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XP: Six Flags NIP Employee Fail
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XP from Dec 13, but wanted the BF board's opinion too. This company NEEDS to educate their employees!!
Me, my husband, and the kids went to Six Flags America (DC area) yesterday with my friend, her sons, and her parents. Most of the day went without any issues (I did get pretty dehydrated early on, to where I couldn't stand up for at least a half hour, but I started drinking more water and felt okay after about an hour and a half, but that's an issue for another day. I kept drinking water and powerade all day after that.) We got there at 10:30 for park opening and stayed until close. Noah, who is EBF except for the solids that he's started on, obviously needs to stay hydrated too, not to mention full, so we nurse throughout the park without a hitch... until we get to the water park.
You would think that a company that's already had PR issues (see here: https://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Breastfeeding-mom-meets-resistance-at-Six-Flags-232597321.html) this company would have incorporated something about breastfeeding in to their training for their employees. Hint: Nope.
In the water park section of the park, we basically changed into our swimsuits and my, my husband, and my friend took all the kids into the pool for about 2 hours while her parents relaxed in the shade with the stroller and all the gear. We get out of the pool, towel off, get the kids dressed, and I throw on my cover-up. Noah's hungry, so I sit down on the bench, and pull my cover up and swimsuit top down enough for him to get one side. Barely anything was showing, he was nursing, and I was watching two of the older kids at the same time. The kids were behaving perfectly. But then two employees walking by approached me and told me that I needed to cover my son up with a towel. Instantly, people starting staring at what was going on, and I stated as calmly as I could that what I was doing was perfectly legal within the State of Maryland. He responds that I was making people uncomfortable (no one else had even said anything to me, so I think it was probably just him who took issue with it.) I responded that I was still within my rights, it was legal for me to feed him without a cover, and if I needed to speak to security, I would be happy to. This continued for a few minutes, people were still watching, and he threw out the "Yeah, but there's kids around" and I restated that I was not going to cover up and I would speak to security if I needed to. He and his coworker just walked away leaving this crowd to start dispersing, when my friend's dad asked what he said to me, and I said he was trying to make me cover up, and my friend's dad said "Well, you should have told him to screw himself!" which I think the guys heard. Then my husband, who was down a couple benches with our stroller trying to dig out his clothes and my shoes and phone overheard that and came over, asked what happened, and chased the employee down to get his name, the name of his supervisor, and to explain that, as someone who has worked in food service and retail, when you see a nursing mom, you really shouldn't start confronting them, because it will bring more trouble on yourself. If you see anything you are uncomfortable with at all, you need to just speak to your supervisor to find out if it's okay or not.
I was pretty shaken up at that point for having this happen, and really embarrassed as well that I had to argue with this guy about my rights to feed my son at all, let alone in front of a crowd. The employee's managers come over and apologize, and the employee came back and apologized because he was not informed of the laws. I thanked them for the apology but informed them that I would still be going to guest services to file a complaint, which I did. The employee was already reprimanded for harasssing me about it, and I don't want the management team to get in trouble, but corporate needs to hear more about the issues it's guests are experiencing with employees harassing nursing moms because there is STILL no training provided to employees about how to deal with a nursing mom. It's allowed in all the parks! Why don't the employees know. A two-minute run-through of "Nursing moms are okay. It's legal to nurse without a cover. Don't bother them." should not be that hard to include in training! The park employees there are apparently not able to change the training they provide, and corporate apparently hasn't decided to address it after the last incident. I am so frustrated. Most of my body was fully covered up, save for a little bit of skin, no nipple at all was visible and I was feeding an infant... meanwhile a ton of women were wearing swimsuits that showed more, all around me.
For the record, not that it actually changes anything about the legality of NIP, I used to cover up in public, my choice because I was self conscious. I stopped when Noah started having the shaking episodes when he nursed. No way will I cover him up now. If shakes I need to be able to see exactly what he's doing. On top of that, they wanted me to cover up my baby's head with a wet towel soaked with chlorine, because that sounds like a -wonderful- idea. I am so frustrated with this. We are season passholders, but this place needs to shape up and train its staff.
