone terribly, horribly wrong.
The cover of this month’s issue of
the AARP headlines features, “Women
on the Rise, Some Make it Big, but
Others Still Face the Glass Ceiling.”
The article praises women like
Cynthia Trudell, vice president of
General Motors; Carleton Fiorina, the
head of Hewlett Packard; and Jill
Barad of Mattell for making it big in a
world where men rule.
While praising these women, the
article goes on to point out that women
still are facing salary discrimination.
. Sure, salary discrimination is unfair,
and more women should be in leader
ship roles in major companies, but the
problem lies elsewhere.
When we glorify women’s success
in the marketplace, we are glorifying
the marketplace in which women have
gotten ahead.
We are glorifying women who
have somehow beaten the odds and
“gotten ahead” as the capitalist motto
has told diem to do. So they have more
mopey, so they can buy a bigger house,
so they can buy a bigger television, so
they can spend more-money. So what?
In attempting to become equal
with men in the marketplace, women
will make the same mistakes men
made a long time ago. They will join
the movement to get ahead, the capital
ist movement, the individualist move
Trevor Johnson is a junior secot
ment.
The individualist movement, a by
product of capitalism, is perhaps the
worst thing ever to happen to this
country. The movement puts the indi
vidual’s success in front of and ahead
of the goals of the family, the nation,
the world. This is a movement men
have followed for years - and Americ:
is feeling the effects.
As America’s people are asking,
“What’s wrong with kids today?”,
America’s social workers are asking,
“Where the hell are the parents
today?”, and its kids ask, “Is anyone
going to love me when I grow up?”,
we can only point to the failings of a
flawed system.
Is it any coincidence that while
America is obsessed with the working
of Microsoft and the stock market, th<
rate of nationally reported teen-age
shootings has gone up?
While we are incensed with the
ideas of working bigger hours to get
bigger bucks, to buy bigger houses at
more things, we are leaving our kids
alone.
Isn’t toe a correlation between
the number of single mothers in this
country and the high rates of juvenile
delinquency?
Yet the numbers are going to con
tinue to climb. On Tuesday, the Omal
World-Herald reported that 41.5 per
cent of first-time births occurred out
wedlock. Conversely, social scientist
\dary education and English m
are saying that kids no longer need two
positive adult influences in their lives;
they need three.
So as fathers leave their children
and women flock to work, who is
charged with the responsibility of chil
dren? Lately that charge has been
reluctantly laid on teachers, day-care
i workers, camp counselors and older
siblings, many who do not have the
time or know-how to give significant
attention to each individual child.
Not only do children suffer from
individualism but more so die individ
uals themselves.
In the push to get ahead, the indi
vidualist movement has lost sight of
the deeper needs of sharing, personal
sacrifice and love of other human
£ beings.
; As individualists put career and
financial goals ahead of their own
emotional needs, they become lost in a
“get-ahead world” that cares nothing
for them. Ever wondered about alcoho
id and drug abuse among supposedly
successful people? Or maybe you
should just watch an episode of “Ally
McBeal.”
But in order to achieve true sharing
and true love, for that matter, a sacri
fice of individual goals and achieve
ments must be made. Love cannot sur
a vive when people bolt relationships
over simple disagreements based on
3f individual wants, lusts and desires.
Nor can it happen when brief
ajor and a Daily Nebraskan colui
moments of individual happiness out
weigh the gains of long-term commit
ments. Sacrifice exists not only in love
but also within family. In order to raise
a family in a way that complies in any
way, shape or form with what psychol
ogy is telling us, then a sacrifice of
individual and financial goals must be
made.
Ever since the dawn of the feminist
movement, it has been women who
have been forced to make these sacri
fices. And it is definitely true that men
should make these sacrifices as much
as women. The feminist movement is
correct in stating that women should
be on equal footing with men in all
areas of life, but it makes a fatal mis
take in following men down the road
to get ahead... the road of individual
ism.
If the feminist movement does not
have foresight in its search for equality,
then as a whole it will foil because it
will only repeat die mistakes men have
made.
But perhaps the feminist move
ment will stop and see the failures of
the road it may travel. Maybe femi
; nism still has a chance and can takea
different road with better results at the
end by solving and answering these,
among other questions:
“Whafs wrong with these kids
today?”, “Where die hell are the par
ents?” and “Mom, who’s gonna love
me Mien I grow up?”
nnist.