Me, my husband, and the kids went to Six Flags America (DC area) yesterday with my friend, her sons, and her parents. Most of the day went without any issues (I did get pretty dehydrated early on, to where I couldn't stand up for at least a half hour, but I started drinking more water and felt okay after about an hour and a half, but that's an issue for another day. I kept drinking water and powerade all day after that.) We got there at 10:30 for park opening and stayed until close. Noah, who is EBF except for the solids that he's started on, obviously needs to stay hydrated too, not to mention full, so we nurse throughout the park without a hitch... until we get to the water park.
You would think that a company that's already had PR issues (see here: https://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Breastfeeding-mom-meets-resistance-at-Six-Flags-232597321.html) this company would have incorporated something about breastfeeding in to their training for their employees. Hint: Nope.
In the water park section of the park, we basically changed into our swimsuits and my, my husband, and my friend took all the kids into the pool for about 2 hours while her parents relaxed in the shade with the stroller and all the gear. We get out of the pool, towel off, get the kids dressed, and I throw on my cover-up. Noah's hungry, so I sit down on the bench, and pull my cover up and swimsuit top down enough for him to get one side. Barely anything was showing, he was nursing, and I was watching two of the older kids at the same time. The kids were behaving perfectly. But then two employees walking by approached me and told me that I needed to cover my son up with a towel. Instantly, people starting staring at what was going on, and I stated as calmly as I could that what I was doing was perfectly legal within the State of Maryland. He responds that I was making people uncomfortable (no one else had even said anything to me, so I think it was probably just him who took issue with it.) I responded that I was still within my rights, it was legal for me to feed him without a cover, and if I needed to speak to security, I would be happy to. This continued for a few minutes, people were still watching, and he threw out the "Yeah, but there's kids around" and I restated that I was not going to cover up and I would speak to security if I needed to. He and his coworker just walked away leaving this crowd to start dispersing, when my friend's dad asked what he said to me, and I said he was trying to make me cover up, and my friend's dad said "Well, you should have told him to screw himself!" which I think the guys heard. Then my husband, who was down a couple benches with our stroller trying to dig out his clothes and my shoes and phone overheard that and came over, asked what happened, and chased the employee down to get his name, the name of his supervisor, and to explain that, as someone who has worked in food service and retail, when you see a nursing mom, you really shouldn't start confronting them, because it will bring more trouble on yourself. If you see anything you are uncomfortable with at all, you need to just speak to your supervisor to find out if it's okay or not.
I was pretty shaken up at that point for having this happen, and really embarrassed as well that I had to argue with this guy about my rights to feed my son at all, let alone in front of a crowd. The employee's managers come over and apologize, and the employee came back and apologized because he was not informed of the laws. I thanked them for the apology but informed them that I would still be going to guest services to file a complaint, which I did. The employee was already reprimanded for harasssing me about it, and I don't want the management team to get in trouble, but corporate needs to hear more about the issues it's guests are experiencing with employees harassing nursing moms because there is STILL no training provided to employees about how to deal with a nursing mom. It's allowed in all the parks! Why don't the employees know. A two-minute run-through of "Nursing moms are okay. It's legal to nurse without a cover. Don't bother them." should not be that hard to include in training! The park employees there are apparently not able to change the training they provide, and corporate apparently hasn't decided to address it after the last incident. I am so frustrated. Most of my body was fully covered up, save for a little bit of skin, no nipple at all was visible and I was feeding an infant... meanwhile a ton of women were wearing swimsuits that showed more, all around me.
For the record, not that it actually changes anything about the legality of NIP, I used to cover up in public, my choice because I was self conscious. I stopped when Noah started having the shaking episodes when he nursed. No way will I cover him up now. If shakes I need to be able to see exactly what he's doing. On top of that, they wanted me to cover up my baby's head with a wet towel soaked with chlorine, because that sounds like a -wonderful- idea. I am so frustrated with this. We are season passholders, but this place needs to shape up and train its staff.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: XP: Six Flags NIP Employee Fail
**DD1 - 7/9/98**
**DS - 11/9/00**
**DD2 - 4/30/13**
TTC #1 since 2007. Dx: Unexplained infertility. 4 IUIs in 2008 = BFN. IVF #1 07/09. DD #1 born April 2010 (40w5d).
TTC #2 since 2011. Dx: Endometriosis and hypothyroidism. 2 FETs in 2012, BFP 6/12 but m/c @ 7 weeks. IVF #2 06/13. DD #2 born March 2014 (40w1d).